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Metal Band Seikima II to Perform Terraformars Revenge Anime Theme Songs
posted on by Karen Ressler
Japanese heavy metal band Seikima II's front man Demon Kakka announced at the final day of the band's 30th anniversary tour on Saturday that the group will perform the theme songs to the Terraformars Revenge television anime sequel. The upcoming single CD will be the group's first single in 17 years.
The single CD will include the songs "Kōryōtaru Shinsekai" and "Planet / The Hell," as well as instrumental versions of both. The CD will ship on April 13. Limited first printings will include a Terraformars jacket design.
Terraformars manga writer Yū Sasuga is a fan of Seikima II, and has used Seikima II song titles as chapter titles. He also drew the rough sketch of a compilation album CD cover (pictured right) drawn by Terraformars artist Kenichi Tachibana.
The band's name is pronounced "seikimatsu," which means "end of the century." The group debuted in 1985 and released their first hit single in 1986. The group "disbanded" in 1999 but has performed several limited revival concerts. The group inspired an original video animation, Seikima II Humane Society - Jinruiai ni Michita Shakai, in 1992.
The show's staff will differ from the first season. Michio Fukuda (Hyakko, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan: Demon Capital) is taking over for Hiroshi Hamasaki as director at the studios Liden Films and TYO Animations. Cagetzu Aizawa (Rage of Bahamut: Genesis sub-character designer) and Atsushi Ikariya (Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, Fate/Zero, Harmonie) are designing the characters, and Naruhisa Arakawa (MAOYU, Kingdom) is taking over for Shogo Yasukawa to handle the series composition.
Masanori Shino and Satoshi Kimura had served as main character designer and character designer, respectively, for the previous TV anime series.
The series will premiere in April.
Kenichi Tachibana and Yū Sasuga launched the original Terra Formars manga in 2011, and as of the series' 15th volume, which shipped on November 19, it has 14 million copies in circulation. Viz Media is releasing the manga in North America, and it describes the story:
In the late 26th century, overpopulation on Earth is reaching the breaking point, and humanity must find new frontiers. The terraforming of Mars has taken centuries, but is now complete. The colonization of Mars by humanity is an epoch-making event, but an unintended side effect of the terraforming process unleashes a horror no one could ever have imagined...After humanity's first manned mission to the Red Planet was lost, a second expedition arrives. The explorers prepare to exterminate the cockroaches that were used to transform the Martian environment. They are shocked to discover that the insects have mutated into giant, aggressive humanoids with one overriding goal: exterminate the humans! But this crew of explorers has each undergone the "Bugs Procedure, " terrifying experimental surgery designed to make them more than human...
The first 13-episode television anime series adapting the Annex 1 arc of the manga premiered in September 2014, and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired. The companion original video anime (OVA) project adapted the Bugs 2 arc on discs bundled with the 10th and 11th manga volumes. The Annex 1 arc takes place 20 years after the Bugs 2 arc.
The manga is also inspiring a live-action film directed by Takashi Miike (live-action films of Ichi the Killer, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Yatterman, As the Gods Will, Crows, Mogura no Uta). Kazuki Nakashima (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill) penned the screenplay for the film. The film will open in Japan on April 29. The film is in turn also inspiring a live-action television prequel, which will air on April 24.
Sources: Anime! Anime!; Kōsuke Obana, Music Natalie, (link 2)
