The Jump Festa ’25 event on Sunday revealed the main promotional video for the second cours (quarter of a year) of the anime of Kōji Miura‘s Blue Box (Ao no Hako) manga. The video revealed a new cast member and the second half’s January 2 television premiere in Japan at 24:55 JST (effectively, January 3 at 12:55 a.m.). The video also reveals and previews the new opening theme song “Shikaraba” (In That Case) by Macaroni Enpitsu, and the new ending theme song “Contrast” by artist TOMOO.
The anime also revealed the second key visual:
© 三浦糀／集英社・「アオのハコ」製作委員会
Kana Ichinose joins the anime’s cast as Ayame Moriya, Karen’s younger sister and the manager of the Eimei Senior High badminton team.
© 三浦糀／集英社・「アオのハコ」製作委員会
The Blue Box manga will also have an original exhibition starting on March 7 to April 6 at Lumine 0 in Shinjuku.
©三浦糀／集英社・「アオのハコ」製作委員会
The anime debuted on television in Japan on October 3 at 11:56 p.m., and is airing on TBS and 28 affiliated networks. The anime began streaming on Netflix on October 4 (Japan time), where it streams weekly. The series is also streaming on more than 25 other streaming services in Japan after each episode’s television airing.
The series is airing in two consecutive cours (quarters of a year).
The anime stars:
Yūichirō Yano (Moyashimon, Lupin the Third: Part 5) is directing the anime, and Yūko Kakihara (Buddy Daddies, Cells at Work!, Chihayafuru seasons 2-3) is overseeing the series scripts. Miho Tanino (Tower of God, Blue Thermal) is designing the characters. Telecom Animation Film is producing the animation, and UNLIMITED PRODUCE by TMS is in charge of planning and production.
Official HiGE DANdism performed the first cours opening theme song “Same Blue,” and Eve performed the ending theme song “Teenage Blue.”
Shueisha‘s MANGA Plus service publishes the manga in English digitally, and describes the story:
Taiki Inomata is on the boys’ badminton team at sports powerhouse Eimei Junior and Senior High. He’s in love with basketball player Chinatsu Kano, the older girl he trains alongside every morning in the gym. One Spring day, their relationship takes a sharp turn … And thus begins this brand-new series of love, sports and youth!
Miura first published the story as a one-shot manga in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2020. The magazine started the manga’s serialization in April 2021. Shueisha published the manga’s 18th compiled book volume on December 4. Viz Media published the manga’s 13th volume on December 3. The manga has more than 6.2 million copies in circulation.
Source: Jump Festa ’25 livestream
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