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Funimation Streams Rainy Cocoa, Welcome to Rainy Color Sequel

North American anime distributor Funimation announced that it is streaming the Rainy Cocoa, Welcome to Rainy Color (Ameiro Cocoa Rainy color e Yōkoso!) comedy anime as it airs in Japan. It also confirmed its streaming of the Shomin Sample (I Was Abducted by an Elite All-Girls School as a Sample Commoner) anime.

Rainy Cocoa, Welcome to Rainy Color is a sequel to the Rainy Cocoa short anime series, which Funimation streamed as it aired in Japan in April.

Funimation describes the anime:

Aoi Tokura is having a rough day. He's used to being mistaken for a girl, but it's even worse when a captivating stranger on the train calls him a creeper for staring a little too long. Aoi's soaked by a sudden rainstorm and takes shelter at Rainy Color, a cozy café where the warmth of the staff compliments the sweet hot cocoa he's served. When he falls into a job at the café he feels like things are finally looking up— until Keiichi Iwase, the man he couldn't help but stare at on the train, shows up. Did this day just get worse, or better?

The show's production committee previously launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Green Funding website in June, which eventually earned 2,229,000 yen (about US$18,551), surpassing its 2,000,000 (about US$16,275) yen goal. The campaign aimed to add more characters and cast members, and fund plans to create a live-action segment to air with the anime that will feature talks with the new and veteran voice actors.

The staff noted that it hopes to use the money to help nurture the new talent alongside the first season's veteran voice actors. The new characters and cast include:

• Kazutomi Yamamoto (Blood Lad's Mimic Yoshida, Chaika the Coffin Princess' Leonardo Stoller) as Noel Koga (older brother)
• Yoshitaka Yamaya (Assassination Classroom's Tomohito Sugino, One Week Friends' Yūki Hase) as Nicola Koga (younger brother)
• Shouma Yamamoto (Beyblade: Shogun Steel's Sakyō Kurayami, HappinessCharge PreCure!'s Blue) as Jun Arisawa
• Shunya Marue (Engaged to the Unidentified) as Haruka Torigoe

The second season premiered in Japan on Tokyo MX and Sun TV on Sunday, and airs from 10:15-10:25 p.m.

The first season starred Hiro Shimono as Aoi Tokura, Hikaru Midorikawa as Keiichi Iwaase, Daisuke Hirakawa as Shion Koga, Ryō Horikawa as Hiroshi Amami, and Mamoru Miyano as Ryota Sakuragi. Tomomi Mochizuki (House of Five Leaves, Princess Nine) directed the first series of anime shorts, with character designs by Atsuko Takahashi (Magical Moe) and music by Kaoru Kondou (The Prince of Tennis: The National Tournament ending theme song composition).

The anime is based on the Japanese/English digital manga of the same name. The creators describe Rainy Cocoa as one of the world's first digital manga which allows readers to toggle between Japanese and English text and audio. The English cast for the manga includes Joel McDonald, Ian Sinclair, Todd Haberkorn, Christopher R. Sabat, and Vic Mignogna.

The manga is available as apps in Google's Android store and Apple's iTunes Store. The manga and anime's staff have noted that the apps have been downloaded in more than 50 countries worldwide.

Thanks to SpacemanHardy for the news tip