News

Bakuon!! Motorcycle Anime's New Promo Video Reveals Main Cast

The official website for the television anime of Mimana Orimoto's Bakuon!! manga began streaming a new promotional video for the anime on Friday. The video reveals the show's main cast.

The cast is as follows:

Nao Tōyama as Rin Suzunoki (her bike is a Suzuki GSX400S Katana)

Yumi Uchiyama as Onsa Amano (her bike is a Yamaha SEROW225W)

Rikako Yamaguchi as Hijiri Minowa (her bike is a Ducati 750SS)

The website also revealed a character design for Raimu Kawasaki (her bike is a Kawasaki ZX-12R):

The cast joins Reina Ueda as protagonist Hane Sakura (pictured below). Hane's bike is a Honda CB400 SF.

The website currently features voice samples for the main cast, and also features an exhaustion noise sample for the five main characters' bikes.

The show's official website also revealed on Friday that Ueda, Toyama, Uchiyama, and Yamaguchi will perform the show's ending theme song.

Bakuon!! will also have a stage event at AnimeJapan in March, and all four main voice actresses will appear at the event.

Junji Nishimura (Simoun, Dog Days, GLASSLIP) is directing the anime at TMS Entertainment, and Kurasumi Sunayama (Gunslinger Girl, Monster, Romeo × Juliet) is in charge of the series scripts. Isao Sugimoto (Sketchbook ~full color'S~, Girls und Panzer, Moonlight Mile) is designing the characters, while Manabu Nii (Samurai Flamenco, Karneval) is credited for sub-character design. Yoshio Mizumura (Lupin III: Seven Days Rhapsody, Yowamushi Pedal) and Yasuhiro Moriki (Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, Banner of the Stars, Silent Möbius: The Motion Picture) are credited for design works. Shunichiro Yoshihara (Yowamushi Pedal, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Garakowa -Restore the World-) is in charge of art direction. Takeshi Takadera (Initial D: Second Stage, Yowamushi Pedal) is handling sound direction, while Ryosuke Nakanishi (High School DxD, Sakura Trick, Love Stage!!) is composing the music.

The anime will premiere in April on Tokyo MX, Sun TV, BS11, and other channels.

The story revolves around high school girls who discover the appeal of motorcycles. Hane Sakura is a high school student who looks a little bit like an airhead. On the way to her all-female high school one day, she is worn-out climbing a hilly road with a bicycle, but she sees a girl named Onsa Amano who is riding a motorcycle. Sakura immediately becomes interested in motorcycles, and she and Onsa join the motorcycle club at the school. Then, Sakura sets out to get her license.

Aside from the television anime, an original anime DVD (OAD) bundled with the manga's seventh compiled book volume is slated for release on March 18, ahead of the TV anime's premiere. The limited-edition set will retail for 3,880 yen (about US$32), and the deadline to pre-order is January 21.

Orimoto (Mahou Shoujo Neko X, Maid in Japan) launched the series in Akita Shoten's Young Champion Retsu magazine in February 2011. Akita Shoten published the manga's sixth compiled book volume on May 20.