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Animax Asia Streams Ad for BanG Dream! Anime

Southeast Asian channel Animax Asia began streaming a commercial on Monday for its simulcast airing of the BanG Dream! television anime. The video features the anime's opening theme song "Tokimeki Experience!" by Poppin' Party.

Animax Asia will begin airing BanG Dream! on January 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Indonesia and Thailand, and at 8:30 p.m. in Singapore and the Philippines.

Animax Asia describes BanG Dream!:

Just like the sparkling sound “Star Beat” that she heard while looking up at the starry skies when she was young, Kasumi Toyama has been searching for something that would excite and make her heart go pit-a-pat.

After getting into high school, Kasumi comes across a star-shaped guitar in an old pawnshop. It is this fateful meeting that evokes the emotions that have been locked up within Kasumi.

Teaming up with four other girls who, like Kasumi, dream of a place that can make them shine, the five of them work towards realising their musical dream.

The anime will premiere in Japan on January 21.

The program is a mixed-media project that includes live performances from the girls' band Poppin' Party.

Bushiroad launched the BanG Dream! multimedia project in January 2015, and the company formed the Poppin' Party band for the project in February 2015. The band's members consist of voice actresses who portray the characters in the story, and they play the same instruments as their characters. The cast includes:

• Aimi as Kasumi Toyama on guitar and vocals
• Ayasa Itō as Arisa Ichigaya on keyboard
• Rimi Nishimoto as Rimi Ushigome on bass
• Sae Ootsuka as Tae Hanazono on lead guitar
• Ayaka Ōhashi as Saaya Yamabuki on drums

Bushiroad and OLM's joint anime brand ISSEN is credited with the original work, and is also handling animation production alongside XEBEC. Novelist Kō Nakamura is credited with the original story, and Hitowa designed the original characters. Atsushi Ootsuki (Wagnaria!!2, To Love Ru: Darkness, Argevollen) is directing the anime, and Yuniko Ayana (Locodol, Girls Beyond the Wasteland, Hello!! KINMOZA) is handling the series composition. Matsuko Nitta is adapting Hitowa's characters for animation, and Noriyasu Agematsu and Junpei Fujita from Elements Garden are producing the music.

Novelist Kō Nakamura launched a manga titled BanG_Dream! Star Beat in Bushiroad's Monthly Bushiroad magazine in January 2015, and Mami Kashiwabara launched the BanG Dream! manga in spring 2016 with Nakamura collaborating on the story. Hakuto Shiroi also launched a separate BanG Dream! manga, Yon-koma Bandori! (4-panel BanG Dream!), in Kadokawa's Dengeki G's Comic magazine last year.