SEGA announces premiere date for Phantasy Star Online 2: The animation
In a Stream held on Nico Nico this week, SEGA of Japan revealed the premiere date for Phantasy Star Online 2: The animation. It will be on the January 7th 2016 when this cartoon will premiere on TBS, BS-TBS, and other stations. The anime is the 8th project to commemorate PSO’s 15th anniversary.
SEGA took the chance to announce new characters for the animation: Ikuko Inoue as Yumiko, Katsuyuki Konishi as Last Samurai, Emi Nitta as Silva, Kazuhiko Inoue as Kid, Hiroki Takahashi as Mamoru Monzen, Halko Momoi, Atsuko Enomoto, Ichitarō Ai as guest characters, Marika Kōno as Marika, Riko Kohara as Riko, and Yurika Takagi as Yurika.
The show already stars in the main roles: Shouta Aoi (who is also performing the theme song) as Itsuki Tachibana, M.A.O (our dear Dreamcast SEGA Hard Girl’s voice) as Aika Suzuki, and Ayaka Suwa as Rina Izumi.
Other voice talent includes Nobunaga Shimazaki as Kōta Kayano, Takuya Satō as Masaya Kudō, Rie Murakawa as Mika Konoe, Aki Kanada as Yutaka Sasaki, Shun Horie as Seiya Urisaka, Minami Kabayama as Mayu Urisaka, and Tesshô Genda as SORO.
SEGA is also taking a good use of Keiichiro Kawaguchi as director for the series and Telecom Animation Film who are also producing the new Lupin the 3rd series for them. Mitsutaka Hirota (The Prince of Tennis II and Persona 4 The Animation) is writing and overseeing the scripts, and Minoko Takasu (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood key animator) is designing the characters.
Sega released PSO2 for Windows PC in Japan in 2012, followed by a Vita release in 2013, and mobile releases as PSOes in April and May 2014. To this day, the game has more than 3.5 million registered users in Japan, and 3 expansion episodes, with no western release to date. The franchise is being way too successful that an upgraded version with a new episode is heading to PS4 in Japan on 2016.
