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Gurazeni Baseball TV Anime Reveals Lead Voice Actor, Staff, Spring Debut
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The staff for the television anime of Yūji Moritaka and Keiji Adachi's Gurazeni baseball manga revealed the anime's lead voice actor, main staff, spring 2018 premiere window, and visual on Thursday. Fukushi Ochiai will play protagonist Natsunosuke Bonda. The first visual below portrays Bonda, while the second picture is similarly composed photograph featuring Ochiai dressed as his character. Moritaka noted the similarity in the appearances of Ochiai and Bonda.
Ayumu Watanabe (Space Brothers, Doraemon: Boku no Umareta Hi, If Her Flag Breaks) is directing the anime at Studio DEEN, while Hideo Takayashiki (Kaiji, One Outs, Rideback) is supervising and writing the series scripts. Kenichi Ohnuki (Major, Gundam Build Fighters, Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters) is designing the characters.
The anime will premiere on SKY PerfecTV!'s SkyPer! channel "during the opening of the 2018 professional baseball season," which is in March. Among other offerings, SKY PerfecTV! televises sports such as Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan.
This year's 48th issue of Kodansha's Morning magazine will have an "important announcement" on October 26.
The "baseball money survival" story focuses on a baseball team that operates as a highly-stratified society, where the player's performance determines his annual salary. The story follows an eight-year relief pitcher with an odd left-handed side-arm throw as he fights to survive under the team's strict system.
Writer Moritaka and artist Adachi began serializing the series in 2010. The manga won the best general manga award in the 37th Kodansha Manga Awards in 2013. The series also ranked #2 on the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guidebook's 2012 list, and earned a nomination in the 5th Manga Taisho Awards.
The manga series ended in 2014 with 17 volumes, but the creators launched the Gurazeni: Tokyo Dome-hen sequel manga that same year. The new series is ongoing, and Kodansha will publish the 13th compiled volume on October 23.
Source: Comic Natalie
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