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Funimation Reveals The Heike Story Anime's English Dub Cast
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Funimation revealed the English dub cast on Tuesday for The Heike Story, Naoko Yamada and Science SARU's television anime of Hideo Furukawa's Heike Monogatari novel. The cast — under ADR Director Mike McFarland, ADR Engineer Jose Sandoval, and ADR mixer William Dewel — includes:
- Xanthe Huynh as Biwa
- John Gremillion as Shigemori
- Suzie Yeung as Tokuko
- Frank Todaro as Kiyomori
- Garrett Schenck as Go-Shirakawa
- Anjali Kunapaneni as Sukemori
- Randy Pearlman as Tokitada
- Douglas Gill as Koremori
Funimation will debut the first dubbed episode on Wednesday.
The anime began streaming on Fuji TV's FOD service in Japan on September 15, and abroad through Funimation and bilibili. The anime will also premiere on Fuji TV's +Ultra programming block in January 2022.
Furukawa's novel renders the classic Japanese epic The Tale of the Heike in modern language, and the anime is the first television anime adaptation of the novel. The original epic tells the story of the rise and fall of the Taira clan during the Genpei War. The anime centers on the perspective of Biwa, a blind traveling minstrel. Biwa meets Taira no Shigemori, heir to his clan, and bearing a supernatural sight that can perceive ghosts. She then proclaims to him a prophecy of his clan's downfall.
Naoko Yamada, a veteran director on several Kyoto Animation works, is directing the anime as her first directorial work after leaving Kyoto Animation, with frequent collaborators Reiko Yoshida as scriptwriter and kensuke ushio as music composer. Fumiko Takano is drafting the original character concepts, while Takashi Kojima (Flip Flappers, Ride Your Wave) is adapting those character designs for animation. Tomotaka Kubo (Deho Gallery) is in charge of art direction, and Ken Hashimoto is the color key artist. Shotaro Imai is the in-between animation director. Kazuto Izumita is the compositing director of photography, while Kiyoshi Hirose is editing. Eriko Kimura is the audio director with Hiromune Kurahashi (Otonarium) in charge of sound effects. Yoshihiko Sata is credited for historical supervision, and biwa player Yukihiro Gotō is credited for overseeing the portrayal of the biwa playing.
The alternative rock band hitsujibungaku is performing the opening theme song "Hikaru Toki" (When the Light Shines), while agraph feat. ANI (Scha Dara Parr) is performing the ending theme song "unified perspective."
Yamada, Yoshida, and ushio have worked together before in A Silent Voice and Liz and the Blue Bird anime films at Kyoto Animation. Yamada and Yoshida in particular have been long-time collaborators before these films at Kyoto Animation, working on such anime as K-ON!, Tamako Market, and Tamako Love Story.
Source: Funimation (Nicholas Friedman)
