It was recently revealed that the upcoming original series from studio P.A. Works, APPARE-RANMAN!, would be simulcast both dubbed and subbed by Funimation. However, we still have yet to get a particularly good look at the main story and character designs… until now.
Over on their official YouTube account, Funimation recently uploaded the second full promotional video for the series which finally reveals the designs of this colorful cast of characters as they set forth to cross the country and win some valuable prize money!
Masakazu Hashimoto (Tari Tari) is directing this one at P.A. Works. He is also being credited with script supervision, but we don’t know who is handling series composition. Yurie Oohigashi will provide character designs, while up-and-coming anime composer Evan Call (Violet Evergarden) will create the background score.
We don’t yet know which actors will provide the English voices, but the Japanese cast reads:
Appare Sorano: Natsuki Hanae
Kosame Isshiki: Seiichiro Yamashita
Hototo: Aoi Yuki
Jin Xiaoleng: Sora Amamiya
Al Leon: Soma Saito
Sophia Taylor: Fumiko Orikasa
Dylan G. Ordene: Takahiro Sukurai
TJ: Tomokazu Sugita
Seth Rich Cutter: Kazuyuki Okitsu
Funimation describes the story as follows:
The socially awkward yet genius engineer, Appare Sorano, and the wise but cowardly samurai, Kosame Isshiki, find themselves aimlessly drifting in the sea between Japan and America. In order to earn enough money to get back home, the duo enters a trans-American race in their own steam-powered car. Rivals, bandits, and other trials await them on this race from Los Angeles to New York.
APPARE-RANMAN! looks like it will be one of the highlights of the upcoming season and I’m pretty excited to check it out when it premieres on April 10th! Be sure to stay tuned here for more updates for this series as the premiere date gets closer.
