With a North American debut set for June 23rd, 2015 from FUNimation, Madman Entertainment has now formalized their plans for the series in Australia with an August 5th, 2015 release. The show is getting a DVD/BD release of the bilingual presentation priced at $59.98 for either format. Similar to the North American release, the special features for it have not been detailed yet. The English language adaptation is directed by Christopher Bevins and will star:
Yutaka Hoshino/Peco – Aaron Dismuke
Makoto Tsukimoto/Smile – Micah Solusod
Jo Koizumi/Butterfly Joe – Mark Stoddard
Ryuichi Kazama/Dragon – Marcus D. Stimac
Manabu Sakuma/Demon- Anthony Bowling
Kong Wenge/China – Alan Chow
Ota – Tyson Rinehart
Masayuki Sanada – Ian Sinclair
Shuji Nekota – Clifford Chapin
Yurie – Lindsay Seidel
Egami – Eric Vale
Michio – Jeremy Inman
Check out our full series review here from Kory.
The series is based on the manga that ran for five volumes between 1996 and 1997. The original manga came from Taiyou Matsumoto, which spawned a 2002 live action film as well, and Tatsunoko Productions brought this anime form in the spring of 2014 with Masaaki Yuasa directing it.
Plot concept: Smile and Peco. Peco and Smile. Besties from the beginning, both with a badass backhand. Peco is known for his arrogance on the table tennis court, and Smile for his silence. But with a new school year and a new high school table tennis team, both boys are in for a challenge, on–and off–the court. Peco’s slacker ways are hurting his game, and after getting crushed in a tournament, he decides to quit. Smile is finally learning to harness his natural talents, but can he squash his sympathy for his opponents enough to beat them
