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Humanoid Monster Bem Franchise Gets New TV Anime in 2019
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
An official website opened on Friday to announce that a new anime for the Yōkai Ningen Bem (Humanoid Monster Bem) franchise has been green-lit. The anime will be titled BEM, and it is slated to air this year. The website also began streaming a teaser promotional video for the anime.
The new anime will be part of the 50th anniversary project for the franchise. Katsuyuki Konishi will voice Bem, M.A.O will voice Bela, and Kenshō Ono will play Belo.
Yoshinori Odaka (B-Daman CrossFire, B-Daman Fireblast) is directing the anime at LandQ studios, and Atsuhiro Tomioka (Pokémon XY, Trinity Blood) is in charge of the series scripts. Masakazu Sunagawa (Azure Striker Gunvolt, Nōgyō Musume!) is adapting the original character designs by Range Murata (Blue Submarine No. 6, Last Exile) for animation. NAS is planning the project in collaboration with Production I.G.
The original classic supernatural adventure anime aired from 1968 to 1969. In the original 26-episode anime, Bem, Bela, and Belo are ugly humanoid monsters (yōkai) who fight for justice. The monsters live among humans and protect them from evil yōkai. The three find themselves ostracized from both humans and other yōkai, but the three continue to fight in hopes of one day becoming humans themselves.
A 26-episode remake anime series aired in 2006. The franchise inspired a 10-episode live-action television series starring KAT-TUN's Kazuya Kamenashi in 2011, and then a live-action film with the same cast in December 2012. The franchise's gag comedy anime Ore-tacha Yōkai Ningen premiered in October 2017, and the Ore-tacha Yōkai Ningen G anime debuted in April 2018.
Sources: BEM anime's website and YouTube channel, Comic Natalie
