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The Caligula Effect Game Gets TV Anime Adaptation in April 2018

FuRyu announced during a livestream presentation on Friday for its The Caligula Effect game that the game is getting a television anime adaptation that will premiere in April 2018.

In the original game's story, written by Tadashi Satomi, a virtual idol known as μ performs user-inputted songs and gains self-awareness through exposure to users' bitter feelings and dissatisfaction toward reality. Wanting to save humanity — which she believes is continuously suffering — she lures people to a virtual reality world called Mobius with her songs. She then imprisons them in Mobius, thinking they will be free from the suffering of reality and that all their wishes will come true. The game follows the nine members of the "Going Home Club," a club that was formed because the characters want to escape from Mobius and go home. The game's title refers to the "Caligula Effect," which is a pattern of behavior where one wants to see or do something more if it is denied to them.

The in-game composer characters are represented by real independent music composers, including 40mP (KagiP), OSTER PROJECT (Sweet P), Polyphonic Branch (Shonen Doll), CyoucyoP (Mirei), Asa (IkeP), 164 (Shadow Knife), and cosMo@BosoP (Sone).

The game's main cast is as follows:

• Chiharu Sawashiro as the protagonist
• Rie Murakawa as Kotono Kashiwaba
• Shunsuke Takeuchi as Shogo Satake
• Rie Takahashi as Mihue Sonohara
• Yoshimasa Hosoya as Kotarō Tomoe
• Minami Tanaka as Suzuna Kagura
• Yūichirō Umehara as Izuru Minezawa
• Ari Ozawa as Naruko Morita
• Shōta Aoi as Kensuke Hibiki and KagiP
• Reina Ueda as μ
• Eriko Nakamura as Mirei
• Emi Nitta as SweetP
• Sōma Saitō as IkeP
• Yumiri Hanamori as Shonen Doll
• Yūma Uchida as Shadow Knife
• Yuka Ōtsubo as Sone

The game shipped in Japan for the PlayStation Vita in June 2016. The game launched in North America on May 2, and in Europe on May 9. The release was digital only in the West. The original game is getting a remake for the PlayStation 4 that will ship in Japan on May 17.

Update: The anime retains the main voice cast from the games, but not necessarily in the same roles:

• Chiharu Sawashiro as Ritsu Shikishima (the male and female protagonists have no default name in the games)
• Reina Ueda as μ
• Shunsuke Takeuchi as Shōgo Satake
• Yūichirō Umehara as Izuru Minezawa
• Yoshimasa Hosoya as Kotarō Tomoei
• Rie Murakawa as Kotono Kashiwaba
• Ari Ozawa as Naruko Morita
• Rie Takahashi as Mifue Shinohara
• Minami Tanaka as Suzuna Kagura
• Mai Fuchigami as Marie Mizuguchi
• Asami Shimoda as Aria
• Shōta Aoi as KagiP
• Emi Nitta as SweetP
• Yumiri Hanamori as Shōnen Doll
• Eriko Nakamura as Mirei
• Sōma Saitō IkeP
• Yūma Uchida as Shadow Knife
• Yuka Ōtsubo as Sone