Off-topic post: Upcoming Anime Adaptations of Manga Time Kirara Manga

With AnimeJapan 2016 having come and gone, and the Winter 2016 anime season drawing to a close, I would like to mention some of the upcoming anime adaptations from some of the manga in the Manga Time Kirara magazine series. The Manga Time Kirara magazine series is a series of magazines published by Houbunsha whose main focus is moe. There are at least six (as far as I know; I’m not sure about the others) magazines currently being published. Four of them, the original Manga Time Kirara, Manga Time Kirara Carat, Manga Time Kirara MAX and Manga Time Kirara Miracle! are all yonkoma magazines (meaning they only publish yonkoma). Manga Time Kirara Forward, while it still focuses on moe, publishes non-yonkoma manga, sometimes with more “traditional” plots (if you can call it that; what I mean is that they’re not necessarily “cute girls doing cute things”) such as Dream Eater Merry (a supernatural action series), School-Live! (watch the anime/read the manga if you’re interested; I won’t say anything because of spoilers) and some Puella Magi Madoka Magica spinoffs (magical girl). The sixth magazine, Manga Time Kirara Magica, exclusively focuses on Puella Magi Madoka Magica-related material. Despite the fact that most Manga Time Kirara entries focus on young girls (or young-looking girls), often to the exclusion of male characters, these magazines are seinen (i.e. for older men).

I have to admit, I am a fan of anime adapted from manga published in Manga Time Kirara. In particular, I really liked Yui Hara’s Kiniro Mosaic and Koi’s Is the Order a Rabbit? and I would love to see them getting another season. Of the manga which already have anime adaptations, there are Hiroyuki’s Dōjin Work, Kakifly’s K-On!, Ishiki’s Place to Place and Komata Mikami’s Yuyushiki, all from Manga Time Kirara; there are Ume Aoki’s Hidamari Sketch, Satoko Kiyuduki’s GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class, Kuroda bb’s A Channel and Kaduho’s Kill Me Baby, all from Manga Time Kirara Carat; Shōko Iwami’s Kanamemo, Yui Hara’s Kiniro Mosaic and Koi’s Is the Order a Rabbit?, all from Manga Time Kirara MAX; Yoshitaka Ushiki’s Dream Eater Merry, Sō Hamayumiba’s Hanayamata and Nitro+’s Norimitsu Kaihō’s School-Live! (illustrated by Sadoru Chiba), all from Manga Time Kirara Forward; and Tachi’s Sakura Trick, Makoto Kawai’s Gourmet Girl Graffiti and Ayumu Kasuga’s Castle Town Dandelion, all from Manga Time Kirara Miracle!. Also, the following manga have had some sort of professional (not fan-made) video game developed: K-On! (PlayStation Portable), Hidamari Sketch (Nintendo DS), GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class (PlayStation Portable), Is the Order a Rabbit? (PlayStation Vita) and Hanayamata (PlayStation Vita). Characters from Kiniro Mosaic and Is the Order a Rabbit? also appear in Sega’s PlayStation Vita rhythm game Miracle Girls Festival. Puella Magi Madoka Magica also had two video games based on it developed, one for the PlayStation Portable and one for the PlayStation Vita.

For this post, I will give a short description of the upcoming anime adapted from Manga Time Kirara manga. Coming in Spring 2016 are Cotoji’s Anne Happy and Cherry Arai’s Three Leaves, Three Colors; for Summer 2016 there is Shōtarō Tokunō’s New Game!; and for Autumn/Fall 2016 there is cloba.U’s Magic of Stella. There is one more manga which has had an anime adaptation announced, and that is Harikamo’s Urara Meirochō, but its airing date is yet to be announced.

Anne Happy (あんハピ♪), also known as Unhappy Go Lucky, is a slice-of-life comedy focusing on five girls who have consistently fallen into specific misfortunes. Based on the manga by Cotoji, the main cast includes Hanako, who is consistently unlucky; Hibari, who is consistently heartbroken; Botan, who is exceptionally prone to injury; Hibiki, who absolutely has no sense of direction; and Ren, who has trouble with women. The anime is scheduled to air on April 7, and Crunchyroll will stream it (when the episodes are released, you can watch it here, if you’re not in Asia). The manga is currently ongoing and is serialised in Manga Time Kirara Forward.
Cast:

  • Yumiri Hanamori (花守 ゆみり) as An “Hanako” Hanakoizumi (花小泉 杏, はなこ)
  • Haruka Shiraishi (白石 晴香) as Ruri “Hibari” Hibarigaoka (雲雀丘 瑠璃, ヒバリ)
  • Kiyono Yasuno (安野 希世乃) as Botan Kumegawa (久米川 牡丹, ぼたん)
  • Hibiku Yamamura (山村 響) as Hibiki Hagyū (萩生 響, ヒビキ)
  • Mayu Yoshioka (吉岡 茉祐) as Ren Ekoda (江古田 蓮, レン)
  • Yumi Hara (原 由実) as Kodaira (小平先生)
  • Chitose Morinaga (森永 千才) as Timothy (チモシー)

Trivia:

  • Hibiki happens to have a similar given name to that of her voice actress (even the kanji is the same). “Hibiku” and “Hibiki” are both alternate readings of 響.
  • The unit Happy Clover (Yumiri Hanamori, Haruka Shiraishi, Kiyono Yasuno, Hibiku Yamamura, Mayu Yoshioka) will sing the opening and ending of this anime.
  • Chitose Morinaga will also feature in New Game! (see below).

Three Leaves, Three Colors (三者三葉, Sansha San’yō) is a slice-of-life comedy focusing on three girls with wildly different personalities. Based on the manga by Cherry Arai, the title of this anime (and manga) is a play on the four-character saying sansha san’yō (三者三様), which refers to three people who each have their own personalities from the other two. The title replaces the final character with the character for “leaf”, as that character is in the names of all three main characters. The main cast consists of Futaba, who is a glutton; Teru, who, while appearing to be a nice girl, actually has a dark side to her; and Yōko, who was once part of the upper-class, but since her father’s company went bankrupt, she has fallen into hard times. The anime is scheduled to air on April 10, and so far no announcements for a Western simulcast have been made and it has been licensed by Funimation for simulcast and will receive a broadcast dub. The manga is currently ongoing and is serialised in Manga Time Kirara.
Cast:

  • I’ll only list eight of the main and supporting cast here.
  • Mai Kanazawa (金澤 まい) as Futaba Odagiri (小田切 双葉)
  • Ayaka Imamura (今村 彩夏) as Teru Hayama (葉山 照)
  • Yū Wakui (和久井 優) as Yōko Nishikawa (西川 葉子)
  • Kenji Akabane (赤羽根 健治) as Mitsugu Yamaji (山路 充嗣)
  • Machico (Machiko Saitō, 齊藤 真知子) as Serina Nishiyama (西山 芹奈)
  • Aina Suzuki (鈴木 愛奈) as Asako Kondō (近藤 亜紗子)
  • Asuka Nishi (西 明日香) as Kō Hayama (葉山 光)
  • Rika Momokawa (桃河 りか) as Shino Sonobe (薗部 篠)

Trivia:

  • This is actually Cherry Arai’s second anime adaptation of her manga. Her first was Engaged to the Unidentified.
  • The unit Triple Feeling (とりぷる♣ふぃーりんぐ, Mai Kanazawa, Ayaka Imamura, Yū Wakui) will sing the opening and ending of this anime.
  • Aina Suzuki and Asuka Nishi have voiced characters in other Manga Time Kirara anime before. In Suzuki’s case she voiced Shiori Sakurada of Castle Town Dandelion; in Nishi’s case she voiced Shinobu Ōmiya of Kiniro Mosaic.

New Game! (ニューゲーム!) is a workplace comedy focused on video game development. Based on the manga by Shōtarō Tokunō, it follows Aoba Suzukaze, who had just graduated from high school and got a job at Eagle Jump, as she works with her workmates to help design characters for the video game her company is working on. Aoba had admired Eagle Jump because it had developed the game she loved when she was in elementary school. Other than Aoba, the main cast consists of Hifumi, a fellow character designer who is incredibly shy when it comes to face-to-face conversation; Hajime, a motion designer who is only working in the character design department due to a lack of seats in the animation department; Yun, another character designer; Kō, the lead character designer who has a laid back but stern attitude and often sleeps in the office overnight; and Rin, the art director and head of the background department, who is friends with Kō. The anime is scheduled to air in July, and no specific dates have been released yet. The manga is currently ongoing and is serialised in Manga Time Kirara Carat.
Cast:

  • Yūki Takada (高田 憂希) as Aoba Suzukaze (涼風 青葉)
  • Megumi Yamaguchi (山口 愛) as Hifumi Takimoto (滝本 ひふみ)
  • Megumi Toda (戸田 めぐみ) as Hajime Shinoda (篠田 はじめ)
  • Ayumi Takeo (竹尾 歩美) as Yun Iijima (飯島 ゆん)
  • Yōko Hikasa (日笠 陽子) as Kō Yagami (八神 コウ)
  • Ai Kayano (茅野 愛衣) as Rin Tōyama (遠山 りん)
  • Madoka Asahina (朝日奈 丸佳) as Nene Sakura (桜 ねね)
  • Chitose Morinaga (森永 千才) as Umiko Ahagon (阿波根 うみこ)
  • Eri Kitamura (喜多村 英梨) as Shizuku Hazuki (葉月 しずく)

Trivia:

  • Tokunō draws on his friend’s experience for this manga; his friend used to work for a video game company.
  • The as-yet-unnamed unit consisting of Yūki Takada, Megumi Yamaguchi, Megumi Toda and Ayumi Takeo will sing the theme song for this anime.
  • Megumi Toda, Yōko Hikasa, Ai Kayano and Eri Kitamura have voiced characters in other Manga Time Kirara anime before. In Toda’s case she voiced Yuzu Iizuka of Sakura Trick; in Hikasa’s case she voiced Mio Akiyama of K-On!; in Kayano’s case she voiced Aoi Sakurada of Castle Town Dandelion, Isana Tachibana of Dream Eater Merry, Mocha Hoto of Is the Order a Rabbit?, Megumi Sakura of School-Live! and Chiho Aikawa of Yuyushiki; in Kitamura’s case she voiced Hinata Azuma of Kanamemo and Sayaka Miki of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
  • Chitose Morinaga also features in Anne Happy (see above).
  • The line 今日も一日がんばるぞい! (Kyō mo ichinichi ganbaru zoi!), said by Aoba at one point in the manga, has become a minor meme in Japan.

Magic of Stella (ステラのまほう) is a school club story focusing on amateur video game development. Based on the manga by cloba.U, it follows Tamaki Honda, who is part of the SNS club, which develops dōjin games, where she acts as an illustrator for the games. Other members of the SNS club include programmer Shiina, scenario writer Ayame, and sound and music composer Kayo. In addition, there is Tamaki’s classmate Yumine, who is part of the Illustrator club and is herself a fujoshi (i.e. a girl/woman who likes yaoi). The anime is scheduled to air in October, but no specific dates have been released. Also, no information on the voice cast has been released yet. The manga is currently ongoing and is serialised in Manga Time Kirara MAX.
Characters:

  • Tamaki Honda (本田 珠輝)
  • Shiina Murakami (村上 椎奈)
  • Ayame Seki (関 あやめ)
  • Kayo Fujikawa (藤川 歌夜)
  • Yumine Fuda (布田 裕美音)
  • Natsu Iino (飯野 夏)
  • Haruma Seki (関 春馬)

Trivia:

  • There have been two minigames released for this manga, Star Chaser! (すたーちぇいさー!) and Star Shooter! (すたーしゅーたー!). They can be found here on the Magic of Stella page of the Manga Time Kirara website.

Urara Meirochō (うらら迷路帖) is a story whose theme is fortune-telling. Based on the manga by Harikamo, the setting is Meiro-chō, which is where female fortune-tellers, referred to as “Urara”, live. Chiya, a 15-year-old apprentice Urara, arrives at Meiro-chō on her birthday and meets three other girls: Kon, Koume and Nono, all apprentice Urara. No air date for the anime has been announced, and no information on the voice cast has been announced either. The manga is currently ongoing and is serialised in Manga Time Kirara Miracle!.
Characters:

  • Chiya (千矢)
  • Kon (紺)
  • Koume (小梅)
  • Nono (ノノ)
  • Saku (佐久)

Sources:

Edit (2/4/2016): Updating information for Sansha San’yō, now including the localised name Three Leaves, Three Colors. I was actually surprised that not only Funimation actually picked this up (since they usually don’t pick up Manga Time Kirara adaptations; the only one I can recall is Castle Town Dandelion), but that it will actually get a broadcast dub, making it the fifth Manga Time Kirara adaptation to get a dub (after K-On!, Dream Eater Merry, Kill Me Baby and Hanayamata).

Edit (5/4/2016): Correcting typo; a space was in the wrong place.

Edit (9/4/2016): Correcting another typo; that wasn’t the correct reading of the kanji 山.


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