News
Gunma-chan Mascot Anime Gets 2nd Season
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Anime production company Ascension announced on Saturday that it has started production on a second season of the television anime based on Gunma Prefecture's mascot character Gunma-chan. Ascension is also recruiting staff for the production
The first season premiered on Tokyo MX, TV Kanagawa, TV Saitama, Chiba TV, Gunma TV, Tochigi TV, Sun TV, and KBS Kyoto in October 2021. Gunma Prefecture previously stated it has plans to stream the anime online worldwide with Japanese audio and English, French, and Chinese subtitles after the television broadcast had finished. The first season had 39 episodes with each episode running for seven minutes, and it aired on television three episodes at a time (similarly to how the Sazae-san anime airs). The final episode aired on December 26.
Mitsuru Hongo (Ascendance of a Bookworm, Outlaw Star, World Trigger, Deltora Quest) directed and wrote the anime at Ascension (Dino Girl Gauko). Karin Takahashi voiced the titular protagonist Gunma-chan. Aya Uchida and Yui Ogura voiced Gunma-chan's friends Aoma and Mimi.
The current pony mascot debuted as the "Yūma-chan" mascot for a sports competition in 1994, and became the prefecture's Gunma-chan mascot in 2008. It replaced an earlier Gunma-chan design that the prefecture used since the 1980s.
