The official X (formerly Twitter) account for the Rinkai! project revealed four new cast members for its anime series. The new cast members will all start performing in the anime's fourth episode on Tuesday.
Hikaru Tohno (top in image above) voices the character of Momoka Tamono, and Makoto Koichi (bottom in image above) voices the character of Kōme Hōfu. Both characters are prominent college cycling racers. Like the main character Izumi Itō, the two new characters aspire to be professional competitive cyclists. Like many of the previous characters, their family names happen to coincide with the names of their home cities.
Kazuya Ichijō (left in image above) voices the character of Headmaster Sawamitsu, and Yasushi Iwaki voices the character of Instructor Yamada. Both characters are from the cycling training school.
The anime premiered on April 9 on the Tokyo MX channel at 11:30 p.m. JST (10:30 a.m. EDT), then on BS Fuji at 24:30 (effectively, April 10 at 12:30 a.m. JST).
The story centers on the sport of women's cycling, which debuted in Japan shortly after World War II. However, organized competitions folded after just 15 years and laid dormant for several decades. Then the Rinkai! League launched to revive the sport.
The anime stars:
- Umino Kawamura as Izumi Itō
- Azusa Aoi as Nana Hiratsuka
- Rena Hasegawa as Miko Yahiko
- Saika Kitamori as Sachi Nagoya
- Riho Sugiyama as Kinusa Takamatsu
- Minami Hinata as Ai Kumamoto
- Rico Sasaki as Tsutsuji Kurume
- Yukari Anzai as Chigiri Toyohashi
- Miho Morisaki as Suzu Matsusaka
- Yuka Ozaki as Sora Iwakitaira
- Hinako Takahashi as Remi Hiroshima
- Misato Murai as Midori Maebashi
- Minami Shinoda as Rika Matsudo
- Rena Maeda as Rio Kishiwada
- Hiromi Kawakami as Yakuko Toyama
Rico Sasaki, who plays the role of Tsutsuji Kurume performs the opening theme song "Windshifter," and the rest of the cast perform the ending theme song "Override!” as Nana and the other characters.
Takaaki Ishiyama (Fairy Musketeers, Sakura Wars) is directing the anime at TMS Entertainment's 6th Studio, in collaboration with Maruga Factory. Hideki Shirane (Date A Live, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?) is in charge of the series scripts, and Hiromi Ono (key animator for Inuyasha, Saber Marionette J) is designing the characters.
Additional staff includes:
- Sound Director: Ryō Tanaka
- Art Director: Niki Higaki
- Color Key Artist: Haruko Nobori
- Compositing Director of Photography: Yūko Kamahara
- CG Director: Yuichi Goto
- Editing: Megumi Uchida
- Music: Shuichiro Fukuhiro, Yoshihei Ueda, Mana Hirano
- Music Production: Lantis
The project's manga series titled Rinkai! Azalea launched on the Manga Bang! service on April 9. Kiyoshi Yamane is drawing the manga, and Rinkai! Project is credited for the original work.