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Aoashi Anime Gets 11 Live-Action Promotional Shorts

The official YouTube channel for Shogakukan's Big Comic family of magazines began streaming 11 live-action promotional shorts for the television anime of Yūgo Kobayashi's Aoashi manga on Monday. The shorts tell a story of a third-year middle school student and soccer player who reads Aoashi. The shorts follow the friction in his relationship with his mother, who hates soccer, in the days before he goes to Tokyo to try out for the J-League youth team.

The Aoashi anime will premiere on the NHK Educational channel on April 9, and will air on Saturdays at 6:25 p.m.

The previously announced cast includes:

• Kouki Ohsuzu as Ashito Aoi
• Tatsumaru Tachibana as Eisaku Ohtomo
• Seiichirō Yamashita as Sōichirō Tachibana
• Taku Yashiro as Keiji Togashi
• Shun Horie as Kanpei Kuroda
• Wataru Katō as Martis Jun Asari
• Junya Enoki as Yūma Motoki
• Kentarō Kumagai as Ryūichi Takeshima
• Shunsuke Takeuchi as Nagisa Akutsu
• Yuichiro Umehara as Haruhisa Kuribayashi
• Kenshō Ono as Taira Nakamura
• Kōki Uchiyama as Yōichi Kiriki
• Makoto Furukawa as Eita Takasugi
• Maki Kawase as Hana Ichijō
• Reina Ueda as Anri Kaidō
• Chikahiro Kobayashi as Tatsuya Fukuda
• Hiroki Yasumoto as Nozomi Date
• Kazuyuki Okitsu as Kenta Yoshitsune
• Mikako Komatsu as Aoi Kaneko
• Mie Sonozaki as Noriko Aoi
• Yoshiki Nakajima as Shun Aoi

Akira Sato (Release the Spyce) is directing the anime at Production I.G. Masahiro Yokotani (Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club, All Out!!, Tropical-Rouge! Precure) is in charge of the series scripts. Manabu Nakatake, Toshie Kawamura, Asuka Yamaguchi, and Saki Hasegawa are all credited for character design, with Natake and Yamaguchi also credited as chief animation directors. Naho Seike, Yukiko Watabe, Miho Daidouji, and Eisuke Shirai are credited as sub-character designers. Kenichi Takeshita, Jun Soga, and Kenji Iizuka are credited for soccer supervision. Masaru Yokoyama is composing the music.

Alexandros will perform the opening theme song "Mushin Hakusū" (Innocent Beat Count) and Rinne will perform the ending theme song "Blue Diary."

The manga centers on third-year middle school student Ashito Aoi, who lives in Ehime prefecture. Ashito has a strong talent in soccer, but he tries to hide it. Due to his very straightforward personality, he causes a disaster that serves as a huge setback for him. Then, Tatsuya Fukuya — a veteran of the strong J-Club team Tokyo City Esperion and coach of the club's youth team — appears in front of Ashito. Tatsuya sees through Ashito and sees his talent, and invites him to try out for the youth team in Tokyo.

Kobayashi launched the manga in Shogakukan's Weekly Big Comic Spirits magazine in January 2015. The manga is based on an original story concept by Naohiko Ueno.

Sources: Big Comic's YouTube channel, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web