(CR) Hanayamata

[winhlp32]

As shown in picture above, the cover of the February issue of Manga Time Kirara Forward announces the adaptation of Hamayumiba Sou's Hanayamata manga.
Studio Madhouse will be handling the adaptation.

Official site
Official Twitter

Synopsis from Mangaupdates:

Normal appearance, normal intelligence, normal in arts and sports... just normal. This is the entirely normal 14-year-old, Naru Sekiya. While she admires "Heroines" she continues to live a normal life until one moonlit night she meets a fairy. This foreign girl then guides her into the extraordinary world of the yosakoi dance.

Yes! Very excited for this. Highly recommended to anyone who likes girls and FEELINGS.

[winhlp32]

Website is now open.

[winhlp32]

Yay! Summer 2014!

Anime character designs are out.

Director: Atsuko Ishizuka
Writer: Reiko Yoshida
Character design: Atsuko Watanabe
Music: MONICA
Music Production: DIVEⅡentertainment
Animation: MADHOUSE

Cast / Seiyuu:

Naru: Reina Ueda
Hana: Minami Tanaka
Yaya: Kaya Okuno
Tami: Yuka Ootsubo
Machi: Manami Numakura

[Flower]

Here is a pic of the main charas in school uniforms:

[Flower]

Here is some more detail regarding the characters, taken mainly from: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...st-this-summer

Atsuko Ishizuka (The Pet Girl of Sakurasou, No Game, No Life) is directing the anime at the studio Mad House. Reiko Yoshida (K-ON!, Girls und Panzer, Tamako Market) is writing and supervising the scripts, and Atsuko Watanabe (GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class, Juden Chan, The Everyday Tales of a Cat God) is designing the characters. The creator group MONACA is composing the music, and DIVE II Entertainment is producing the music.

Hamayumiba has been running the manga in Houbunsha's Manga Time Kirara Forward since 2011, and Houbunsha published the fourth volume in January. Sou also created the Sorairo Square. (Sky-Blue Square) manga.

Yosakoi dance in and of itself is actually a contemporary thing, it turns out.

Yosakoi (よさこい) is a unique style of dance that originated in Japan. Yosakoi started in the city of Kōchi in 1954, as a modern rendition of Awa Odori, a traditional summer dance. Yosakoi-style dancing has spread throughout much of Japan. The style of dance is highly energetic, combining traditional Japanese dance movements with modern music. The choreographed dances are often performed by large teams. Along with a number of professional yosakoi schools and town dance teams, yosakoi is also a popular event during the sports festivals held by Japanese elementary, junior, and senior high schools. Yosakoi participants include men and women of almost all ages – sometimes within a single team.

The costumes used by yosakoi teams vary widely. Happi coats and yukata are the most predominant costumes and can be seen in a wide variety of colors. However, some groups choose costumes that are based on historical attire, popular fashions, or ethnic fashions. Typically, all members of a team wear similar costumes.

One of the defining aspects of yosakoi dance is the use of naruko: small wooden clappers that are held in the hands of each dancer. Naruko were originally used in Kōchi Prefecture to scare birds away from rice fields. The traditional naruko has black and yellow beaters on a wooden body, but most modern yosakoi groups create their own naruko, choosing colors and materials that match their costumes. The use of naruko is required in yosakoi dance, but many groups also use other hand-held instruments or props, such as drums, other percussion instruments, flags, batons, and floats.

For those curious, here is a YT vid of a Yosakoi dance:

Here is more info about the cast.

Spoiler for tags used for size of info dump:

Reina Ueda as Naru Sekiya, a completely normal, second year middle school student. Although she admires heroines that show up in stories, she does not have the courage to escape her normal everyday life. After she meets foreigner Hannah dancing on a moonlit night, she says that she wants to shine as well, and joins the world of Yosakoi dance.

****

Minami Tanaka as Hannah N. Fontanstand, a girl from America who is a second-year in middle school. After taking a trip to Japan when she was young, she fell in love with Yosakoi dance, and it became her dream to dance Yosakoi in Japan. She makes the Yosakoi club at school along with Naru, and struggles to find more members to join. She's extremely energetic, but worries about her height.

****

Kaya Okuno as Yaya Sasame, Naru's best friend since elementary school and her current schoolmate. She enjoys being in her youth, playing the drums for a band. Through various events, she joins the Yosakoi club in name only. Her home is a soba shop.

****

Yuka Ōtsubo as Tami Nishigomon, a middle school third-year who is Naru's childhood friend and the vice-president of the student council. She has admired Naru since she was young, and although she is a beautiful high-class lady, she is quite the daddy's girl. She joins the Yosakoi club after she is invited by Naru.

****

Manami Numakura as Machi Tokiwaza, the president of the student council. She forbids Hana and the Yosakoi club to use the school's roof for practice. Although she is very harsh to others and herself, she is also gentle and warm towards her best friend Tami. It appears that her loneliness may have to do something with the bad relationship with her elder sister.

[Marina2]

Offical website updated background and some info


Characters profile
http://hanayamata.com/profile/


OP/ED

OP： [Hanaha Odori Reya Iroha ni Ho] by Team Hanayamata

ED： [Hanayuki] by smileY inc.

http://hanayamata.com/goods/


PR video release

[Myssa Rei]

A much more detailed and newer PV:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/w2uF35VwMEo

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Marina2]

Colorful second PV with beautiful ED song in the background

WOW!

[Kaoru Chujo]

First episode tomorrow. I've made a characters/seiyuus page, with pics of the main characters and their seiyuus, and a bit of info about each seiyuu.

What attracts me to this show, besides that PV and the possibility of this actually being shoujo ai, is the staff: the director (Ishizuka Atsuko, the 32-year-old woman who directed Sakurasou and No Game No Life, and directed ten eps of NANA) and the writer (Yoshida Reiko, who wrote Marimite, K-On and many other big shows). The studio being Madhouse helps, too.

[Nerroth]

CR are streaming this one.

[MisaoFan]

Spoiler for Episode 1:

Well, it was pretty nice. The color palette is pretty good, but the negative I find about it is that each time Atsuko Ishizuka is directing a new anime, the color filters became brighter so much it feels boring now. I liked the cute interactions between the heroine and Hannah even though the latter has a personality that might be annoying to some. The music sounded generic unfortunately, let's hope Hannah can teach the Yosakoi dance to her future peers next time.

[Dop]

One little fang tooth may be seen by some as a 'charm point'

Two makes me think "What, is she meant to be a vampire?"
The night time and the massive jumps didn't dissuade me from this view, only when she turned up in the daytime.

That is pretty much my only criticism, otherwise I liked it, but want to see where it goes from here.

[Flower]

Ep 1

All my expectations and more! ^^

Best first ep of the season for me, but I freely admit this was one of the ones I was anticipating the most.

Gorgeous visuals, interesting characters and an interesting subject matter. I enjoyed the OP, but for the first ep the audio, while okay, was only okay for me (ED included)... hoping it will step up in that aspect in future eps.

Also... Hannah is a bit inhuman indeed. Talk about an incredible athlete in terms of balance and agility.... O.O I kinda feel that some of the things she did were exagerated in terms of physical feats - especially the jumping ability and being able to survive that massive fall, but part of me chalks that up to "poetic license" while another wonders if they will unexpectedly bring in a supernatural twist. Hmm.... Not that I would mind.

For the record, ep 1 covered chapters 1-4 of the manga....

[FlareKnight]

I have to say this was a pretty enjoyable first episode. I didn't expect much from the episode, but it was quite nice. Visuals were nice and the few characters we've met had their positives too.

Certainly think plenty can relate to that position Naru was in. Certainly having aspirations of her own, but also being afraid of taking a step towards them. Idolizing those heroines while being afraid of standing out. Glad that Hana managed to at least help her branch out even a little bit.

Certainly can't help thinking that Hana is somewhat supernatural. Even if she's an incredible athlete hard to believe she can go around jumping like that. May be poetic license, but maybe hinting that Naru's initial impression wasn't that far off the mark.

Should be a fun little show to follow.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I wondered at first, but the pace and the personalities just carried me along. These are not the world's most experienced seiyuus, but Naru in particular (Ueda Reina) was very emotionally effective, for me. Maybe because I can relate to her feelings.

Hannah (or is it Hana?) is indeed like an alien: not only foreign and blonde, not only with those two snaggle teeth (straight from the manga), not only able to leap tall torii (also from the manga), but irrepressible and determined. She's played by 18-year-old Tanaka Minami, who was Minami in Wake Up Girls. I really liked Yaya, too (Okuno Kaya, Kaya in Wake Up Girls). She seemed both strong and nice. And the insert song worked for me.

Personally, I love the amazing colors. They seem actually one step toned down from No Game No Life, but in both cases they add something exciting and rich, for me. I'm not saying Ishizuka Atsuko is the greatest director, but she has certainly made something out of Sakurasou, No Game, and this, it seems to me. I think she has a knack for giving her shows a forward impetus that makes them seem to go quickly.

[ices]

Tanohsiii

Well, I'll follow this one.

Also wondering what with that massive jump. Well, I hope we will discover it in the future. Anyway, great animation.

[HandofFate]

Fun first episode, going to stick around for another episode or two.

Good visuals, zany characters, traces of innocent yuri.

Also, good BGM throughout the episode.

Also, a character from New Jersey, finally getting represented in anime,lol.

[Random Wanderer]

Very beautiful beginning.

I love the energy Hana brings to everything she does.

[Flower]

By the way, a little tidbit I just noticed. Remember how surprised and then thrilled Hana was when Naru finally introduced herself and exclaimed "what a beautiful name"?

Well, the hand clacking instrument that is a requirement for whatever form of yosakoi dance one does (the wooden instrument Naru went to the roof to return to Hana) is named a Naruko.

The similarity might have contributed to Hana's delight and surprise (though just a speculation). ^^

[erneiz_hyde]

I like the atmosphere. I like the chara designs, and the way they blush is really cute imo.
Also, the oriental tone of the OP and ED reminds me a lot about Touhou.