Maesetsu! Opening Act

Alternate Title

まえせつ！

Synopsis

Fubuki Kitakaze, Mafuyu Kogarashi, Rin Araya, and Nayuta Asougi are four 19-year-old girls who are striving to become comedians. Wanting to bring everyone happiness through laughter, the girls spend their days honing their craft while working part-time at a restaurant. Their ultimate goal: to stand on the stage of the renowned Nanba Grand Kagetsu Hall. But in order to get there, they’ll have to work their way up from the bottom starting with doing shows in Shibuya.

Background

Maesetsu! Opening Act is an original TV anime series produced by AXsiZ and Studio Gokumi. First announced in July 2019, It features Yuu Nobuta as director, Touko Machida as series composer, Joe Ito, Shota Goto, and Touko Machida as the scriptwriters, Katsuzo Hirata as the character designer, and monaca and Satoru Kousaki as the music composers. The anime was originally scheduled to air beginning in July 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It premiered in Japan on Oct. 4 on ATX and TV Tokyo. Funimation is streaming the series in North America. It will run for 12 episodes.

The series has also received a manga adaptation with artwork by Hato Kannazuki that launched in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive magazine in July 2020.

Characters

Tokonatsu

Fubuki Kitakaze (Voiced by: Aguri Onishi)
Fubuki is 19 years old and formed Tokonatsu together with Mafuyu while in high school. She is the idiot of the duo. She works part-time at an eel restaurant in Kanagoe while striving to become a comedian.

Mafuyu Kogarashi (Voiced by: Naomi Ozora)
Mafuyu and formed Tokonatsu together with Fubuki while in high school. She is the straight man of the duo. Like Fubuki, she too works part-time at an eel restaurant in Kanagoe while striving to become a comedian. She lives with her younger sister, Manatsu.

R Deco

Rin Araya (Voiced by: Hiromi Igarashi)
Rin is a 19-year-old second-year college student who formed R Deco together with Nayuta while in middle school. She is the straight man of the duo. She works part-time at the same eel restaurant as Fukuki and her friends while attending school.

Nayuta Asougi (Voiced by: Sakura Nakamura)
Nayuta is a 19-year-old college student who formed R Deco together with Rin while in middle school. She is the idiot of the duo and Rin often hits her when she says something stupid. She goes to the same college as Rin and also works part-time at the same eel restaurant as Rin and the others.

JK Cool

Arashi Waraino (Voiced by: Ayaka Shimizu)
Arashi is a 16-year-old second-year high school student and winner of a comedy tournament. She is also an entertainer belonging to Yoshimoto Kogyo who forms the comedy duo JK Cool together with Eru. She often acts as the straight man of the duo.

Eru Kusaba (Voiced by: Asuka Aida)
Eru is a 17-year-old second-year high school student and winner of a comedy tournament. Like Arashi, she too is an entertainer belonging to Yoshimoto Kogyo. She often acts as the idiot of the duo.

Tundra

Manatsu Kogarashi (Voiced by: Yuki Takada)
Manatsu is a 15-year-old first-year high school student and Mafuyu’s younger sister. She admires her sister’s dream of becoming a comedian and forms a comedy duo of her own called Tundra together with her childhood friend, Kanae. She is the straight man of the duo. Unlike her sloppy older sister, she is reliable and good at housework. She lives with Mafuyu in Omiya.

Kanae Kanari (Voiced by: Nozomi Furuki)
Kanae is a 16-year-old first-year high school student and is Manatsu’s classmate and childhood friend. She admires Mafuyu like she was her own big sister. She forms Tundra together with Manatsu and is the idiot of the duo.

Freak!

Jyunki Tomita (Voiced by: Jyunki Tomita)
Jyunki is an otaku and an active comedian who belongs temporarily to Yoshimoto Kogyo. He too works part-time at the same eel restaurant as Mafuyu and the others while he works hard to pursue his passion of comedy. He is modeled after real-life comedian of the same name from the comedy duo Freak! He is around 30 years old.

Hatsuna Ubuno (Voiced by: Hatsuna Ubuno)
Hatsuna is an otaku girl and an active comedian who belongs temporarily to Yoshimoto Kogyo. She too works part-time at the same eel restaurant as Jyunki and the others. She is modeled after the real-life comedian of the same name from the comedy duo Freak! She is in her late 20s.

Music

• Opening Theme Song: "Pippippi Happy" by Hiromi Igarashi, Sakura Nakamura, Naomi Ozora, and Aguri Onishi
• Ending Theme Song: "Ikagawashii Viking" by Hiromi Igarashi, Sakura Nakamura, Naomi Ozora, and Aguri Onishi

International Streaming

Funimation

• Official Site (Japanese)
• Official Twitter (Japanese)

Original Creator: Mugendai
Original Character Design: Kagami Yoshimizu
Director: Yuu Nobuta
Series Composition: Touko Machida
Scriptwriters: Joe Ito, Shota Goto, Touko Machida
Character Design: Katsuzo Hirata
Chief Animation Director: Masaru Koseki, Naoki Yamauchi
Main Animator: Takao Takegami
Costume Design: Kasuko Hayakawa
Prop Design: Shigeyuki Koresawa (Digital Noise), Tom (Digital Noise)
Color Design: Aiko Matsuyama
Art Director: Hiroki Matsumoto
Backgrounds: Atelier Platz
Director of Photography: Kojiro Hayashi
Photography: Graphinica
Editing: Mutsumi Takemiya
Sound Director: Yota Tsuruoka
Music: monaca, Satoru Kousaki
Music Producer: Shigeru Saito
Animation Producer: Tetsuya Tomioka
Planning Producers: Atsushi Ito, Go Kato
Joke Supervisor: Seitaro Mukai
Joke Production: Shota Goto, Touko Machida
Planning Cooperation: Yoshimoto Kogyo
Animation Production: AXsiZ, Studio Gokumi