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Crunchyroll Streams Märchen Mädchen TV Anime

Crunchyroll announced on Thursday that it is streaming the television anime adaptation of late author Tomohiro Matsu and artist Kantoku's Märchen Mädchen (Fairy Tale Girls) light novel series under the title Maerchen Maedchen. The first episode premiered at 11:00 a.m. EST on Thursday. The series is available to users in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, South Africa, the Netherlands, and Latin America.

Crunchyroll describes the anime:

This is a story about girls (called "Maedchen") who are selected by “Origin”. They attend school of witchcraft located all over the world to wield their magic and become first-rate “Origin Masters”. Their goal is to win at the annual Hexennacht competition, where representatives of each school compete in their abilities to wield their magic. The winner of the competition gets to have one wish magically granted. Due to lack of members, there were concerns that Japan might not be able to attend the annual competition this year. However, things start to change when one day Shizuka Tsuchimikado, the leader of Japan meets Hazuki Kagimura, a high school student who loves reading and daydreaming. For some reason, Hazuki, a loner who doesn't have many friends is chosen by the Origin “Cinderella” which possesses strong power. She begins her new life at school of witchcraft. The girls practice to wield their magic with “Cinderella” to win the championship while sometimes they enjoy soaking in hot spring baths; their battles are about to start!

The anime premiered on Thursday on AT-X at 9:00 p.m., and it is also airing on Tokyo MX and BS11. The show will stream on dAnime Store (Docomo Anime Store), Niconico, AbemaTV, and Bandai Channel.

The show stars:

Tomori Kusunoki as Hazuki Kagimura, a girl who loves reading and daydreaming. She has no friends, and is generally a loner. She is chosen by the Cinderella story.

Rie Suegara as Shizuka Tsuchimikado, the chosen of the Kaguya-hime no Monogatari story, one of the world's oldest stories. She inherited the story as a scion of the Tsuchimikado family. She is a very serious and hardworking girl.

LYNN as Yumilia Qazan, a foreign exchange student who has been chosen by the Shuten-dōji folk tale, and wields lightning powers. She has a big sisterly attitude.

Rina Hidaka as Lynne Daves, who is the leader of the American school. She is a cruel girl who always has a smiling cutesy face. She is chosen by The Little Matchstick Girl story.

Airi Ootsu as Maria Rasputin, who is the leader of the Russian school. She is chosen by The Gigantic Turnip story. She likes to help others and is meddlesome.

Ai Kakuma as Agathe Arier, who is the leader of the German school. She is chosen by the Der Freischütz/The Marksman story. She's so perfect it's worrisome.

Reina Ueda as Arthur Pendragon, the leader of the British school. She has an atmosphere like she is completely disconnected from reality, but she bonds easily with animals. She is chosen by The History of the Kings of Britain (Historia regum Britanniae) book, specifically "The Legend of King Arthur."

Kaede Hondo as Ariko Kasumi, Shizuka's childhood friend. The Kasumi family has historically had a servant-master relationship with Shizuka's Tsuchimikado family. She gets very angry if anyone refers to her figure as childlike. She is chosen by the "Issun-bōshi" ("Little One-Inch") fairytale.

Akemi Okamura as Headmaster. She is the headmaster of the Japanese school, Kuzunoha Women's Magic Academy. Her age is unknown, and she has the ability to mysteriously appear out of nowhere. It is unknown what her book is.

Maya Yoshioka as Li Xuemei, the leader of the Chinese school. She always has a gentle smile on her face but she is actually a battle enthusiast. She is chosen by The Eight Immortals Depart and Travel to the East story.

Yuna Kamakura as Mahakali, the leader of the Indian school. She naturally loves beautiful things, and has the demeanor of a queen. She is chosen by The Ramayana story.

Hisashi Saito (Haganai, Fantasista Doll, Bamboo Blade) is the chief director for the anime, and Shigeru Ueda (RIN - Daughters of Mnemosyne, Senran Kagura: Estival Versus - Festival Eve Full of Swimsuits) is directing the anime at Hoods Entertainment. Yuki Morikawa (Fantasista Doll, If Her Flag Breaks animation director) is adapting Kantoku's original character designs for animation. Matsu is credited for series composition and script. Asaura, Yūichi Monda, and Ryunosuke Kingetsu are also credited with the script. Reina Ueda is also performing an image song for the anime titled "Daremo Watashi o Shiranai Sekai e" (To a World Where Nobody Knows Me). fhána (The Eccentric Family, Tales of Zestiria the X, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid) are performing the opening theme song "Watashi no tame no Monogatari ~My Uncompleted Story~" for the series, and Reina Ueda is performing the ending theme song "sleepland."

The novels center on Hazuki Kagimura, a normal girl who is usually alone. With her relationship with her new family not going so well, she retreats every day to the world of stories and books. One day, after school, one of the library's bookshelves send her to another world with a magic school, where she meets Shizuka Tsuchimikado. She finds out that girls (called "mädchen") who attend the school are selected by old fairy tales and folk stories to wield their magic, and are taught how to wield it in the school, all to compete at the annual Hexen Nacht (Witch's Night) competition, where girls represent their schools in magical duels. The winner of the competition gets to have one wish magically granted. The school has girls who are chosen by such stories as Kaguya-hime no Monogatari, Issun-bōshi, Der Freischütz, Shuten-dōji, The Little Matchstick Girl, The Gigantic Turnip, Arthurian legends, and The Ramayana. Hazuki herself is chosen by the Cinderella story. She begins her new life at the school to become a magic user, and to be friends with Shizuka.