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Strike Witches 501 Butai Hasshinshimasu! Anime Reveals Staff, Spring 2019 Debut

The official website for the Strike Witches franchise revealed the staff and spring 2019 premiere for the anime adaptation of Makoto Fujibayashi's Strike Witches 501 Butai Hasshinshimasu! (Strike Witches 501st Unit, Taking Off!) manga on Tuesday.

Fumio Itō (episode director for Rage of Bahamut Genesis, School-Live!, Kino's Journey - The Beautiful World) is directing the anime at acca effe and Giga Production, with Production I.G and Anime Beans credited for collaborating on animation production. Shinya Murakami (Strike Witches 2, Strike Witches: Operation Victory Arrow, High School Fleet) returns for series literature. Seikou Nagaoka also returns to compose the music, with Nippon Columbia credited for music production. Other returning staff members include sound director Tomohiro Yoshida at Glovision and producer Takashi Tachizaki.

The anime will air on television and will stream online. Humikane Shimada and Projekt Kagonish are credited with the original work.

The anime will star:

• Misato Fukuen as Yoshika Miyafuji
• Saori Seto as Mio Sakamoto
• Kaori Nazuka as Lynette Bishop
• Miyuki Sawashiro as Perrine-H. Clostermann
• Rie Tanaka as Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke
• Mie Sonozaki as Gertrud Barkhorn
• Sakura Nogawa as Erica Hartmann
• Chiwa Saito as Francesca Lucchini
• Ami Koshimizu as Charlotte E Yeager
• Mai Kadowaki as Sanya V. Litvyak
• Ayuru Ōhashi as Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen

Fujibayashi published the manga in Kadokawa's 4-Koma Nano Ace magazine starting in 2012. Kadokawa published the manga's second and final compiled volume in October 2012. Kadokawa also published two volumes of the Strike Witches Gekijōban 501 Butai Hasshinshimasu! manga in 2014 and 2016. The manga ran in 4-Koma Nano Ace from 2013-2016.

The manga follows the silly everyday lives of the members of the 501st unit, as they cook and clean and do other everyday tasks when there's a lull in the Neuroi attacks.

The franchise's story centers on an alien invasion by beings known as the Neuroi. The only way to damage and ultimately defeat them lies in Witches, girls who possess magical powers and are capable of wielding Striker Units that enhances their abilities and allow them to maneuver in the air. The characters in the franchise are often based on real-life aerial aces from various nationalities.

The series is based on illustrator Humikane Shimada's mecha-girl illustrations, and Shimada is credited as the original creator and character designer for the franchise. The mixed-media franchise began with a manga in 2005, and a light novel series in 2006, both of which focus on different characters from the eventual Strike Witches anime. The anime premiered in 2008, and it spawned a sequel, a film, and OVA series. The franchise also spawned the Brave Witches anime in October 2016, as well as numerous spinoff manga, novels, and games.

The new Strike Witches: Road to Berlin TV anime will premiere in 2020, and the new Idol Witches (temporary title) TV anime will premiere in 2021.

Source: Strike Witches franchise's official website via Yaraon!