News

Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy's Nojima Makes Short Anime

Enterbrain's Famitsu news source announced on Thursday that the Busō Chūgakusei Basket Army (Armed Middle School Student Basket Army) staff will stream a short anime and audio drama for free. Busō Chūgakusei is based on a novel written by Kazushige Nojima, the game scenario writer best known for role-playing games such as the Kingdom Hearts franchise, Black Rock Shooter the Game, and Final Fantasy VIII, X, X-2, and Versus XIII.

The story is set in August of 2026 at the Fuji Training Facility. Tōko natori, a third-year middle school student in the Eastern Private Defense Academy, is entrenched in field training with instructor Kamiya. It has been a harsh training regiment, but it is finally the last day. Kamiya proposes a "extracurricular class" under the name "Newest Weapons Research." But then, an incident occurs that rocks all of Japan.

Busō Chūgakusei is the first venture in Enterbrain's XXolution project, a multimedia initiative that will span manga, novels, anime, illustrations, scripts, music, and other fields.

The first of the three-minute episodes will begin streaming on December 22, and the second will follow on February 29. Later episodes will appear every other month.

Atsushi Kawasaki (Duel Masters card game) is serving as art director, and Mitsudoki Akashikurasu is designing the characters. Tomokazu Nakano (The King Of Fighters Neowave) is contributing conceptual designs, and Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell, Death Note, Eden of the East) is composing the music. Romanov Higa (Catblue: Dynamite, TANK S.W.A.T. 01) is directing, storyboarding, and editing the anime at the studio asread and Studio RF.


Image © 2011 Enterbrain

Update: The cast includes the following:
Tōko: Ami Koshimizu
Kazuki: Yūki Kaji
Hikari: Nao Tōyama
Yōji: Genki Muro
Satoshi: Shin Furukawa
Ann: Mana Hirata
Nanami: Suzuko Mimori
Tarō: Yūta Odagaki
Tomonori: Takahiro Mizushima
Oneesan (Big Sister): Yoshiko Ikuta
Chris: Kikuko Inoue
Gabriel: Nobuaki Kanemitsu
Tōchi: Hiroki Yasumoto