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Ginga e Kickoff!! Soccer Anime to Restart NHK-G's Anime Block (Updated)
posted on by Egan Loo
NHK General, the main television channel of Japan's public broadcaster, will relaunch its animation programming block this spring with the soccer anime Ginga e Kickoff!! (Kickoff to the Galaxy!!). The story follows a boy who was in a soccer team, but it was disbanded due to not enough players. However, after the boy meets a female professional soccer player, he aims to bring his soccer team back.
The anime is an adaptation of the 2006 soccer novel Ginga no World Cup (Galactic World Cup) by Hiroto Kawabata. The anime will premiere on Saturday, April 7 at 9:30 a.m., and all 18 professional soccer teams in Japan's top-tier J1 League are collaborating on a special segment. The segment will have boys and girls playing against actual J-Leaguers.
It has been six years since NHK General aired the Korean animated series Jang Geum's Dream in 2006. NHK General once ran such anime programs as Nadia - The Secret of Blue Water. NHK General's sibling channel E-Tele (NHK Educational) has also run animated programs such as Bakuman.
The educational program Kagai Jugyō: Yōkoso Senpai (Extracurricular Class: Welcome, Senpai) currently runs in NHK General's 9:30 a.m. timeslot in Saturday, but it will become a monthly program on Saturdays.
Source: Nikkan Sports
Update: More background information and new image added.
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