News

Moegaku Anime/Live-Action Language-Class Show to Air

The Japanese satellite channel BS-Fuji announced on December 2 that it will premiere Moegaku*5, a hybrid anime/live-action television series based on the Moegaku language-learning software, on January 14. The software version's original voice cast members will reprise their roles for the television series, and Aya Hirano (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya's Haruhi, Lucky Star's Konata) will play a new character named Megami-sama ("Goddess"). The series will air every weekday from 5:00 to 5:15 p.m. and cover a different language each day (Monday: English, Tuesday: Korean, Wednesday: Spanish, Thursday: Chinese, Friday: French).

For the original Moegaku software kit, the developer Idea Factory used a romance adventure game (with the traditional choose-your-own-adventure format) and English voiceovers to teach English to fans of cute girl characters. The software was first released for personal computers in 2005, but it was later ported to the Sony PSP portable game console. A trailer of the PSP version is available in high- or low-quality RealVideo format.

While the original software only taught English, the Moegaku*5 television series adds four more languages. The television series will add another twist by having a live-action segment in each episode. Each live-action segment will put the cast members (including Hirano) and a jump-roping performance group called Nawatobist before the camera. The staff includes director Nobuhiro Takamoto (Sasami: Magical Girl Club, Tenchi in Tokyo), scriptwriter and translator Akira Watanabe (Aa Megami-sama: Tatakau Tsubasa, Girls Bravo), and character designer Koji Watanabe (Blue Gender, Phantom - The Animation).

Source: Moon Phase

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