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Reikenzan Season 2's 1st Teaser Video Reveals Title, New Staff, January Premiere

Studio DEEN posted the first teaser for the second season of the Reikenzan television anime on Thursday. The video reveals that the season, titled Reikenzan: Eichi e no Shikaku (Sacred Sword Mountain: Qualification for Wisdom), will premiere next January.

The video also reveals Studio DEEN's mostly new main staff for the second season. Susumu Nishizawa (MAPS, Hikaru no Go, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed C.E.73: Stargazer) is directing and supervising the series scripts. Tatsuo Yanagino (Symphony in August) is designing the characters, and Chikako Shibata is the art director.

Kayoko Nishi and Makiko Doi are the color key artists, while Katsuaki Kamada and Kouji Aoki are directors of photography. Rie Matsubara is editing. The first season's sound director Kazuya Tanaka and musical composer Ryō Kawasaki are returning for the second season.

The following cast members are also reprising their roles:

• Tsubasa Yonaga as Ōriku
• Yuriko Yamaguchi as Ōbu
• Eriko Nakamura as Rei

The idol unit Merry★Go★Lands sings the opening theme song "Genkai Kentobashite" (Kick Down the Barriers) and the ending theme song "Chikara ni Kaete."

The anime is based on Guo Wang Bi Xia's (lit. His Majesty the King) popular Chinese online novel and comic titled Cong Qian You Zuo Ling Jian Shan (lit: There Was a Spiritual Sword Mountain). The online novel launched in August 2013, and Zhuhua and Junxiaomo's online comic launched in August 2014.

Studio DEEN produced the first anime series, Reikenzan: Hoshikuzu-tachi no Utage (Mt. Reiken: Stardust's Banquet or alternately, Sacred Sword Mountain: Stardust's Banquet), with Chinese company Shenzhen Tencent Computer System Company Limited and that season premiered in January. It aired simultaneously in Japan and Chinawith both a Japanese-language version and a Mandarin Chinese-language version of the show.

In the anime's story, a comet falling will bring about a great calamity, and in order to choose a child fated by the falling comet, the family of the "Reiken" clan with a long storied history is once again resuming its entrance examination process to find disciples. The protagonist Ōriku (Lu Wang in the original novel), who possesses a special soul that is only available once in a thousand years, decides to take the exam, and he starts down the path toward becoming an exceptional sage.

Iku Suzuki (Yumeiro Pâtissière, Maze, Kodocha, DearS) directed the series at Studio DEEN. Makoto Iino (key animator for Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, Oreshura, Sword Art Online) handled the character design, and Yumiko Ishii (Samurai Harem, animation director for Samurai Champloo, Space Brothers) served as chief animation director. Additionally, Hirofune Hane(Gifū Dōdō!! Kanetsugu to Keiji) was the art director, Kazuhisa Yamabu handled the color key, Kazuya Tanaka (Mushi-Shi, Actually, I Am…, Flowers of Evil) was the sound director, and Half HP Studio produced the sound. Ryo Kawasaki composed the music.