Thoughts on Ippon Again Anime Staff and PV

The Ippon Again anime project has finally received an update with a lot of information. Now, we know the studio that will handle the animation production and also the people handling the key roles and the voice cast for the main characters. 

So lets have a look at them, since I have had not much to talk about when it comes to champion stuff in recent times. 

Anime Poster    

Cast
Towa Hiura: Chiyuki Miura (Karakuri Circus)
Anna Nagumo: Nene Hieda (Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun)
Michi Sonoda: Ayasa Itou (Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight)
Sanae Takigawa: Yukari Anzai (Lapis Re:LiGHTs)

Staff
Director: Takeru Ogiwara (Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood episode director)
Series Composition: Aya Satsuki (Ultraman Geed tokusatsu drama)
Character Design, Chief Animation Director: Airi Takegawa (Carole & Tuesday key animation)
Music: Shun Narita (Noblesse)
Sound Production: Pony Canyon
Animation Production: Bakken Record

Music Production - Pony Canyon 

Taken from My Anime List 

If ones looks for Bakken Record, they might seem like a new studio with barely any experience but Bakken Record is just a new label for Tatsunoko Production, an experienced studio. Under the label of Bakken Record, they have released a film called Pandora no Akubi in 2019, and a tv series Joran: The Princess of Snow. The animation in the latter was reasonably well done, its story was not exactly interesting at least for me but it was an original project so that should not be relevant to Ippon Again.

However, instead of just looking at the studio name, we should look at the staff since most animators are hired freelancers because of the precarious state of labour in the animation industry but that is something for another article. The director Takeru Ogiwara has never headed a series before, he has worked as an episode director, and photography director for a number of series before. Aya Satsuki has more experience related to her role in both anime and tv drama series but in those works she was not the sole scriptwriter or the series composer. Consequently, she and Takeru Ogiwara are taking their roles for the first time. 

Airi Takegawa is the the chief animation director and the one in charge of character design, she worked on Joran but as an assistant animator director role, so like her colleagues in this project, this role is a step up for her. Shun Narita is experienced when it comes to music, but not to a significant extent and I do not see myself as fit to comment on the work he has done because I am not an anime music connoisseur. These comments can also be applied to the presence of Pony Canyon as the group heading music production. 

In regards to the cast, like with music I am not fit to comment on the voice acting skills of the cast. However, voice actors and actress are used as magnets to attract attention of fans to a series but in this case most of the cast seem to be novices or at least not well known voice actresses.  

Things do not look necessarily promising for this series from analyzing the staff and cast but alongside the news, a new design preview view was released. In a short video of thirty seconds, the preview video shows animated shots of the first panels of the first chapter of the series with voice over of the four main character chatting playing on top of it. The voice of the girls sound fine and so does the animation but of course, this is a small video without any character motion. However, I do not expect this series to look any worse than your average anime.

When it comes to boost for the manga sales, it is rather difficult to predict. Ippon Again does not sell a lot and that is why the fact it even received an anime is an incredible feat in itself. Its lack of popularity and visibility might be a upside since it can reach many people that did not know it existed. Recent anime from Champion have managed to give some boost in manga sales, so it will be interesting to see if  Ippon Again can keep up the recent trend though that is naturally tied to the quality of the anime.

Considering the overall package included in this project, I would not expect much from it in the technical department.  What will be essential is how the anime plays the story, if it has a good pace that allows it to blend the slice of life and character interactions with the sport elements in a way that resembles the manga's strongest point, It could possibly attract interest in the manga and lead to a boost in sales. The series is airing in 2023 so we will find out soon enough if the world does not end before then.