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Mayonaka Punch Anime Streams Animated Short for Ichiko on YouTube

Kadokawa and P.A. Works premiered a short anime on YouTube for its original anime project Mayonaka Punch (Midnight Punch) on Monday. The short, titled "Ichiko! Hajimete no Machi de Otsukai" (Ichiko! First Errand in Town), follows Ichiko on her first errand.

The next short will feature Fū. Previous shorts in July have starred Live (pronounced "ribu") and Tokage.

The anime's six cast members were announced one a day from March 4 to 9. The anime stars Ikumi Hasegawa as Masaki and Fairouz Ai as Live (pronounced "ribu"). Additionally, Yuina Itō plays the role of Ichiko, a member of the "Mayonaka Punch" group who loves cute things and "Live-sama" (including following Live's orders). Hina Yomiya voices Fū, a "Mayonaka Punch" group member who is reserved and shy, but who has the most common sense of everyone in the group. Hitomi Ueda voices Tokage, a member of "Mayonaka Punch" who loves gambling and money above all else, and she hates anything bothersome. Ai Kayano plays Yuki, who has known Live for a very long time, and who holds a grudge against Mayonaka Punch.

The main cast members for Live, Ichiko, Fū, Tokage, and Yuki perform the opening theme song "Gimi Gimi." Masaki (as voiced by Ikumi Hasegawa) performs the ending theme song "Henshū-ten" (Edit Point).

The "girls comedy" anime centers on Masaki, a member of the NewTuber group "Harakiri Sisters," who gets fired because of a certain incident. Aiming for a comeback, Masaki meets Live. The two girls have different goals, but together, they make a high-tension comeback and aim to reach 1 million subscribers on NewTube.

The anime reunites the main staff of the Ya Boy Kongming! anime, including director Shū Honma, scriptwriter Hideaki Shirasaka, and studio P.A. Works. Ryōta Arima (chief animation director for The Quintessential Quintuplets ∬) is adapting Tsukasa Kotobuki's (Saber Marionette J, Cyberteam in Akihabara) original character designs for animation. "Dōga Tōkō Shōjo" (Video Submission Girls) is credited with the original work.

The staff also includes:

• Chief Animation Directors: Ryōta Arima, Sanae Satō, Masami Gohda
• Main Animator: Kayoko Nabeta
• Art Setting: Yūta Fujii
• Art Director:Yuki Maeda
• Color Key Artist: Asami Eguchi
• Compositing Director of Photography: Junya Kodama
• 2D Works: Makoto Yoshigaki
• 3D Director: Kōhei Ogawa
• Editing: Ayumu Takahashi
• Music: tape, Raku
• Music Production: Heart Company
• Sound Director: Satoki Iida
• Sound Effects: Yasumasa Koyama
• Recording Adjustment: Ayumu Anzai
• Sound Production: dugout

The project also includes a manga and a novel adaptation. Tomomi Usui's (Cube Arts) manga adaptation launched in Kadokawa's Monthly Young Ace magazine on March 4. Tsuzuro Hibi is penning the novelization, while Tsukasa Kotobuki is drawing the illustrations for the novelization.

Source: Press release