News

Kensho Ono Stars as Turtle in Ahare Meisaku-kun Anime Shorts

MSK opened a website last month to announce Ahare! Meisaku-kun, a new NHK E series of anime shorts.

The show will premiere on April 8 at 6:20 p.m. on NHK E's Beat World. The series will have 39 five-minute episodes.

The anime's story is described as follows:

A long, long time ago, there was a prestigious school called "Ryūgū Elementary School" that produced many masterpiece characters. One day, an ordinary boy named Meisaku Matsuda enrolled at the school.
Little did he know that the place for learning was filled with crazy characters like Sweets, the energetic idiot; Musubi, a rice ball who gets angry when called "onigiri"; Nokio, a narcissistic self-proclaimed robot; and Bolt, who's clearly faster than a rabbit.
Surrounded by such unique characters, will Meisaku be able to graduate as a splendid masterpiece character?

The shows cast includes:

Akiyuki Nasu (of comedic duo "Nasunakanishi") as Meisaku Matsuda, the protagonist.
While his name means "masterpiece," he is a completely unknown mediocre character. He strives to someday be a splendid masterpiece. Because all the people around him often act dim witted, he is forced to take up the role as the straight man.
"I'm the most normal one again today, huh..."

Shigeki Nakanishi (of comedic duo "Nasunakanishi") as Sweets, a loud-mouthed, energetic idiot.
The class president with an annoyingly passionate personality. He has no idea that many treat him like an idiot. Sweets is from a rich family, has many servants, and is also blessed with a very distinct laugh.
"This is the proof of our friendship! Millet dumplings... and money!"

Manabu Kaneko (of comedic duo "Usiro City") as Musubi, who serves as the mascot of the anime.
Every time he is called "onigiri" he corrects the person that he is "Musubi." If he is eaten, or ripped apart, he is immediately resurrected.
"Breakfast? I'm more of a bread person, myself."

Taigi Asuwa (of comedic duo "Usiro City") as Nokio, a narcissistic self-proclaimed robot.
Despite his claims to be a robot, he is in fact very human-like, as his body is warm and he is very bad at mental arithmetic. When he gets excited, his nose gets longer. He likes girls, has very bad pickup lines, and complains a lot.
"12x3? .... There's no reason I should tell you that now. "

Kenshō Ono (Kuroko's Basketball's Kuroko) as Bolt, a tall, very muscular turtle.
Not even a rabbit can compare to his speed. He has a habit of saying, "Mannen" from the saying "Kame wa Mannen" (lit. A turtle lives 10,000 years; said to pray for life or celebrate something).
"A turtleneck is stylish... Mannen."

Taketo Shinkai (Kaseifu ga Ita, Kayoe! Chūgaku) is directing the the series at Pie in the sky. He is also writing the script alongside Yūki Hirokawa. Jun Oson is handling the character design, Yukie Nakauchi is in charge of the animation, Mahiro Ōyama will serve as editor, and Tsukasa Kikuchi will be the sound director.

Idol group Denpagumi.inc (Punch Line) will perform the theme song, "Ahare! Warera ga Sekai no Chūshin" (Ah! We Are the Centers of the World).

[Via Nijimen]