Manga author Koji Kumeta might not be a household name, but he certainly deserves to be. The talented artist and writer created the manga that inspired one of the most revered cult-classic anime comedies out there — Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei. The twisted, high-energy series is easily some of Kumeta’s most recognizable work, especially considering the anime adaptation was produced by iconic anime studio SHAFT. Now, Kumeta is getting the chance for another series of his to shine as a fully animated story thanks to the upcoming anime adaptation of his family comedy manga Kakushigoto.
The story of Kakushigoto focuses on a father named, aptly, Kakushi Goto. He’s the father of a wonderful daughter named Hime Goto, but when he isn’t working hard as a dad he’s working even harder in secret as a manga creator. The series focuses on the antics involving Kakushi desperately trying to hide the fact that he’s a manga creator from his perceptive daughter. Funnily enough, while the title of the series is a play on the name of the protagonist, it can also be directly translated as either “Hidden Things” or “Drawing Job.”
The official website for the anime adaptation of Kakushigoto has revealed the identities of a handful of voice actors set to contribute their talents to the series, as well as which characters they’ll each be voicing:
- Rie Takahashi as Hime Gotō
- Taku Yashiro as Aogu Shiji
- Kiyono Yasuno as Rasuna Sumita
- Ayane Sakura as Ami Kakei
- Ayumu Murase as Kakeru Keshi
Funnily enough, the role of the main character Kakushi Goto already has a voice actor who played him back in 2016: Hiroshi Kamiya, the popular voice actor known for roles like Levi in Attack on Titan, Mephisto Pheles in Blue Exorcist, Izaya Orihara in Duarara!!, and Shinji Matou in the Fate series. Back in June of 2016, Hiroshi Kamiya voiced the manga-writing father in a promotional video for the manga series that was animated by none other than SHAFT. In another SHAFT-related coincidence, Kamiya also voiced the main character Nozomu Itoshiki in the Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei anime.
Unfortunately for fans of that iconic studio, the full-length anime adaptation of Kakushigoto will not be animated by them. Instead, it’s being produced at Ajia-do. Yuta Murano is set to direct the anime, having previously worked on Brave Beats, Dream Festival!, and Seven Days War. Takashi Aoshima, who previously did work on Battle Girl High School and Between the Sky and Sea, will be handling character designs for the series. Yukari Hashimoto will be composing music for the show, having previously worked on March comes in like a lion and Sarazanmai.
Fans in Japan will be able to catch Kakushigoto when it premieres on April 2nd at 11:30PM JST on BS-NTV and AT-X, with a premiere on Tokyo MX happening a half hour later. Afterwards, the show is set to air on Sun TV at 1:30AM on April 3rd, followed by regular weekly broadcasts of subsequent episodes on Tokyo MX every Sunday at 11:00am, starting April 5th.
Kumeta first debuted the original Kakushigoto manga with a four-page introductory chapter that he published in Kodansha’s Monthly Shonen Magazine in November 2015. The first full chapter of the series would later be published in the same magazine in December 2015. As of today, the series has amassed 10 compiled book volumes, with the latest having shipped on November 15th.
While SHAFT aren’t handling the anime adaptation of Kakushigoto, they’re no strangers to working with Kumeta. Besides the promotional video for the series that SHAFT produced back in 2016, the prolific anime studio worked on three seasons and two original video anime (OVA) episode adaptations of his previous manga series, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei. The studio also produced an OVA adaptation of his manga Katteni Kaizo.
