Three years ago, the POV short anime One Room’s third season fulfilled our girlfriend-experience fantasies. Beautiful, slender girls with big eyes and foreheads slowly fell in love with us! Drawings of women you want to cuddle from renowned moe illustrator Kantoku came to life in anime. Kantoku’s works had regularly come to the small screen before 2020, with the idol anime 22/7 earlier in the year, the disastrous Märchen Mädchen, and the meta A Sister’s All You Need about light novel writers. Kantoku has remained busy, illustrating for novelists and his art books and calendars. But the three years between anime adaptations have felt quite long. So, rejoice for 2024! Two light novels using Kantoku’s art and character designs will have anime adaptations!
The Next Anime from Kantoku — Sage from Another World Moves in with Corporate Wage Slave
Earlier in August, Crunchyroll listed Sasaki and Peeps (佐々木とピーちゃん, Sasaki to P-chan) as one anime it will be streaming in 2024. The announcement included the studio and four leading cast members. The Sasaki and Peeps website introduces the isekai-fantasy comedy as a chance encounter with a talking Java sparrow that opens a battle between modern Japanese psychics and sages from another world. And Kantoku made the girls look cute!
SILVER LINK will produce the anime, with Mirai Minato (of The Maid I Hired Recently is Mysterious and The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!) directing. Anime character designer Saori Nakashiki also adapted Wakame Konbu’s original designs for Jahy-sama.
Sasaki — Tomokazu Sugita (Rudeus Greyrat from Mushoku Tensei and Dariel from Chillin’ in My 30s after Getting Fired from the Demon King’s Army). Sasaki is a corporate wage slave at a “black company.” He buys a talking Java sparrow, becomes a sage, gets mistaken for a psychic, and travels back and forth between parallel worlds.
P-chan — Aoi Yuuki (Monika from Spy Classroom and Lucy from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners). The talking Java sparrow, reincarnated from Piercarlo the Sage, teaches Sasaki magic. P-chan’s dream is to eat a high-quality Chateaubriand steak.
Otonari-san —Akari Kitou (Eve from Birdie Wing and Momo Chiyoda from Machikado Mazoku). The junior high school girl lives next door to Sasaki’s apartment, often sits at the front door of her house, and receives rice balls from Sasaki. She has gradually developed a distorted affection for Sasaki, who has been kind to her.
Hoshizaki — Rie Takahashi (So many roles). Sasaki’s senior colleague in the Bureau of Paranormal Affairs. She has the psychic ability to manipulate water but can’t create water. Her makeup and harsh expression make her look older than she is.
Kantoku Mixes Isekai Nuts in a Salad Bowl
Kantoku reposted an announcement from the official Twitter account for A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics, the anime. In June, Gagaga Bunko, the light novel imprint for Henjin no Salad Bowl, announced the green light for an anime adaptation. The series of novels had already received a manga adaptation. On October 4, the official website released a visual poster of Kazuihiro Fukuchi’s anime character designs of Kantoku’s work. The production of Salad Bowl is not as far along as Sasaki and Peeps, but we have proof of progress. What is this eccentric dish about?
The official website for the book series explains how a private detective, Sousuke Kaburaya, meets Sara Da Odin, a magical princess from another world. The royal stranger begins living at Sousuke’s office. Sara is not the only one who traveled to Japan from that fantasy land. A female knight, Livia Do Udis, was not as lucky as her princess. She began living under an overpass after befriending a helpful homeless man. The network of people between Sara and Livia connects them to the underground economy of food and brothels in Gifu, Japan. Kantoku illustrated this salad bowl of eccentric characters for Yomi Hirasaka, the creator of Haganai. This slice-of-life reverse-isekai might be the best we get as a second season of that mixed-up bunch of “friends.” Kantoku also teamed up with Hirasaka for A Sister’s All You Need, and that anime became a beloved fanservice classic.
Eccentric Fruits and Croutons
The anime’s key visual also works as an announcement of who the staff and production companies are. Studio Comet and SynergySP will handle the animation. SynergySP is busy with Kanojo mo Kanojo Season 2 this fall. It also animated A Couple of Cuckoos, which starred J-List’s Megumi! Not really, but Sachi is a dead ringer for our mascot. Studio Comet is famous for Rent-A-Girlfriend, so I hope Salad Bowl becomes a viable harem comedy. Hirasaka will share scriptwriting duties with veteran Kenichi Yamashita, so, hopefully, Salad Bowl will avoid the fate of a trash anime from a light novel adaptation we saw in A Sister’s All You Need. Director Masafumi Sato helmed Denki-gai no Honya-san, so I’m confident he can wrangle a slapstick ensemble cast.
We don’t have a voice actors cast yet, but I can tell you how odd the characters will be.
The Salad Mix
Sara Da Odin — The 13-year-old girl is a princess and magician from another world. Sousuke found her when she came to this world after her homeland was destroyed. Sara quickly adjusted to modern life in Japan and lives happily every day. The title of the anime is a pun on her name.
Sousuke Kaburaya — The 29-year-old runs a detective agency in Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture. He has an unassuming appearance and good skills for a detective, but his business is not doing well. Sousuke used to be an ace detective at a major firm.
Livia de Udis — The 20-year-old female knight is Sara’s close friend and boasts outstanding martial arts skills. She followed after Sarah, but now she is homeless and has nowhere to go.
Priketsu — The 18-year-old girl works in an illegal “sex cabaret,” and is infamous for her 巨乳 (きょにゅう, kyonyuu — huge breasts). Priketsu’s name, プリケツ, is a pun on “ass” (穴, けつ, ketsu).
Brenda Aisaki — The 34-year-old lawyer is unusually young in appearance. She is fond of Sousuke and often asks him to do detective work for her.
Noa Minakami — The kanji in Noa’s name, 皆神望愛, means “mutual love.” The 22-year-old religious cult leader is skilled at gaining control of people’s hearts and steadily increases her number of followers.
Haruka Neya — The 27-year-old detective with the Kusanagi Detective Agency is Sousuke’s former junior colleague. Haruka sometimes offers him jobs after he has quit the agency.
Yuna Naganawa — The 14-year-old junior high school student is friends with Sara. Yuna is a fanatic of the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.”
That’s not even counting the weird old men we’ll meet in “sex cabarets,” detective agencies, and down by river overpasses.
Kantoku, Here and Now
Sasaki and Peeps will stream on Crunchyroll in North America in 2024, but we still lack a premiere date. A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics will air on TBS in Japan in 2024, but streaming services and schedules are undecided.
It’s already fall, which means the end of the year is right around the corner. Kantoku’s calendars regularly sell out quickly, so jump on to the J-List site as soon as we have them. They make great Christmas gifts! Kantoku has an art book if you still want to remember the summer heat. Pick up Water Underwear today!
Is your body ready for Kantoku’s two anime? I wish we had more short-form anime like One Room from him because Yom and Himura Kiseki’s works did so well. Which of his anime adaptations is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below or online on Facebook, Twitter, or Discord.
