© NATSUKI TAKAYA, HAKUSENSHA / FRUITS BASKET PROJECT

Mindanao-based Cable TV operator Parasat has revealed that the 2019 anime adaptation of Fruits Basket will premiere on ANIMAX Asia this month.

The first season of the popular anime will premiere on February 22, which airs every Monday and Tuesdays at 10:00pm PHT, two episodes back-to-back.

 

The Southeast Asian anime channel also announced on Monday that the 2019 continuation of the original Yo-Kai Watch anime series is also scheduled to premiere this month.

The anime will premiere on Friday, February 12, which airs every Monday to Fridays at 05:30pm PHT.

 

Fruits Basket
フルーツバスケット
© NATSUKI TAKAYA, HAKUSENSHA / FRUITS BASKET PROJECT

Fruits Basket is the second anime adaptation of the Japanese manga series by Natsuki Takaya, which was serialized in Hakusensha’s Hana to Yume magazine from July 1998 to November 2006.

The anime reboot directly adapts the romantic-comedy manga’s story, which is different from the previous anime adaptation, produced by Studio DEEN and aired on Japanese television in 2001.

Aside from the television anime adaptations, the popular series was also adapted into theatrical stage play by the all-male theatrical troupe Gekidan Studio Life in 2009, which ran for two weeks.

The popular series also inspired three spinoff manga series, which are Fruits Basket: The Three Musketeers Arc, released in 2019, Fruits Basket: The Three Musketeers Arc 2, released last year, and Fruits Basket Another that has been running since 2015.

 

ANIMAX Asia has described the story:

After her life is turned upside down due to a family tragedy, Tohru Honda starts living in a tent in the forest to support herself. However, the plot of forest is actually part of a property where her popular schoolmates Yuki, Kyo and their cousin Shigure Soma live. Tohru ends up living in the Soma house after being discovered, and in the process uncovers their secret the members of the Soma clan are under a dark curse by the spirits of the Chinese Zodiac.

 

Attack on Titan: Junior High comedy anime director Yoshihide Ibata and scriptwriter Midori Gotou reunited to work on the second anime adaptation of Fruits Basket series.

Masaharu Shino, who previously worked on Macross Delta anime series, handled character designs, which is produced by TMS Entertainment and 8PAN. Takaya also served as the chief production supervisor.

 

Manaka Iwami, who voiced “Teresa Wagner” in the romance anime Tada Never Falls in Love, portrayed the lead character “Tohru Honda”.

She was also joined by Maaya Sakamoto (as Akito Soma), Nobunaga Shimazaki (as Yuki Soma), Yuma Uchida (as Kyo Soma) and Yuichi Nakamura (as Shigure Soma).

 

The first season of the anime reboot was aired on Japanese television in April to September 2019, while the second season was aired the following year.

The official website of the anime series has announced on Friday that the anime’s third and final season is scheduled to premiere in April of this year.

 

Yo-kai Watch!
妖怪ウォッチ!
©LEVEL-5 / YOKAI WATCH Project, TV Tokyo

Yo-kai Watch! is the 2019 revival of the popular and long-running 2014 anime series, which also serves as its continuation.

The anime adaptation is based on a role-playing video game series developed by Nintendo and published by Level-5, which was first released for the Nintendo 3DS console in Japan on July 2013 and North America in November 2015.

It is being considered in Japan to be the biggest game franchise in Japan after the popular Pokémon game and media franchise.

The video game has since inspired several manga series, five theatrical film adaptations and eight video games under its name.

 

Yo-kai Watch! is directed by Ryousuke Senbo, who previously worked as screenboard creator in the original anime series, and Fumiya Kitajou, who directed the spinoff anime series Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside.

Other main staff members, including scriptwriter Yoichi Kato, character designer Toshiya Yamada and musical composer Kenichiro Saigo, returned to work on the revival anime series, which was produced by Magic Bus and OLM.

The main voice cast from previous seasons also returned to the revival anime, including Haruka Tomatsu (as Keta Amano), Tomokazu Seki (as Whisper) and Etsuko Kozakura (as Jibanyan).

 

ANIMAX Asia initially set to air Yo-kai Watch! anime series within 2019, but did not pushed through. The channel then announced its premiere on January 27, but was postponed for undisclosed reasons.

The anime channel also aired its spinoff series, Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside, in June 2019.

 

ANIMAX Asia will continue their simulcast airing of the second season of Cells at Work! and the second part of Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 this month.

ANIMAX Asia is available on SKYcable, Cignal TV, SatLite, GSAT, as well as several provincial cable providers nationwide. Check your local listings.

For the full schedule and other details, please visit their website at animax-asia.com.