News
Exile Song & Dance Unit's New Anime to Air This Week (Update 3)
posted on by Egan Loo
Examurai Sengoku, the new anime featuring the seven members of the Exile song and dance performance unit, will premiere this Saturday as part of the new Exile Generation program on the NTV network. Exile leader Hiroyuki "Hiro" Igarashi produced the project himself, and manga creator Hiroshi Takahashi (Crows, Worst) contributed the original designs. Takahashi's work has gained a higher public profile ever since Takashi Miike's Crows Zero prequel film became a hit in 2007. Several manga spinoffs of Crows have since launched, and Takahashi even designed a line of hair care products.
Examurai began as a prologue anime short that was bundled on a special extra DVD with EXILE's Love album in 2007. The story recasts the Exile members as samurai surviving in a dark near future, when Japan has been reduced to ruins. The EXILE Entertainment Best compilation CD included another special extra DVD with the "Roppongi Jigoku no Shō" ("Roppongi Hell Chapter") anime when it shipped last July. Besides the upcoming television anime, there have been also plans for a theatrical project. Previously, Exile sang ending theme songs for the Black Jack and the Black Jack 21 television series.
Source: Nikkan Sports
Update The official website is streaming the prologue video.
Update 2: The Mainichi Shimbun paper's Mantan Web site has posted the new character designs that Takahashi co-developed for the television version.
Update 3: According to Mantan Web, the Examurai Sengoku story will take the seven samurai — including the wanderer Hiro, the dual-sword-wielding Atsushi, the lone wolf Makidai, and the young bow-wielding Takahiro — back to Japan's Warring States Period. The story will take place in the fictional city of Yasaka. Unlike the previous Examurai anime projects, TMS Entertainment is animating the television version, and Tetsu Inada (Samurai 7's Gorobei, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE's Kurogane) and others are voicing the anime versions of the Exile members. Hiro said that all the members of Exile love Takahashi's Crows and Worst manga, and are thrilled with Takahashi's designs of their characters.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history