Aoashi Soccer Anime Reveals 2 More Cast Members, Visual, April 9 Premiere

The official website for the television anime of Yūgo Kobayashi's Aoashi manga reveled on Wednesday that the anime will premiere on the NHK Educational (E Tele) channel on April 9, and will air on Saturdays at 6:25 p.m. The website also revealed a new key visual and two more cast members. Shunsuke Takeuchi will play Nagisa Akutsu and Yuichiro Umehara will play Haruhisa Kuribayashi.

The previously announced cast includes:

• Kouki Ohsuzu as Ashito Aoi
• Tatsumaru Tachibana as Eisaku Ohtomo
• Seiichirō Yamashita as Sōichirō Tachibana
• Taku Yashiro as Keiji Togashi
• Shun Horie as Kanpei Kuroda
• Wataru Katō as Martis Jun Asari
• Junya Enoki as Yūma Motoki
• Kentarō Kumagai as Ryūichi Takeshima
• Chikahiro Kobayashi as Tatsuya Fukuda
• Maki Kawase as Hana Ichijō

Akira Sato (Release the Spyce) is directing the anime at Production I.G. Masahiro Yokotani (Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club, All Out!!, Tropical-Rouge! Precure) is in charge of the series scripts. Manabu Nakatake, Toshie Kawamura, Asuka Yamaguchi, and Saki Hasegawa are all credited for character design, with Natake and Yamaguchi also credited as chief animation directors. Naho Seike, Yukiko Watabe, Miho Daidouji, and Eisuke Shirai are credited as sub-character designers. Kenichi Takeshita, Jun Soga, and Kenji Iizuka are credited for soccer supervision. Masaru Yokoyama is composing the music.

The manga centers on third-year middle school student Ashito Aoi, who lives in Ehime prefecture. Ashito has a strong talent in soccer, but he tries to hide it. Due to his very straightforward personality, he causes a disaster that serves as a huge setback for him. Then, Tatsuya Fukuya — a veteran of the strong J-Club team Tokyo City Esperion and coach of the club's youth team — appears in front of Ashito. Tatsuya sees through Ashito and sees his talent, and invites him to try out for the youth team in Tokyo.

Kobayashi launched the manga in Shogakukan's Weekly Big Comic Spirits magazine in January 2015. The manga is based on an original story concept by Naohiko Ueno.

Sources: Aoashi anime's website, Comic Natalie