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Funimation to Stream Astra Lost in Space, BEM TV Anime This Summer
posted on by Egan Loo
Funimation announced on Friday that it will stream the television anime of Kenta Shinohara's Astra Lost in Space (Kanata no Astra) manga in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Funimation plans to also stream a dub of the anime.
Kadokawa also began streaming a video on Friday that previews the show's first episode.
The anime will premiere on AT-X at 9:00 p.m on July 3. The show will also debut on the same day on Tokyo MX, TV Aichi, KBS Kyoto, Sun TV, and BS11 channels, as well as the d Anime Store and Amazon Prime Video streaming services in Japan. The anime will begin its broadcast with a one-hour special.
Viz Media publishes the Astra Lost in Space manga in English, and it describes the story:
Itʼs the first day of Planet Camp, and Aries Spring couldnʼt be more excited! She, along with eight other strangers, leave for Planet McPa for a weeklong excursion. Soon after they arrive, however, a mysterious orb appears and transports them into the depths of space, where they find an empty floating spaceship…
Masaomi Andō (White Album 2, School-Live!, Scum's Wish) is directing the anime at Lerche. Norimitsu Kaihō (School-Live!, Gunslinger Stratos: The Animation, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka) is in charge of the series' scripts. Keiko Kurosawa (Re:␣Hamatora, Scum's Wish, Asobi Asobase) is designing the characters and serving as the main chief animation director. Masaru Yokoyama (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Queen's Blade: The Exiled Virgin) and Nobuaki Nobusawa (Steins;Gate 0, Dagashi Kashi) are composing the music. nonoc will perform the anime's opening theme song "star*frost," while Riko Azuna will perform the ending song "Glow at the Velocity of Light."
Funimation has also announced that it will stream the BEM television anime in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. That anime's streaming will start on July 7, and its dub will premiere on July 21.
The anime will air on TV Tokyo and TV Aichi on July 7 late at night (effectively July 8) at 1:35 a.m., and will also air on TV Osaka starting on July 8.
The BEM anime is the latest in a franchise that began with Yōkai Ningen Bem (Humanoid Monster Bem), a classic supernatural adventure anime which 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.
The new anime will be part of the 50th anniversary project for the franchise. 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 jazz band Soil & "Pimp" Sessions and Michiru (Izetta: The Last Witch, Kokkoku) are composing the music, and flying dog is producing the music. Maaya Sakamoto will perform the show's opening theme song "Uchū no Kioku" (Memories of the Universe). Ringo Sheena is writing, composing, and arranging the song. JUNNA will perform the ending theme song "Iruimi." The video below previews both songs.
Sources: Funimation, Kadokawa Anime's YouTube channel
