The Anime Network has taken on another series from Sentai Filmworks as part of the summer 2015 anime season with the debut of Aoharu x Kikanjuu, aka Aoharu x Machinegun. The series now has the first episode live on the service for free streaming in its original Japanese language with English subtitles here. New episodes will stream every Tuesday at 1am for fans.
The series is directed by Hideaki Nakano based on scripts by Kenji Konuta. Character designs were done by Junko Yamanaka, who also served as chief animation director. The animation was produced at Brains Base.
The cast includes Mikako Komatsu as Hotaru Tachibana, Tomoaki Maeno as Masamune Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Tohru Yukimura, Kazuyuki Okitsu as Nagamasa Midori, Eri Kitamura as Ichi Akabane, Ryohei Kimura as Takatora Fujimoto and Yui Horie as Kanae Yajima.
The property is NAOE’s first work, which started off as a one-shot that appeared in Gangan Online back in the summer of 2011 and then spent some time being reworked into an ongoing series, which kicked off in the summer of 2012 in GFantasy magazine. It has six volumes out so far, of which you can see the covers for below.
Plot concept: Matsuoka and Yukki were close friends who dreamed of becoming professional soccer players together. But their hopes were dashed when Yukki moved away due to family issues. Years pass and Matsuoka is now a host while Yukki has become a hentai mangaka. Matsuoka meets Yukki again while the latter is fleeing from his editor, and is soon introduced to his childhood friend’s latest obsession…
