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22/7 TV Anime Gets Extra Episode 13 Featuring All 11 Main Characters

The official website for the television anime of the 22/7 idol project revealed on Tuesday that production of a 13th episode has been green-lit. The "extra episode" titled "8+3=?" will feature all 11 main cast members, including Moe Suzuhana as Mikami Kamiki, Urara Takatsuji as Yūki Tōjō, and Aina Takeda as Tsubomi Hiiragi.

The anime will premiere on January 11 at 11:00 p.m. on the Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, Tochigi TV, and BS11 channels. It will then start running on the ABC TV, Metele (Nagoya TV), and CS Nippon channels. AbemaTV will be the first service to stream the anime in Japan on January 12 at 11:00 p.m., before other sites stream it.

In the first episode, titled "Sayonara, Watashi no Sasayaka na Sekai" (Farewell, My Small World), Miu Takigawa (Nagomi Saijō) receives a mysterious letter from the GIP talent agency. Miu and 7 other girls have been drawn together by fate itself. "You will make your major label debut as an idol group" ... Led by a man named Gōda, Miu finds herself before a secret underground facility and a mysterious wall. Miu and the others step onto a fateful stage where light and darkness swirl around them.

Before the anime premieres on television, Tokyo's Shinjuku Wald 9 theater will host an advance screening of the first two episodes on January 4. The cast will appear for a stage greeting at the screening. The cast will then present the anime's highlights in a "pre-broadcast rehearsal" television special later on January 4 at 11:00 p.m. on the Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, Tochigi TV, and BS11 channels.

Takao Abo (The Rising of the Shield Hero, Norn9) is directing the series at A-1 Pictures. Chiaki Nagai (The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls, Utano☆Princesama Legend Star) and Reiji Miyajima (Rent-A-Girlfriend, Mononote - Edo Shinobi Kagyō manga) are in charge of series scripts. Majiro (Macross Delta, Barakamon) is handling the animation character designs and serving as chief animation director. Akira Takata (Durarara!!, After the Rain) and Satomi Tamura (Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl) are also chief animation directors.

AKB48 founder and producer Yasushi Akimoto is producing the titular "dimension-crossing" idol group. The group based on the concept of "idols who cross dimensions" has eight anime idol characters, with their respective voice actresses performing as idols in the real world. Sony Music Records and Aniplex received 10,325 applications for the idol group and held five rounds of auditions.

The 22/7 idol group performs the anime's opening theme song "Muzui" (Difficult) and ending theme song "Sora no Emerald" (Emerald of the Sky) for the anime. The songs will debut at the group's "Birthday Event 2019" on December 24 at Zepp DiverCity Tokyo. Both songs will be on the group's fifth single, which will launch on February 26.

The group announced in July 2017 that they were getting an anime project. The group began releasing animated music videos in 2017, and their first character videos debuted in English in May 2018.

Mei Hanakawa played the character Nicole Saitō for the project, but she announced earlier this month that she is leaving the idol group for health reasons.

Sources: 22/7 anime's website and Twitter account, The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web