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Crunchyroll to Stream Dream Festival! Idol Anime

Crunchyroll announced on Thursday that it will stream the anime adaptation of Dream Festival! — the all-male "2.5D idol project" from several Bandai Namco Group companies.

The stream will begin on Friday, September 23 at 9:00 a.m. EDT, with the second episode premiering on October 7. The anime will be available worldwide except in Asia.

Crunchyroll also added the Looking Up At The Half-Moon, Pita-Ten, and Ninja Nonsense anime to its catalog.

Crunchyroll describes the Dream Festival! anime:

The Dream Festival is the stage that all idols dream of singing on, with their professional debut on the line. In order to get there, idols work their hardest every day to perfect their performance... and the key to coming out on top is the Dream Festival Cards sent by fans to their favorite idols. Receiving these Cards makes the idols who make it to the stage shine even brighter. Now head to the Dream Festival with your Dream Festival Card in hand for the idol you love most!

The anime will premiere in Japan online on the Animate Channel on September 23 at 9:30 p.m., and will also stream in China on bilibili. The television broadcast will premiere on October 7 on Tokyo MX and BS11, and then on Sun TV and TV Aichi on October 10.

The anime stars:

• Sōma Ishihara as the rookie Kanade Amamiya
• Toshiyuki Morikawa as the legendary idol Haruto Mikami
• Masaki Ōta as Itsuki Katagiri, who is amazing when dancing
• Kaoru Masaki as the exceedingly sweet and angelic Chizuru Sawamura
• Kentarō Tomita as Junya Sasaki, "Mister Idol" who aims for the top
• Takuya Mizoguchi as the blue romanticist Shin Oikawa

The anime also stars Kimito Totani (Kamen Rider Decade's titular character) as Keigo Kazama and Hideaki Kabumoto (Dear Sister) as to Yuto Kuroishi.

BN Pictures is credited with the original story with Bandai credited with the original concept. Yūta Murano (Brave Beats) is directing, and Yoichi Kato (Aikatsu!, Mushibugyō, Yo-kai Watch) is supervising the series scripts. Hiromi Kikuta is serving as sound director. Ken Itō and Ryō Takahashi (Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars, Please tell me! Galko-chan) are composing the music, and Lantis and Sunrise Music Publishing are producing the music. The in-anime idol unit "DearDream" (made up of Ishihara, Ōta, Masaki, Tomita, and Mizoguchi) are performing both the show's opening theme song "PLEASURE FLAG" and the ending theme song "Shin Ai Naru Yume e!".

Looking Up At The Half-Moon is available to users in the United States and Canada. Crunchyroll describes the show:

Even though Yuuichi Ezaki is in the hospital recovering from an illness, he's constantly sneaking out. One day he's caught by the head nurse, who makes a deal with him: she'll overlook his future excursions if he's willing to befriend a new patient, Rika Akiba. Due to a serious heart condition, Rika has spent most of her life in the hospital, and doesn't really have any friends. As Yuuichi and Rika spend time together and learn more about each other, their relationship soon blossoms into romance...

The series premiered in 2006, and is based on a light novel series by Tsumugu Hashimoto. The light novel series also inspired a live-action television drama and a film. Right Stuf's Lucky Entertainment released the series on DVD in April 2015.

Pita-Ten is available to users in the United States and Canada. Premium users will have all 13 episodes available, while free users will get a new episode available each week. Crunchyroll describes the show:

When your neighbor's an angel in training, there's no telling what could happen!

Kotarou used to spend most of his time alone, but when the apprentice angel Misha moves in next door, his life is thrown into chaos. Misha immediately clings to Kotarou, but since she doesn't know much about life on Earth, her “divine intervention” is anything but helpful. She constantly breaks things, gets into trouble, and causes all sorts of misunderstandings.

Now, Kotarou finds himself in one weird situation after another. Where will he end up next? The accidental lead in a school play? Literally glued to his friends? The victim of a voodoo doll? Who knows, but at least he won't be bored!

The series premiered in 2002, and it adapts Koge-Donbo*'s manga of the same name. Tokyopop released the eight-volume manga series in North America between 2004-2008. Right Stuf's Nozomi Entertainment released the anime series on DVD on February 2.

Ninja Nonsense is available to users in the United States and Canada in both the English dub and with English subtitles. Crunchyroll describes the show:

It's Super Explosive Ninja Insanity! Take the comedy of South Park, combine it with one totally cute (and naive) ninja-girl trainee, a horde of ninjas under the perverse tutelage of her headmaster: a strange, yellow, spherically pudgy... creature... named Onsokumaru, and you get the craziest, most hilarious anime show ever invented!

The series premiered in 2004. Right Stuf offered the series on four individual DVDs in 2006, along with complete collections in 2007, 2010, and 2013.