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MAPPA's Taiso Samurai Gymnastics TV Anime Reveals More Cast, Video, Visual

The official website for Taiso Samurai (Taisō-Zamurai or Gymnastics Samurai), the new original sports television anime from the studio MAPPA (Yuri!!! on Ice, Zombie Land Saga), revealed more cast members, the main promotional video, and a new key visual on Tuesday.

The newly announced cast members are:
(Note: some character name romanizations are unconfirmed.)

• Atsuko Tanaka as Mari Aragaki
• Kotono Mitsuishi as Tomoyo Aragaki
• Kappei Yamaguchi as Bigbird Aragaki
• Hiroyuki Yoshino as Tomoki Takizawa
• Nana Mizuki as Ayu
• Daisuke Hirakawa as Naohiko Nakanomori
• Kaito Ishikawa as Atsushi Dōjima
• Daisuke Ono as Shige Nishikiori
• Kengo Kawanishi as Hiro Okamachi
• Hiroshi Kamiya as Ryū Ryūshō
• Minami Tanaka as Kitty Chan
• Rikiya Koyama as Britney

The previously announced main cast includes:

• Daisuke Namikawa as Shōtarō Aragaki
• Kenshō Ono as Leonardo
• Yūki Kaji as Tetsuo Minamino, Shōtarō's rival
• Kenyuu Horiuchi as Noriyuki Amakusa, Shōtarō's coach
• Rina Honnizumi as Rei Aragaki, Shōtarō's daughter

The story is set in the year 2002 and centers on the once powerful Japanese men's gymnastics team. Shōtarō Aragaki, the former Japanese team member who devoted his life to gymnastics, is no longer able to compete to his expectations. Despite still training strenuously day after day, he is advised to retire by his coach Amakusa. However, a certain encounter alters Aragaki's fate.

The anime reunites director Hisatoshi Shimizu (Zombie Land Saga, episode director Eureka Seven: Hi - Evolution director), series script supervisor Shigeru Murakoshi (Zombie Land Saga, Dororo), and character designer Kasumi Fukagawa (Zombie Land Saga, IDOLiSH7).

The other staff members include:

• Original Story: Snack Mary
• Chief Animation Director: Fumihide Sai
• Art Director: Masatoshi Kai
• Color Key Arist: Azusa Sasaki
• Director of Photography: Mitsuhiro Sato
• Editing: Keisuke Yanagi
• Music: Masaru Yokoyama

The series will premiere at 25:30 a.m. on October 10 (effectively, 1:30 a.m. on October 11) in TV Asahi's NUMAnimation block, and it will air on a total of 24 affiliated networks. Asahi Broadcasting (ABC) and TV Asahi will expand NUMAnimation to station affiliates throughout Japan, starting in October. In addition, the series will premiere simultaneously on the Abema TV streaming service in Japan.

Sources: Taiso Samurai anime's website and Twitter account, Comic Natalie