“Kaikan Phrase” (lit. “Sensual Phrase”) – the old-school rock-band romance shojo manga series written and illustrated by mangaka Mayu Shinjo that was published by Shogakukan Comic – is getting a revival spin-off project in the form of a mobile-app game!

© Mayu Shinjo © 2018 GMO Internet, Inc. © GMO GP, Inc.

The semi-legendary series that took the shojo manga genre by storm back in the years between late-1990s to early-2000s first made its debut in a serialised manga form on the manga magazine ‘Shojo Comic’ published by Shogakukan. The manga’s serialisation ran from 1997 – 2000 and a total of18 compiled tankoubon manga volumes were released and distributed for sales.

© Mayu Shinjo © 2018 GMO Internet, Inc. © GMO GP, Inc.

Its popularity soared to such heights that in 1999 the series got its own 44-episodes anime adaptation that aired from 1999 to 2000. The series even spun off the formation of real-life rock band “Λucifer” (read ‘Lucifer’) based on the main rock band in the manga series; as well as a rival band “e.MU” (also based off a rival band in the manga). Both bands provided songs for several of the opening and ending themes in the anime series.

Fast-forwarding to nearly 20 years after the end of both the original “Kaikan Phrase” manga serialisation and anime series, the title will be getting an all-new revival project in the form of a mobile game, scheduled for complete release in 2019. To create hype for the revival project, production/development company GMO Internet Group has released its very first teaser visual a week ago. Following that, the first wave of voice cast was announced earlier this week – a stellar list consisting of 18 of the most popular male voice actors in the industry!

© Mayu Shinjo © 2018 GMO Internet, Inc. © GMO GP, Inc.

Besides the five veteran seiyuus – Masaya Matsukaze, Shinichiro Miki, Kenichi Suzumura, Takahiro Sakurai and Susumu Chiba – who were character voices in the original 1999 anime series production, 13 new voice actors will be joining the revival project:

Takahide Ishii
Kennosuke Iwanaga
Yuma Uchida
Jun Kasama
Ryo Kikuchi
Ryohei Kimura
Daiki Kobayashi
Takuya Sato
Tatsuhisa Suzuki
Ryo Takizawa
Natsuki Hanae
Makoto Furukawa
Arthur Lounsbery

Further details and updates on seiyuu-to-character assignments, plot development, character designs, etc. will be gradually updated on the revival project’s official website and Twitter account.

© Mayu Shinjo © 2018 GMO Internet, Inc. © GMO GP, Inc.

The project committee has also planned for a first-round production press release to happen on 15 September 2018 at HIT STUDIO TOKYO where more details will be publicly released. Six of the new seiyuus – Takahide Ishii, Kennosuke Iwanaga, Ryo Kikuchi, Daiki Kobayashi, Ryo Takizawa and Arthur Lounsbery – will also be the special guests attending during the event.