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Production company Starry Cube opened an official website for a television anime adaptation of Kashiko Amane‘s Houkago no Idol ni wa Himitsu ga Aru (Everyone’s Darling Has a Secret) web manga on Monday, revealing the main cast, staff, and a teaser visual (pictured). The anime series will premiere in April 2027.

Cast

Hiruno Hizashi: Reiji Kawashima (Fumetsu no Anata e)

Rei Kuromiya: Hikaru Tono (Make Heroine ga Oosugiru)

Sakura Akai: Iori Noguchi (=LOVE) (Hashiri Tsuzukete Yokatta tte.)

Sora Konno: Ami Maeshima (BanG Dream! 2nd Season)

Staff

Director: Hikaru Satou (Lycoris Recoil animation director)

Series Composition, Script: Fumihiko Shimo (Clannad)

Character Design: Azuma Tozawa (Kirei ni Shitemoraemasu ka.)

Music: Satoru Kousaki (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto), MONACA (Summertime Render)

Studio: Gekkou

Producer: Ryou Aizawa (Starry Cube) (Yuusha Party ni Kawaii Ko ga Ita node, Kokuhaku shitemita.)

Amane originally launched a preview serialization of the comedy romance manga in Young Animal magazine from July to August 2022. The series later began regular serialization on the Manga Park and Young Animal web service in September 2022. Hakusensha published the ninth volume on July 29.

Yen Press licensed the manga in English in August 2024. The fourth volume went on sale on June 9.

Synopsis

Hiruno Hizashi, a freshman at a super-elite high school, has just finished his first academic proficiency test of the year. He anxiously awaits the results, which will set the tone for his next three years at school. But due to a mistake on his answer sheet, he receives an abysmal score and gets sent to remedial lessons! If there’s one silver lining, he’s not the only one—and his comrade could be the girl of his dreams?! (Source: Yen Press)

Official site: https://idol-afterschool.com/

Official X: @idolafterschool

Source: animate Times

Houkago no Idol ni wa Himitsu ga Aru on MAL

Sega began streaming an in-depth “showbiz” video for Ryu ga Gotoku Studio’s Stranger Than Heaven game (previously codenamed “Project Century”) on Friday. The video provides a detailed overview of finding musical inspiration, creating songs, and promoting shows in the game.

The game will launch on January 15 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam. The game will also be available via Game Pass.

The game will explore different times and places in Japan’s modern history, including Kokura, Fukuoka in 1915; Kure, Hiroshima in 1929; Minami, Osaka in 1943; Atami, Shizuoka in 1951; and the fictional neighborhood of Kamurocho (based on the Kabukicho neighborhood, and a constant setting of RGG Studio’s Yakuza/Like a Dragon games) in Shinjuku, Tokyo in 1965.

Sega describes the game’s story:

A 50-year saga of those with nowhere to go and their desperate struggle to find a home. In 1915 San Francisco, a young boy, Makoto Daito, sneaks aboard a suspicious ship in the harbor under the cover of night. Born to an American father and a Japanese mother, Makoto faces harsh persecution due to his Asian heritage. 

After losing both of his parents, Makoto decides to travel to his mother’s homeland, Japan, where a fateful encounter awaits. With nothing but the shirt on his back, Makoto soon learns, however, that his voyage across the Pacific is anything but a “free ride,” and that this one choice will forever change the course of his life.

The cast includes:

• Yū Shirota as Makoto Daito
• Snoop Dogg as Orpheus
• Moeka Hoshi as Tae Matsumoto
• Tori Kelly as Suzy Day
• Akio Ōtsuka as Heigo Yashima
• Tokuma Nishioka as Kiyoshi Otsuru
• Satoshi Fujihara as Takashi
• Cordell Broadus as The Veiled Stranger
• Ado as Keiko Shirai
• Bunta Sugawara (model basis) and Takashi Ukaji (voice) as Genzo Iwaki
• Late American rapper Tupac
• Takaya Kuroda (who plays Kazuma Kiryu in Ryu ga Gotoku’s related Yakuza/Like a Dragon series)
• Kouhei Tsuji
• Yasukaze Motomiya (who plays Kosei Shishido in the Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name game and Kazuma Kiryu in Nihon Tohitsu’s live-action Like a Dragon Powered By Nihon Touitsu series)

Sega provided the following comment regarding the character Genzo Iwaki and the model for the character being based on the late actor Bunta Sugawara:

In STRANGER THAN HEAVEN, the late and legendary actor Bunta Sugawara appears. SEGA received formal consent from his family, and, with materials provided by Toei Company Ltd.—which produced many of Mr. Sugawara’s films, including the Battles Without Honor and Humanity— RGG Studio crafted his CG character design based on archival footage and photographs from the time.

Snoop Dogg, Satoshi Fujihara, Ado, and Tori Kelly perform the game’s theme song “Stranger Than Heaven.” The song will get a release this year.

The game is inspiring a live-action film on Netflix.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio’s remake of the Yakuza 3 game along with the new standalone Dark Ties title, launched as a single release for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam worldwide on February 12.

Source: Email correspondence, Sega‘s YouTube channel