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Sonny Boy Sci-Fi Anime Unveils Musical Artists With Input by Cowboy Bebop's Shinichiro Watanabe
posted on by Egan Loo
The official Twitter account for director Shingo Natsume (One-Punch Man, ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., Space Dandy) and Madhouse's original science-fiction survival television anime Sonny Boy announced the musicians who will be contributing to the anime's soundtrack on Thursday. The account also announced that director Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus, Kids on the Slope, Space Dandy, Carole & Tuesday) is serving as the anime's musical advisor. Character designer Norifumi Kugai contributed a new teaser visual:
Sunset Rollercoaster (top center in the image below), VIDEOTAPEMUSIC (center), The Natsuyasumi Band (center right), mitsume (top right), Ogawa ＆ Tokoro (top left), Mid-Air Thief, Kaneyorimasaru (center left), toe (bottom left), and Conisch (bottom right) are contributing songs made exclusively for this anime. Conisch in particular is working on the piano background music.
The video below samples the musicians' songs after Ging Nang Boyz' opening theme song "Shōnen Shōjo":
Watanabe explained that at Natsume's request, he introduced bands and artists whose musical styles matched the anime. Watanabe emphasized that Natsume made the final call on which artists to bring onto the soundtrack.
The anime's first episode will have an advance online "screening" on June 19 at 8:00 p.m. (7:00 a.m. EDT). The anime soundtrack's "1st half" will go on sale on July 21 — only as an analog vinyl record — while the "2nd half" will go on sale on September 8.
Funimation posted an English-subtitled version of the earlier teaser trailer:
The science-fiction ensemble drama centers around 36 boys and girls. On August 16, midway through a seemingly endless summer vacation, middle school third-year student Nagara, the mysterious transfer student Nozomi, and classmates such as Mizuho and Asakaze, are suddenly transported from their tranquil daily lives to a school adrift in an alternate dimension. They must survive with the super powers that have awakened within them.
The anime stars:
Saori Ōnishi as Nozomi, a transfer student who just returned to Japan from Berlin
Aoi Yūki as Mizuho, a classmate who is always surrounded by the three cats who were dear to her grandmother
Chiaki Kobayashi as Asakaze, a rebellious classmate who hates being ordered around
Natsume conceived the story and is directing and writing the anime at Madhouse. Norifumi Kugai (ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.) is handling the anime characters designs based on the original designs by manga artist and illustrator Hisashi Euguchi (Perfect Blue, Roujin Z, Eiji, Stop! Hibari-kun, Mujin Wakusei Survive).
Studio Pablo's Mari Fujino (Dororo) is directing the art, and Ken Hashimoto is the color key artist. Akane Fushihara is serving as the compositing director of photography, and Kashiko Kimura is editing. Shōji Hata is directing the sound.
Ging Nang Boyz rock band vocalist and guitarist Kazunobu Mineta wrote the theme song "Shōnen Shōjo" (Boys and Girls) specifically for the anime.
The series will premiere on July 15 at 24:30 (effectively, July 16 at 12:30 a.m.) on the Tokyo MX and KBS Kyoto channels. It will also run on Sun TV, BS Asahi, and RAB Aomori Broadcasting Corporation. Funimation will stream the anime.
Sources: Sonny Boy anime's website, Comic Natalie, Funimation (Nicholas Friedman)
