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Children's Puppet Show Ganko-Chan Gets TV Anime

NHK opened an official website for a series of television anime shorts based on its long-running educational puppet program Zawazawa Mori no Ganko-chan (Ganko-chan of Rustling Forest) on Monday. The anime series, titled Gan Gan Ganko-chan, celebrates the franchise's 20th anniversary.

The anime will premiere on BS Premium on December 19 and December 26 at 6:25 p.m., but regular broadcast will not begin until January 23 at the same time. Episodes will be five minutes long.

The comedy follows a boy named Gen, who time travels from the year 2020 to a distant future where humanity has gone extinct. He begins staying at the Ganko family home in the Rustling Forest, where he has none of the amenities he is used to: no electricity, gas, or running water, as well as no television, smartphones, convenience stores, snacks, or games.

The cast includes:

• Keiko Nemoto as Ganko-chan
• Yumiko Kobayashi as Gen-kun
• Noriko Hidaka as Ganpē / Tsumu / Hipo-sensei
• Kenichi Ogata as Ganko-chan's father / Swamp Kappa
• Eiko Yamada as Ganko-chan's mother
• Naoki Tatsuta as Banban
• Masako Nozawa as Kero / Game-san
• Taeko Kawata as Chobi
• Junko Hori as Piro
• Hideyuki Umezu as Gyao / Senchan-sensei / Hajime Dori
• IKKAN as Rapper
• Magical Papa as Principal Hige

Nobutaka Yoda is directing the anime at 10 Gauge, and is also in charge of music alongside Shūji Kakoi. Deko Akao (Amanchu!, Noragami, Flying Witch) is handling series composition. Miho Takeda designed the characters, and Mutsumi Takeda is adapting those designs for animation. Daisuke Matsuki is both art director and director of photography. Atsushi Kobayashi is in charge of editing. Takumi Itō is the sound director, with Masami Kitakata handling sound effects.

Ken Matsudaira is performing the theme song, while Yumiko Kobayashi is performing the "drawing" song.

Source: Animate Times