AKB48 Members to Make Anime

Eight members of the female idol group AKB48’s of Team B have announced plans to create an original anime short for broadcast during the AKB48 Kami TV Season 2 television program. Kazuno Urano, Aika Ota, Yuki Kashiwagi, Haruka Katayama, Rino Sashihara, Haruka Nakagawa, Sayaka Makaya, and Mayu Watanabe intend to create an original anime short about a mascot character by creating the characters and story, writing the script, drawing the storyboards and animation frames, creating sound effects, and performing the voice acting themselves. A two part “B Men yo, Anime o Kake!” (B Men, Draw Anime!) special chronicling the making of the anime will air on July 31 and August 7 on the CS Family Theater network.

As its name suggests, the AKB48 pop group draws its name and inspiration from Tokyo’s anime/game otaku district Akihabara. As AKB48 members come and go, the group has had as many as 51 simultaneous members divided into “teams” A, B, and K. AKB48 performed theme songs for the Deltora Quest TV anime and the ICE OVA series.

Source: Anime News Network