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Comedian Hikari Ōta Joins Cast of Anne Shirley Anime
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
NHK announced on Friday that Bakushō Mondai comedian duo member Hikari Ōta will play J.A. Harrison in Anne Shirley, a new anime adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic Anne of Green Gables novel series. J.A. Harrison is an eccentric older man who is not easily understood by those around him. He has a parrot named Ginger that speaks harsh words.
NHK also announced that the "Chō Taiken NHK Fes 2025" event will host a talk show for the anime on March 9. Ōta will appear at the event.
The anime will star:
- Honoka Inoue as Anne Shirley
- Aya Nakamura as Marilla Cuthbert
- Yasunori Matsumoto as Matthew Cuthbert
- Naoya Miyase as Gilbert Blythe
- Yume Miyamoto as Diana Barry
Yūji Watanabe (Lupin the Third: Part 5 episodes 2 and 4) and Naoko Saitō (Lupin the Third: Part 5 episode 2) are the series' animation directors. Tadashi Kudo (The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus film) is directing the art, and Shiho Kuriki (City Hunter The Movie: Angel Dust, Armored Trooper Votoms: Pailsen Files films) is the color key artist. Shinji Saitō (City Hunter The Movie: Angel Dust film) is the compositing director of photography. Kisuke Koizumi (Chainsaw Man, Kingdom third and fourth seasons) is directing the sound, and Michiru Ōshima (Fullmetal Alchemist, The Tatami Galaxy) is composing the music.
The upcoming anime has a manga adaptation that Akane Hoshikubo (Hōkago no Salome, Sonogao de Ai Sanaide) launched in Kadokawa's B's-LOG COMIC magazine on January 5.
The first novel is set in the late 19th century in the fictional town of Avonlea in Prince Edward, Canada, where an 11-year-old orphan girl named Anne Shirley is sent by mistake to middle-aged siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. The siblings originally intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm. The novel tells of Anne's adventures in school and within the town.
The anime adaptation will depict Anne's growth from a girl to a woman, through her bond with the siblings Matthew and Marilla, her friendship with Diana, and her romance with Gilbert. (Some of these story elements appear in Montgomery's later sequel novels.)
Japanese novelist and translator Hanako Muraoka translated the Anne of Green Gables novel to Japanese with the title Akage no Anne in 1952.
Sources: Anne Shirley anime's website, Comic Natalie
