We may only be a handful of weeks into the current winter anime season, but that isn’t stopping anime companies all over Japan from sharing their plans for the next season of television anime. April is already home to a number of highly anticipated premieres, from The 8th son? Are you kidding me? to Woodpecker Detective’s Office and even manga adaptations like Kakushigoto and Gal to Kyoryu. That’s on top of follow-up seasons of existing series like My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU or Kaguya-sama: Love is War. Now we can add yet another series to the packed Spring anime season lineup, as the gorgeously designed and smoothly animated original series Appare-Ranman! from P.A. Works is set to premiere on April 10th.
The official Twitter account for Wild West cross-continental racing anime Appare-Ranman! divulged a hefty amount of new info for the series. On April 10th, the show is set to premiere on Tokyo MX, as well as other unconfirmed Japanese broadcast channels. Streaming options and overseas distributors have yet to be confirmed. The show is also set to feature an opening theme song performed by the trio Mia REGINA. The opening theme song is titled “I got it!” and the single release for the track is set to go on sale April 22nd. The ending theme song for the anime, meanwhile, will be performed by Showtaro Morikubo.
The official Twitter also revealed a new set of characters who will be appearing in the show. The new characters, along with their respective voice actors, include:
- Takahiro Sakurai as Dylan G. Ordene, one of the infamous “Thousand Three” outlaws who also goes by the glowing nickname “Heroic Dylan.” He’s a man of few words, but his skills with a gun are nothing to yawn at. Major automobile company GM hired Dylan G. Ordene to participate in the race at the wheel of their brand new, specially made race vehicle. He doesn’t personally care about racing, but the vivacious nature of Appare interests him enough to participate. He’s one of the fan-favorites to win the entire thing.
- Tomokazu Sugita plays TJ, another one of the legendary “Thousand Three” outlaws who is known and feared as “Crazy TJ.” He goes by that nickname because of his outlandish fashion, wild hairstyle, and his tendency to dive into danger without even considering the risks. He’s hired by the automobile company Iron Motor to participate in the race, and ends up feeling a bond with Appare due to them both having crazy hairstyles.
- Kazuyuki Okitsu plays Seth Rich Cutter, a business-man at the GM automobile company who also serves as one of the organizers for the race. He was the one who convinced the company to enter the race in the first place, proposing to the upper management that they could use the race to show off the company’s work. He spares no expense to make the race a success by planning parades, organizing festivals, and hiring the ace Dylan to be their driver. In the past, he was an engineer who designed race cars.
The previously revealed main duo of Appare-Ranman!, meanwhile, is as follows:
- Natsuki Hanae as Sorano Appare, a 19-year old boy who grew up in a rural seaside town. He’s had an interest in machines since he was a kid, making his own gadgets and gizmos by hand for years. While he’s a genius mechanic, he’s got awful social skills and prefers to be around machines over people. Still, he dreams of one day traveling to the moon, and often tinkers and experiments straight through the night until he abruptly runs out of battery and crashes. His wild energy cycle and sleeping habits constantly keep his partner Kosame on edge.
- Seiichirō Yamashita as Isshiki Kosame, a 21-year old man and low-ranking government official who lives in the same town as Appare. He’s great at cooking, cleaning, and laundry due to becoming the man of his house at a young age after his mother passed away and left him to take care of his father and sister. Even though he’s a master of the hantsuki ittō-ryū style of swordsmanship, he avoids fights as often as possible.
Appare-Ranman! takes place at the end of the 19th century. An awkward accident forces the socially inept engineer Sorano Appare and the cowardly samurai Isshiki Kosame onto a tiny boat drifting toward America. When the two arrive on new soil, they decide to participate in the Trans-America Wild Race in order to win the prize money so they can afford to return to Japan. The two of them clash with wild rivals, crazy outlaws, and the cruelty of nature itself as they speed through the Wild West and race from Los Angels all the way to New York in a self-built steam-powered car.
P.A. Works is producing Appare-Ranman!, with Takeshi Kikuchi and Daijo Kudo credited as project planners. The original story concept, meanwhile, is credited to APPERRACING. Masakazu Hashimoto, director of Tari Tari and various Crayon Shin-chan films, is set to direct the series. He’ll also be supervising the series scripts and have a credit fo working on the original story drafts. Yurie Oohigashi is set to be the character designer, adapting original designs by Ahndongshik, who previously worked on Gagoze. Oohigashi will also be the chief animation director, while Shiho Takeuchi handles mechanical designs.
Meanwhile, Miho Sugiura will be the art director on Appare-Ranman! alongside compositing director of photography Satoshi Namiki. Naomi Nakano will be the color key artist, while Motonari Ichikawa is the 3D director. Ayumu Takahashi is handling editing and Satoki Iida is sound director. Finally, Evan Call, who previously worked on Violet Evergarden and YU-NO: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world., will be composing music for the series at Lantis.
