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Raccoon Rascal Anime Gets New Araiguma Calcal-dan TV Spinoff

Nippon Animation announced on Thursday that it is producing a new television anime spinoff of the Raccoon Rascal (Araiguma Rascal) franchise titled Araiguma Calcal-dan (Raccoon Calcal Force) that will premiere next year.

The tagline on the teaser visual reads, "A half-century after the enduring masterpiece, they arrive on Earth."

The anime will star Junya Enoki, Taku Yashiro, Kenshō Ono, Yōhei Azakami, and Kenjirō Tsuda, though the anime did not yet reveal their roles.

Henry Hirakawa is directing the anime at Nippon Animation. Ayano Yoshioka (Let's Make a Mug Too) is designing the characters. Arisa Okehazama is composing the music. Kisuke Koizumi is the sound director. Kozo Misawa (Yomiuri TV) and Hitomi Hiratsuka (Nippon Animation) are credited as chief producers. Hiroya Tanaka (Yomiuri TV) and Kasumi Dekune (Nippon Animation) are credited as producers.

The Raccoon Rascal/Rascal the Raccoon franchise originates from Nippon Animation's 52-episode 1977 television anime of the same name, itself based on the novel Rascal, A Memoir of a Better Era by Sterling North. The series was part of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater series of anime adapting classic children's books. Famed Studio Ghibli co-founder and director Hayao Miyazaki was one of the animators for the series.

The franchise inspired the Poka Poka Mori no Rascal anime in 2006, as well as the Meitantei Rascal anime in 2014.

Sources: Araiguma Calcal-dan anime's website, Comic Natalie