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Ushio & Tora's Studio Voln Animates Karakuri Circus for Amazon Streaming

The official website for the television anime of Kazuhiro Fujita's Karakuri Circus (Le Cirque de Karakuri) manga announced the studios and streaming details on Monday. Studio VOLN (Ushio & Tora, Idol Incidents) is animating the production for Twin Engine, and Amazon will exclusively stream the anime in Japan and overseas. Twin Engine also began streaming a teaser video for the anime.

Fujita provided a illustration for the announcement.

Fujita and the anime's creative producer Masao Maruyama will appear at a talk event at Twin Engine's booth at the AnimeJapan event on March 24.

The anime's official Twitter account revealed a teaser visual for the anime on Wednesday.

Human Academy is hosting May auditions for a voice actor to play protagonist Masaru Saiga, and both professionals and amateurs can apply before the April 30 deadline.

The story centers on Masaru Saiga, a fifth-grade boy who aims to become a puppeteer. After Sadayoshi Saiga — the CEO of the giant home telephone maker Saiga and Masaru's father — passes away, Masaru inherits 18 billion yen. Masaru is targeted for his wealth, and is saved by two people. Narumi Katō is a man who has studied Kung-Fu and has a weird illness called "Zonapha Syndrome," and Shirogane is a silver-haired woman who controls the puppet "Arurukan" (Harlequin). Together, Masaru, Narumi, and Shirogane get thrown into various conspiracies by those who would try to steal Masaru's fortune.

Fujita published Karakuri Circus in Weekly Shonen Sunday from 1997 to 2006, and Shogakukan published 43 volumes for the manga. Shogakukan published the manga in a new wide edition with 23 volumes from 2011-2013. The manga has more than 15 million copies in print.

Fujita's Ushio & Tora manga ran from 1990 to 1996 in Weekly Shonen Sunday with 33 volumes. The manga was adapted into an original video anime series in 1992 and a television anime that began in July 2015. Sentai Filmworks licensed the television series and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan. Fujita's Bakegyamon manga also inspired a television anime in 2006. Another manga, the "Karakuri no Kimi" short story in Fujita's Yoru no Uta collection, inspired the Puppet Princess original video anime project.

Sources: Animate Times, Comic Natalie