All cast members of the TV anime “Sing ‘Yesterday’ for Me” including Sakamoto Maaya, Suzuki Tatsuo, Kitamura Eri, and others have been announced. The theme song will be sung by the 4-piece band Yourness, which will be their first anime tie-up.
“Sing ‘Yesterday’ for Me” is originally a manga serialized in “Business Jump” and “Grand Jump” by Toume Kei from 1998 to 2015. The TV anime adaption will begin its broadcast in Apr.
The main characters are; Uozumi Rikuo voiced by Kobayashi Chikahiro, Nonaka Haru voiced by Miyamoto Yume, Morinome Shinako voiced by Hanazawa Kana, and Hayakawa Rou voiced by Hanae Natsuki. 21 additional voice cast were announced including Sakamoto Maaya as Sayama Kyouko, Suzuki Tatsuo as Kinoshita, and Kitamura Eri as Yuzuhara Chika.
A trailer movie of the 4 main characters was also released. You can check out the voices of the 4 before the broadcast begins.
The theme song is sung by Yourness, the 4-piece rock band from Fukuoka. It was their first time creating a song for an anime, and they have made a new song that matches the show.
The title being an ensemble cast, they have plans to bring other artists on for the theme song. Let’s look forward to further information.
The series composition will be taken care of by director Fujiwara Yoshiyuki himself. He has reconstructed the drama of the characters into 12 episodes under the supervision of Toume Kei, the original writer, and wrote the script along with the scriptwriter Tanaka Hitoshi, who is also a fan of the original work.
The anime is set in somewhere around Shimokitazawa Station and Matsubara Station taken from the original “small town along the private railway close to Shinjuku”. The age setting also follows suit with the original manga, around 2002, with details to match the time such as; conversations between fixed-line phones and phone booths, analog TVs, cassette players.
Comments from director Fujiwara, Tanaka Hitoshi, Yourness were released along with the announcement.
<Full comments are as below>
【Director: Fujiwara Yoshiyuki】
This title requires a subtle tension such as; transactions like a chemical reaction, having the characters’ emotional state change during the conversations.
We had to take steps to create a situation to show the distance and intense atmosphere of the characters’ relations.
The story ended up the way it did through the process of carefully extracting how we want to connect with other people and what would make us stressed out in such a situation.
Is it really bad for Rikuo and the characters to feel the hope and worries of reality?
I believe the question “What is happiness?” is still relevant to this generation.
I hope everyone can enjoy these features.
【Scriptwriter: Tanaka Hitoshi】
This title depicts a difficult era of Japan for the youth which still continues. There are many that couldn’t get jobs or feel vague anxiety just like Rikuo, and I hope the ones who aren’t familiar with those times can feel something from this anime.
I think everyone will be able to get a sense of that period.
【Theme song artist: Koga Shouhei from Yourness】
Many people supported us to be in charge of our first anime theme song in our musical career.
I grew up watching much anime, so this opportunity to be in charge of a theme song was pure joy to me.
It is a wonderful piece of work. The complex feelings that make the characters very human drew us in, which helped the creation of the song go smoothly.
We tried to feel and understand each word, line, expression from “Sing ‘Yesterday’ for Me” in our own way to present this fascinating piece of work through music. I hope you will enjoy the show including the ending theme.
(C)Toume Kei/Shueisha・ Sing “Yesterday” for Me Production Committee
