Every season, a new batch of anime premieres for fans and newcomers alike to obsess over. While some of these anime are original stories designed for animation from the ground-up, many of them are also adaptations of existing series. This April, a handful of light novel adaptations like The 8th son? Are you kidding me? and Woodpecker Detective’s Office are set to premiere, along with a bevy of 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. Not many anime premiering in April can say that they’re video game adaptations, though. Standing alone with that unique merit is Princess Connect! Re:Dive, a Cygames produced anime adaptation of the mobile phone game of the same name. Thanks to an update on the official website for the upcoming anime, we’ve got info on exactly when the series will debut, as well as information on the cast and staff involved.
Along with a new trailer that shows off some of the adorable girls and intense action of Princess Connect! Re:Dive, the official website for the series confirmed that the show will debut on April 6th at 24:30 (Japan time), which technically translates to a 12:30am debut on April 7th. The show will air first on Tokyo MX, BS11, Sun TV, and KBS Kyoto, with follow up airings later that night on TV Hokkaido, TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting Co., Ltd., and TV Aichi. Finally, WOWOW will debut the show a little bit later on April 8th.
While the full cast of the series hasn’t been revealed yet, we know the identities of the main crew of the show. Their voice actors from the original mobile phone game will be reprising their roles here. The main cast includes:
- M.A.O as Pecorine
- Miku Itō as Kokkoro
- Rika Tachibana as Kyaru
- Atsushi Abe as Yūki
The series is being produced by Cygames Pictures, the recently founded studio that was previously responsible for producing anime such as Mysteria Friends and Blade Runner: Black Out 2022. The Princess Connect! Re:Dive anime will be directed by Takaomi Kanasaki, who previously worked on KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! and Is This a Zombie? Kanasaki will also be handling series composition. Kana Harufuji, previously on-staff for the anime Saga of Tanya the Evil, will be the assistant director. Character designs are being handled by the trio of Satomi Kurita, Lie Jun Yang, and Yasuyuki Noda. Kurita previously worked on Hina Logic – from Luck & Logic and Real Girl. Lie Jun Yang was the animation director on A Certain Magical Index III, and Yasuyuki Noda previously worked on Step Up Love Story and Tantei Opera Milky Holmes: Arsene Karei Naru Yokubō.
Princess Connect! Re:Dive is based on the incredibly successful, Japanese-exclusive mobile phone game by Cygames. It launched in February of 2018, serving as a sequel to their 2016 title Princess Connect! The story of the new game sees a young male hero waking up in a mysterious land with no memories of who he is or how he got there. He meets and teams up with various anime cuties along the way as he searches to discover the mystery of his origins.
The game also inspired a manga adaptation, drawn by wEshica/Shogo and written by Asahiro Kakashi. The manga currently runs on Cygames’ free online manga service Cycomics, with Kodansha releasing the series in compiled book volumes. The second volume was shipped in December of 2018.
