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Kimi dake ni Motetainda Anime's Trailer Reveals Theme Song, Insert Song
posted on by Alex Mateo
The official website for AKB48 producer Yasushi Akimoto and NTV's original anime project Kimi dake ni Motetainda (I Want to be Popular Just to You) began streaming a trailer for the theatrical anime on Tuesday. The video reveals and previews the theme song "High School Princess" and the insert song "Ai no Kusari" (Chain of Love).
The five main male cast members - Sōma Saitō, Kouki Uchiyama, Rikiya Tomizono, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, and Yuichiro Umehara - perform the theme song as their respective characters. The "High School Children" group - Hiroshi Ishibashi, Keito Takahashi, Rui Tabuchi, Rikiya Tomizono , and Tomoya Fukui - are making their debut performing the insert song. The single including both songs will ship on October 30.
The theatrical anime will open on October 25.
The youth story film will center on a group of five handsome high school boys who each have traits that bring them down. Through certain events, they are led by a girl on their quest to win the "Motemen Koshien" (Handsome Men at Koshien) contest.
The cast members include:

Kouki Uchiyama as Shigekazu Ashida, who acts like a child
Rikiya Tomizono as Kōtarō Tojima, who is too overly cute to be thought of romantically
Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Aki Sahashi, who has no interest in other people
Yuichiro Umehara as Shun Gotōda, the one who leads the boys in "how to be cool" lessons
Yui Ishikawa as Sakiko "Horiko" Horinomiya, a girl from a well-off family
Yuuki Kaji also joins the cast as the host.
The debut voice actors are Hiroshi Ishibashi, Keito Takahashi, Rui Tabuchi, Rikiya Tomizono, and Tomoya Fukui were previously announced as cast members for the anime after winning the Kimi Mote Lodge audition show. The group will form the "High School Children" group.
Shun Kudō (Cross Ange, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans episode director) is directing the anime at Signal.MD. As previously announced, Mari Okada (Maquia, Anohana, The Anthem of the Heart) is penning the script for the anime, and Yamako (HoneyWorks) is the character designer. Akiko Wabe and Nanami Higuchi is co-writing the script with Okada. Majiro (Macross Delta, Kabukibu!, The Thousand Noble Musketeers) is designing the characters for animation.
Other new staff members include:
- Monitor Graphic Designer: Masato Matsune
- Art Director: Yoshimi Mineda
- Color Key: Miho Tanaka
- 3D Director: Ryūsei Nakajima
- Compositing Director of Photography: Daiki Sugiyama
- Editing: Yūki Honda
- Sound Director: Yasunori Ebina
- Planning Cooperation: Vizm
Akimoto founded the AKB48 idol group in 2005, and its sixth and latest domestic sister group, STU48, launched in summer 2017. Akimoto also founded AKB48's "official rival group" Nogizaka46, as well as its spinoff group Keyakizaka46. Akimoto and Okada collaborated with Shoji Kawamori and Satelight on the AKB0048 anime.
Akimoto founded the 22/7 "dimension crossing" idol group. The group has released four singles (the most recent shipped on August 21), three of them with CG music videos. That project also has a planned anime slated for January 2020, and the group's character videos began streaming in English in May 2018.
Most recently, Akimoto announced a partnership with Warner Music Japan to produce a new "idol girls band."
Sources: Kimi dake ni Motetainda anime's website, Comic Natalie