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Crunchyroll to Simulcast Asobi ni Ikuyo Anime

The media-distribution website Crunchyroll has announced on Friday that it will launch a simulcast of the anime adaptation of Okina Kamino's Asobi ni Ikuyo! light novel series next week. Asobi ni Ikuyo: Bombshells from the Sky features an ordinary high school boy living in Okinawa — and the alien catgirl who appears before him and requires protection from a mysterious government agency. Crunchyroll's simulcast will be available worldwide, except in Japan, Korea, and Mongolia. Crunchyroll's press release also proclaimed Asobi ni Ikuyo! to be part of "Crunchyroll's Summer 2010 lineup of more simulcasts than any other place on the web."

The 13-episode television anime series was announced in March of 2009 and is set to premiere in Japan on Sunday. The cast includes Haruka Tomatsu, Kana Hanazawa, and Kanae Itō, and the project is the directorial debut of Yooichi Ueda (Mecha animation director on Mobile Suit Gundam Seed; animation director on Bamboo Blade, Infinite Ryvius).

Media Factory has published 14 volumes since Kamino started the light novel series in 2003. A manga adaptation has been running in Monthly Comic Alive magazine from the same publisher since 2006, and seven manga volumes have since been compiled. Houdeneizou (Wagaya no Oinari-sama.) draws the illustrations in the light novels, while the artist "888" draws the manga version.

Update: More background information added.

Image © Okina Kamino, Media Factory/Catia Embassy