by Warner Music Japan has partnered with SUZAKU Label (operated by EARLY WING Co., Ltd.) for the rock band manga “Girls Fist!!! GT” produced initially by KADOKAWA, and ADA Headquarters at WMJ is in charge of this project and has begun comprehensive direction for music production, distribution, and marketing for this work. In addition, it has been decided that a short anime version of the work will be distributed on YouTube from 11:00 pm on the 22nd.
“Girls Fist!!! GT” is based on a four-frame manga (written by Najimi) with a rock and punk rock theme. Four young female voice actors were cast to represent the four characters in the band “Punk Rock Club.” The members are Mayu Okumura (Gt. Kanae Sakanoshita), Tsukasa Uchiyama (Dr. Futaba Shirase), Haruna Asami (Vo. Yoshino Nakagawa), and Anna Inoue (Ba. Tsuki Fujimori).
The four voice actors also formed a rock band simultaneously, releasing original songs inspired by the work, performing live shows, and streaming videos, making this a highly anticipated rock content project.
The first and second volumes of the comics are currently on sale from KADOKAWA, while the CD “Goodbye MY LONELINESS,” featuring songs from volume 1, is currently on sale from Teichiku Entertainment. They have released ten original songs, including those from “Girls Fist!!!!” (Chapter 1).
KADOKAWA owns the original rights to the manga “Girls Fist!!! GT” and is currently developing the manga in both paper and electronic media. Previously, voice actors from EARLY WING provided voice acting for the work and performed live. Still, with this partnership, music major WMJ will be involved in directing the music production and content production.
The project is expected to nurture the individuality and talent of the artists and produce works with more musicality. In addition, the project will consider cross-media between the manga works (paper and digital) and the music. It will combine the three worldviews of the manga works, the original YouTube short anime, and the music, conveying the project’s appeal to fans in a three-dimensional way.
Regarding music production, 14 new songs will be released and distributed from May to September 2024, including four CD singles with two songs and one mini album with six songs each.
In addition, in terms of video production, an original short anime featuring a voice actor rock band linked to the work will be distributed on YouTube (YT) as a “new version” with illustrations drawn by the original author. Related events, including actual live performances (not in the video world), will also be held, and the practical aspects of production will be handled by EARLY WING under the direction of WMJ.
In this work, WMJ aims not only for the musicality of the songs but also for the development of the voice actors’ talents as musicians and the overall success of the manga and YT short anime while also hoping to connect it to future animation (launch of an anime production committee).
The original short anime “Girls Fist!!! GT” will be a 13-episode series of short stories, each lasting 5 to 8 minutes. The first episode will be released today, May 22nd, at 11 pm, and the second and subsequent episodes will be released every other week on Saturdays at 11 pm starting June 1st.
The highlights are that this will be the first official drama by a cast for “Girls Fist!!!! GT,” the luxurious voice actors who will play supporting characters and the fact that all 13 episodes of the anime will be drawn in full color by the original author, Najimi-sensei.
The screenplay, written by TamaiāGo, faithfully depicts the charms of the four main characters and is an entirely original story that illustrates the hectic daily lives of the four characters that are not shown in the comics, from the time when all the members of the Punk Rock Club are gathered in the fourth episode of the first volume of the comics, to just before the four participate in the “Minami Matsumoto High School Music Festival” event in the ninth episode of the same volume.
Comment from Eric Jue, Director of ADA
Since before, I have been attracted to the individual characters and story development of the manga Girls Fist!!! GT. I have also been paying attention to the rare presence of female voice actors who play instruments and perform rock music.
ADA is usually the department that handles the digital music distribution, but this time, I was allowed to lead this project. As a group of music professionals, we are very excited to be able to improve the musicality of the artists and direct the production of the short anime. While aiming to turn the work into an anime, we would like to develop the artists’ talents and increase the appeal of the short anime.
