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AKB48's 'Rival' Idol Group Nogizaka46 Sings Magi Ending

This year's 41st issue of Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine is announcing on Wednesday that Nogizaka46, AKB48's "official rival" idol group, will perform the ending theme song for the Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic anime. The visual-kei rock band SID (Black Butler, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) had previously revealed that it will contribute the opening theme song "V.I.P."

AKB48's own producer Yasushi Akimoto created Nogizaka46 with Sony Music Entertainment last year. The group is named after Sony Music Entertainment's Nogizaka Building, the site of the group's final audition. The "46" in the name represents the group's rivalry with AKB48, along with the motto: "Even with fewer members than AKB48, we won't lose."

The Weekly Shonen Sunday issue is also presenting a new piece of key visual art for the anime, as well as a teaser that the next issue will announce another adaptation of Shinobu Ohtaka's original manga. The issue will also feature character designs of the main and supporting cast alongside staff comments regarding each character.

The manga re-imagines tales from the classic story One Thousand and One Nights (also known as Arabian Nights). Shinobu Ohtaka, the creator of Sumomomo Momomo, has been serializing the manga since 2009, and Shogakukan is publishing the 14th compiled book volume this month.

Director Koji Masunari (Read or Die, Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW) is helming the anime adaptation at A-1 Pictures. Toshifumi Akai (Kokoro Connect, Sound of the Sky) is designing the characters and Hiroyuki Yoshino (Accel World, Guilty Crown, My-HiME) is handling the scripts. Shiro Sagisu (Evangelion, Bleach) is scoring the soundtrack.

This 90th anniversary project from Shogakukan will premiere on October 7 and run every Sunday at 5:00 p.m. on MBS, TBS, and their network of affiliates.

[Via Manga News (link 2), 0takomu]