At AnimeJapan 2024, the Pony Canyon booth had some exciting news to share!
They announced that the full-fledged anime adaptation of Sae Okamoto’s Mecha-Ude project will be premiering in October.
How awesome is that?
The anime features a delightful cast:
Toshiyuki Toyonaga portrays the character Hikaru, while Tomokazu Sugita brings Alma to life.
Yu Shimamura lends her voice to the character Aki, and Romi Park takes on the role of Kagami.
Yūichi Nakamura portrays the character Fist.
Okamoto is the talented creator who is also directing the anime at the promising Fukuoka-based TriF Studio.
Yasuhiro Nakanishi, a member of TriF, is in charge of the series scripts, while Terumi Nishii and Yoko Uchida are the talented character designers.
Nurikabe is the talented designer and concept artist behind Mecha-Ude. Hiroyuki Sawano, Kohta Yamamoto, and DAIKI from AWSM are collaborating to create the music.
Hiroshi Matsuyama from CyberConnect2 serves as the general supervisor, Shūichi Asō from TriF Studio is the animation producer, and Tetsuya Kinoshita from Pony Canyon is the producer.
The production team of the project released a pilot anime video in May 2019, and shortly after, an English dub was made available. Eve sang the opening theme song “Ambivalent,” while AZLiGHTZ performed the ending theme song “Alone.”
The initial Kickstarter campaign generated a total of US$67,918 between October and November 2016.
A Japanese Campfire crowdfunding campaign successfully raised 4,849,500 yen (about US$44,000) towards its initial goal of 2 million yen (about US$18,700) before concluding in March 2018.
In September 2022, Pony Canyon happily announced that the project would be receiving a full-fledged anime series.
The first episode of the anime had its world premiere at Anime Expo in July 2023.
In September 2022, Yoshino Koyoka (Aria the Scarlet Ammo) released the manga adaptation on the LINE Manga and ebookjapan services.
Azuki started publishing the manga in English as Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms on July 2. It tells the story:
Kitakagami City is an average town, with one interesting twist: certain individuals have acquired Mecha-Ude, remarkable mechanical beings that are both powerful and sentient, and are attached to their hosts’ limbs.
When Hikaru, a middle school student, unintentionally activates Alma, a Mecha-Ude with no recollection of its history, an unexpected bond is formed between them. Together, they embark on a remarkable journey.
So, where exactly did Alma come from? Why are mysterious organizations and assassins relentlessly pursuing Hikaru, determined to steal Alma?
Hikaru and Alma need to collaborate to uncover the truth about Alma’s identity and ensure his safety.
Source: Pony Canyon booth at AnimeJapan 2024
