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Kyōkai no Rinne Anime's Sakura, Rinne Character Sketches Unveiled
posted on by Sarah Nelkin
The combined fourth and fifth issue of Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday magazine is revealing on Wednesday the first two character designs from the television anime adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi's Kyōkai no Rinne (Rinne of the Boundary or RIN-NE) manga.
Director Seiki Sugawara commented on directing the anime, saying that he has been a fan of Rumiko Takahashi since childhood. He added that while he is excited, he is also very nervous. In conclusion, he asks fans to look forward to the series, and says that he and the staff are doing their very best.
The television anime of Rumiko Takahashi's manga will premiere next spring on the public broadcaster NHK's E Tele channel. Seiki Sugawara (D-Fragments) is directing the series at Brains Base (One Week Friends), and Michiko Yokote (Ranma 1/2, Shirobako) is in charge of the series scripts. 25 episodes are planned.
Viz, the publisher of the manga in North America, describes the story:
As a child Sakura Mamiya mysteriously disappeared in the woods behind her grandma's home. She returned whole and healthy, but since then she has had the power to see ghosts. Now a teenager, she just wishes the ghosts would leave her alone! At school, the desk next to Sakura's has been empty since the start of the school year. Then one day her always-absent classmate Rinne Rokudo shows up, and he's far more than what he seems!
Takahashi created such manga as Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, and Urusei Yatsura before she began serializing RIN-NE in Weekly Shonen Sunday in 2009. (She ended her long-running series Inuyasha in the same magazine.) The manga has constantly ranked in on Japan's best-seller list.
An anime commercial starring Mariya Ise (Yes! Precure 5, Hatsukoi Limited) as Sakura Mamiya, Kōki Uchiyama (Soul Eater, Nisekoi) as Rinne Rokudo, and Rie Kugimiya (The IDOLM@STER, Gintama) as Rinne's assistant black cat, Rokumon, premiered in 2009:
Sakura: They say that if you put an offering in the instrument shelter box and make a wish, there's something out there that will solve your spiritual problems...
Rinne: Omnomnomnom...
Sakura: Hey!
Rinne: Wait, you can see me?
Rokumon: Roar! This is bad! The Boundary has been broken!
Rinne: Well, I guess it can't be helped, since it's them.
Sakura: They're just way too energetic.
Rokumon: Entertainment that breaks limits!
All: Shonen Sunday!
Viz Media shipped the 16th compiled volume in North America last month. (Viz Media releases the manga in North America under the title RIN-NE.)
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history