It has been announced that Maeda Kaori will be appearing as a voice actor in the TV anime "Kuroiwa Medaka ni Watashi ni Kawaii ga Tsutomu," which is based on the romantic comedy manga by Kuze Ran currently being serialized in "Weekly Shonen Magazine" (Kodansha). Maeda will play Shirahama Minami, the heroine who supports the love of her best friend Shonan Asahi. A character promotional video for Shirahama Minami and a key visual featuring all six main characters, including Kuroiwa Medaka and Kawai Mona, have also been released. Maeda commented, "When I played the role at the audition, I felt like I was in sync with Minami and thought, 'I don't know... it's so easy!' She's Asahi's best friend, and she always watches over Asahi's love life and sometimes gives him advice... I want a friend like her! She's such a reliable girl that you'll think that. And I hope you enjoy her ``subtle'' final boss vibe (laughs). It's a wonderful, harmonious dubbing studio! Sometimes it's heart-pounding, sometimes it's moving... It's a wonderful work full of youth. I hope you'll enjoy it! The atmosphere and other things will make you smile, so I hope you'll look forward to the broadcast!"
It was also announced that a preview screening and cast talk show for the work will be held at United Cinema Toyosu (Koto-ku, Tokyo) on December 7th ahead of the broadcast starting in January 2025. Appearing on stage will be Iwasaki Ryota, who plays Kuroiwa Medaka, Serizawa Yu, who plays Kawai Mona, Amamiya Sora, who plays Shonan Asahi, and Yano Hinaki, who plays Namba Tomo.
The series was first published as a one-shot in Weekly Shonen Magazine in December 2020, and following a positive reception, began serialization in the magazine in May 2021. It is a romantic comedy about Kawai Mona, a beautiful, stylish woman who is "popular as easily as breathing," and Kuroiwa Medaka, a transfer student who is an "ascetic boy." The series depicts Mona's struggles to win over Medaka, who pays no attention to her.
The anime will be directed by Okumura Yoshiaki and produced by SynergySP. It will air on TV Tokyo from January 2025.
◇Cast (titles omitted)
Medaka Kuroiwa: Ryota Iwasaki▽Mona Kawai: Yu Serizawa▽Asahi Shonan: Sora Amamiya▽Tsubomi Haruno: Kana Hanazawa▽Tomo Namba: Hinaki Yano▽Minami Shirahama: Kaori Maeda
