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Ao Oni: The Animation TV Anime Reveals Promo Video, Cast, October 2 Premiere

The official website for Ao Oni: The Animation, a series of television anime shorts based on the horror game franchise Ao Oni, began streaming a promotional video for the series on Friday. The website also revealed the show's premiere date and cast on Friday.

The anime will premiere on TV Tokyo on October 2 at 27:05 (effectively October 3 at 3:05 a.m.) and will then premiere on BS Japan on October 9 at 26:36 (effectively October 10 at 2:35 a.m.).

The series of shorts will be a comedic take on the original story with the familiar characters drawn in super-deformed style. The cast includes:

Ryota Ohsaka as Hiroshi, the rational protagonist who serves as the group's de facto leader

Takahiro Mizushima as Takurō, the life of the party and the group member who sets the mood

Eri Kitamura as Mika, the self-proclaimed heroine of the group (and arguably "the third cutest girl in class")

Shūta Morishima as Takeshi, the most easily scared in the group

Other characters in the series include:

Ao Oni, a blueberry-colored naked giant who appears in the uninhabited mansion on the outskirts of the town

Blockman Oni (Fuwatty), a "fast" oni

In the series, there's a rumor about an uninhabited Western-style house on the outskirts of town that is haunted. Hiroshi and his friends Takurō, Mika, and Takeshi visit the house, and are attacked by the Ao Oni monster. The four friends must solve various riddles to escape.

Toshirō Hamamura (3D director on Chivalry of a Failed Knight, Wake Up, Girls!) is serving as chief director alongside director Chisei Maeda (Wasimo's ending animation) at Studio DEEN (When They Cry - Higurashi, Hell Girl). The artist kichi is adapting the original character designs by Kyuta Sakai (Steins;Gate, When They Cry - Higurashi) for animation. Kanekoke is supervising and writing the series scripts. The animation is credited to maxcaffy, Kagi, Poeyama, and Sena Makino. Shiyu Yanagida is composing the music, and Dax Production is producing the sound.

The games are inspiring an anime film in 2017 that is also titled Ao Oni: The Animation. The film will be closer to the traditional mystery horror of the original game, although it will have a new story that is different from the original game, novelization, and live-action films. Studio DEEN is also animating the film.

Ao Oni is a horror game that makes the player solve various puzzles and riddles in order to escape a demon in a locked or enclosed space. The game first debuted as a free game released online in 2004. The game is available to play in both Japanese and English. Publisher PHP Institute released a novel inspired by the game in Japan in February 2013. The franchise also inspired two live-action films in July 2014 and July 2015.

Source: MoCa News