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AnimeLab announces Shōnen Maid and Asterisk War S2 for Spring Simulcast Season
posted on by Jon Hayward
The announcement for the Spring Simulcast Season came via AnimeLab's blog and twitter. At the time of writing this article AnimeLab is the first licensor outside of Japan to announce Shōnen Maid.
Both Shōnen Maid and Asterisk War: The Academy City on the Water (TV 2) do not have start dates on AnimeLab. We will update with further information as details are revealed.
Shōnen Maid
Chihiro Komiya is an energetic elementary school student who lives with his mother by the motto "No work, no food". When Chihiro's mother suddenly dies, Madoka Taketori appears claiming to be his Uncle and asks Chihiro to come live with him. Chihiro initially refuses but upon seeing the horribly dirty state of Madoka's home he agrees to live with Madoka in exchange for doing the housework. However upon moving in Chihiro suddenly finds himself in a maid uniform.
Yūsuke Yamamoto (Welcome to the NHK, Sgt. Frog, Aquarion Evol) is directing the series at studio 8-Bit. Yoshiko Nakamura (Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Super Lovers, Hiiro no Kakera - The Tamayori Princess Saga) is in charge of the series composition, and Kana Ishida (The irregular at magic high school, Aquarion Evol, Wakaba Girl) is adapting the character designs for animation. Tomohiro Yamada is composing the music. Trustick is performing the opening theme song and the in-universe Uchōten Boys are performing the ending theme.
The series will premiere on TBS on Thursday, April 7 at 1:58 a.m. (effectively Friday morning). It will also air on CBC, Sun TV, and BS-TBS. The anime will premiere on the TBS and BS-TBS channels in April. A spinoff project starring Uchōten Boys, titled "Uchōten ☆ Nicosei," will premiere its first 30-minute episode on March 14 on Niconico, and regular episodes are slated to begin on April 11.
Originally created by Ototachibana, the manga launched in Enterbrain's Comic B's-LOG magazine in April 2008 and Kadokawa will publish the ninth compiled volume in April 2016. A limited edition of the sixth compiled volume had bundled a drama CD in 2013 starring Houko Kuwashima as Chihiro Komiya, Takahiro Mizushima as Madoka Takatori, Yoshimasa Hosoya as Keiichirō Shinozaki, Madoka Yonezawa as Miyako Ōtori, and Yūki Kaji as Yūji Hino.
At the time of writing this article, AnimeLab is the first to license Shōnen Maid outside of Japan.
Asterisk War: The Academy City on the Water (TV 2)
Invertia–The astral catastrophe that annihilated many cities in the 20th century also gave birth to an all new human race with special abilities called the Genestella (the Star-Pulse Generation). At the same time, the special element (Mana) found within the meteors of Invertia facilitated humanity's technological advancement.Upon Rikka, the academy-city above water, or what many call the “Asterisk,” students of the six schools prepare for the Festa. These annual comprehensive battle tournaments are held on a worldwide scale and each of the six schools place their hopes in their teams to bring them victory. - From AnimeLab
Following on from The Asterisk War: The Academy City on the Water (TV), season two retains the same staff as the first with Manabu Ono (A-Channel, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, The irregular at magic high school, Saki) returning as chief director of the series at A-1 Pictures. Kenji Seto (Wooser no Sono Higurashi Kakusei-hen, assistant director on A-Channel and Saki) continues to direct the series, Tetsuya Kawakami (Nanana's Buried Treasure, Robot Girls Z, Shigofumi - Letters from the Departed, Toei Robot Girls) continues as the character designer and serving as animation director alongside Rasmus Faber (Lagrange - The Flower of Rin-ne theme songs) as music composer.
Shiena Nishizawa is performing the second season's opening theme song "The Asterisk War," and Haruka Chisuga is performing the ending theme song "Ai no Uta -words of love-."
The anime continues to adapt Yuu Miyazaki and okiura's The Asterisk War: The Academy City on the Water (Gakusen Toshi Asterisk) light novel series. Miyazaki launched the novel series in 2012, and Media Factory published the ninth volume in September 2015. The light novels have inspired a manga by Ningen, as well as the Gakusen Toshi Asterisk Gaiden: Queenveil no Tsubasa spinoff manga by Shō Akane.
In North America, Aniplex of America licensed the anime's first season which aired in October-December. The series streamed on Daisuki, Crunchyroll, and Funimation. AnimeLab licensed and streamed the series in Australia and New Zealand.
