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Takuya Eguchi, Tomokazu Sugita Join Pokémon: The Origin Cast

The official website for the Pokémon franchise revealed two more cast members for the Pocket Monsters: The Origin television anime special on Friday. Takuya Eguchi (Inu X Boku Secret Service, Gosick) will star as the protagonist's rival, Green:

Tomokazu Sugita (Gintama, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) will play the gym leader Takeshi (Brock). Yūko Kobayashi plays Shigeru (Gary), and Yūji Ueda plays Takeshi (Brock) in previous Pokémon television anime series, films, and video anime. Takuya Eguchi also played Cheren in the Pokémon: Black and White: Rival Destinies television anime.

The new cast will be joining Junko Takeuchi (Naruto's titular character, Yes! Precure 5's Rin) as Red and Katsuji Mori (Gatchaman's Ken Washio, Gatchaman Crowds' J.J. Robins) as Professor Ōkido (Professor Oak).

In the anime's story, Red encounters a strange Pokémon in the fierce battle with Team Rocket's leader Sakaki (Giovanni). The characters are based on Nintendo's original Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green (released as Pokémon Blue in North America) video games. Rival Green, Gym Leader Takeshi (Brock), Red's mother, and Team Rocket also appear in this special set in Kanto, the first region ever seen in the Pokémon franchise.

The Pokémon Hitokage (Charmander), Ishitsubute (Geodude), Kamex (Blastoise), Lizardon (Charizard) and Shiten'nō (Elite Four) member Wataru (Lance) are featured in the anime's promotional video. The video premiered at the "Pokémon Game Show" event held at the Tokyo Big Sight event center on August 17.