High School! Kimengumi Gets Modern Remake with Extensive New Cast as Iconic Character Returns
A new television anime adaptation of Motoei Shinzawa’s High School! Kimengumi (High School! Funny-Face Club) manga is set to debut on January 9.
The series will air on Fuji TV’s Noitamina programming block on Fridays at 11:30 p.m.
This revival of the classic gag comedy brings back a familiar voice for fans of the original 1985 series.
The staff has confirmed that veteran voice actor Kenichi Ogata will be reprising his role as the school’s principal, Sakio Kochō.
Ogata’s return provides a direct link to the franchise’s origins.
The original story began in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine as the 3-Nen Kimengumi (Third-Year Funny-Face Club) manga in September 1980.
The narrative transitioned to High School! Kimengumi after the characters graduated to high school, running from 1982 to 1987.
The first television anime enjoyed nationwide success, airing for 86 episodes between 1985 and 1987 and leading to a film in 1986 with the working English title Teenage Masked Tribe.
The first anime was recently offered with English subtitles on YouTube this past summer.
While the core premise remains a gag comedy focused on five idiosyncratic, wacky students known as the Kimengumi, who befriend the cutest girl in school and her best friend, the new anime updates the setting significantly.
The original manga and first anime were set in the 1980s, but this new production will set the story in the modern Reiwa era.
It will also feature a new main cast to reflect the updated interpretation.
Kazuaki Seki, who is known for his work on live-action films such as Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey and music videos for artists like Perfume and Gen Hoshino, is directing his first anime series at Animation Studio Seven.
He is joined by Takashi Nishikawa (Strange+, Nobunaga Teacher’s Young Bride) as the animation director.
Shigeru Murakoshi (Zombie Land Saga, The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse) is overseeing the series scripts, and Yuka Abe (animation director on Fire Force, Full Dive) is responsible for designing the characters.
Slow Curve is planning and producing the project.
The music for the new series also incorporates modern elements.
Night Tempo is producing the project’s songs, which includes a modern rearrangement of the first anime’s original theme song “Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi” covered by new cast members Haruka Shiraishi and Ikumi Hasegawa.
BREIMEN will perform the opening theme song “Funky Spice feat. TOMOO,” and Rikon Densetsu performs the ending theme song “Suteki!!.”
The new cast members are:
- Tomokazu Seki as Rei Ichidō
- Shunsuke Takeuchi as Gō Reietsu
- Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Kiyoshi Shusse
- Chiaki Kobayashi as Jin Daima
- Kikunosuke Toya as Dai Monohoshi
- Haruka Shiraishi as Yui Kawa
- Ikumi Hasegawa as Chie Uru
- Nobuhiko Okamoto as Yō Nihiruda
- Toshiki Horikita as Omiya Nakasudō
- Yūhi Asagiri as Kensaku Meri
- Masafumi Kobatake as Ranto Jōgai
- Kazuki Ogawa as Koeru Tabuchi
- Yūsuke Kobayashi as Kai Undō
- Takuto Yokoyama as Ken Akiresu
- Masayuki Satō as Susumu Intahai
- Shuya Watanabe as Yutaka Konjō
- Ayumu Asakura as Chikara Suji
- Kaoru Sakura as Maki Hidari
- Sachiko Okada as Ikue Sandanhara
- Marie Ōi as Desuko Honba
- Minami Shindō as Kayo Ōba
- Hayato Yamamoto as Kimeru Setto
- Yohei Sasamori as Torio Tanokin
- Ayato Morinaga as Kazaru Sugata
- Hiroki Nishimiya as Takashi Hokori
- Daisuke Sakuma as Shō Kireide
- M.A.O as Jako Amano
- Kōsuke Toriumi as Don Harumage
- Yōko Hikasa as Masuyo Ikari
- Yui Horie as Ran Wakato
- Katsuyuki Konishi as Takuma Sessa
- Show Hayami as Kou Irooto
- Tomokazu Sugita as Sakugo Jidai
- Fumiya Imai as Ichirō Shinjitsu
- Junya Enoki as Menichi Nikaidō
- Aimi as Mari Oda
- Yui Ishikawa as Yumi Monozukishi
- Yōji Ueda as Takuseki Ichidō
- Kanna Nakamura as Kiri Ichidō
- Yūki Okada as Lassie Ichidō
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