News
Crunchyroll to Stream Folktales from Japan TV Anime
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The media distribution service Crunchyroll announced on Thursday that it will stream the Folktales from Japan (Furusato Saisei Nippon no Mukashi Banashi) television anime series as it airs in Japan. The website will stream the series worldwide for premium members outside of Japan, and for free members in the following countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. Crunchyroll will begin airing the series on Saturday, March 31 at 8:30 pm EDT.
Actor Akira Emoto (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney's Judge, Yona Yona Penguin's Jii), and actress Yoneko Matsukane (The Rose of Versailles' Jeanne, Little Lulu's Iggy) will narrate the series. Voice actress and singer Shoko "Shokotan" Nakagawa will perform the opening and ending theme songs for the series.
Each episode in the series will tell three different folklore, myth, legend, and festival origin stories from across Japan. One of the stories in the show's first episode will tell the tale of "Hanasaka Jiisan," which comes from Japan's Tohoku region, about an elderly childless couple whose mysterious dog brings them good fortune. The couple's neighbors then become jealous and kidnap the dog. The animation studio Tomason is producing the series.
Update: Background information added.
Image © TV Tokyo ・ Hakuhodo ・ Tomason
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history