Francesca, Idol Character from Hokkaido, Gets TV Anime Adaptation for Summer 2014 [Update 6/9]

by tsubasalover
Mar 4, 2014 11:57 PM | 32 Comments

It was announced this past January that a TV anime adaptation will be released for Summer 2014 based on the "undead" idol character "Francesca" to promote Hokkaido, Japan. More information will be announced later.

Cast
Francesca: Yui Makino
Exorcist: Asami Tano

First PV
Francesca's character song
Character song club mix with introduction of Hokkaido

Source: Official site (includes links to News Blog, Facebook, Google+, and Twitter with updates), Yui Makino official site, Yui Makino blog, Seventh Style

Update March 26
According to ANN, it was confirmed from a flyer during AnimeJapan that the title will be Francesca: Girls be Ambitious.

Edit (June 23, 2014): "Girls be Ambitious" is not part of the title, but rather a catch phrase to Francesca (the character).

Source: Flyer via ANN

Update April 18
It has been announced that the series will be 15 minutes per episode, with a total of 24 episodes. In addition, the cast is being announced one-by-one every Thursday on Francesca's Facebook page.

Additional cast announced thus far:
Takuboku Ishikawa: Noriaki Sugiyama
Chieko Tachibana: Kanomi Izawa
Kazue Souma: Tarusuke Shingaki
Toshizou Hijikata: Hiroki Takahashi
Noboru Nakajima: Daisuke Nagumo
Tetsunisuke Ichimura: Ami Naitou
Kai Shimada: Katsuya Miyamoto
Dr. Clark: Jin Urayama

Source: Facebook page

Update April 26
The final cast member was announced two days ago.

Inazou Nitobe: Kenji Hamada

Source: Facebook page

Update June 9
Another cast member was announced.

Fran Dog: Tomofumi Ikezoe

Source: Facebook page

Fran♥cesca on MAL

20 of 32 Comments Recent Comments

I hope it will at least manage to make Hokkaido more appealing to a few people, 'cause it sure as hell ain't out there to present animated quality.

Apr 19, 2014 11:15 AM by Rachmaninow

These adaptations tend to end up as a failure. I am still waiting for that one to break the chain.

Apr 19, 2014 11:11 AM by Subbed

2nd PV w. ED "Sasayaki wa Crescendo (囁きは”Crescendo”)" by Francesca (CV: Yui Makino)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47LqmGnT_38

Apr 19, 2014 4:42 AM by tsubasalover

News Update
It has been announced that the series will be 15 minutes per episode, with a total of 24 episodes. In addition, the cast is being announced one-by-one every Thursday on Francesca's Facebook page.

Additional cast announced thus far:
Takuboku Ishikawa: Noriaki Sugiyama
Chieko Tachibana: Kanomi Izawa
Kazue Souma: Tarusuke Shingaki
Toshizou Hijikata: Hiroki Takahashi
Noboru Nakajima: Daisuke Nagumo
Tetsunisuke Ichimura: Ami Naitou
Kai Shimada: Katsuya Miyamoto
Dr. Clark: Jin Urayama

News Update 2
The final cast member was announced two days ago.

Inazou Nitobe: Kenji Hamada

Source: Facebook page

Apr 17, 2014 9:52 PM by tsubasalover

Almost "so bad it's good" animation quality. Might watch if those are shorts because feMC looks nice.

Mar 25, 2014 3:34 PM by Progeusz

tsubasalover said:
News Update
According to ANN, it was confirmed from a flyer during AnimeJapan that the title will be Francesca: Girls be Ambitious.

Source: Flyer via ANN

LOL at Franny falling apart out of joy. This will most likely be 5 minutes long.

Mar 25, 2014 3:19 PM by Hoppy

News Update
According to ANN, it was confirmed from a flyer during AnimeJapan that the title will be Francesca: Girls be Ambitious.

Source: Flyer via ANN

Mar 25, 2014 3:08 PM by tsubasalover

Well.... I guess its something you don't see everyday..... sure.... into the plan to watch list

Mar 6, 2014 4:58 AM by removed-user

Well, "undead idol" sounds kinda interesting but the animation is kinda bad in my opinion.
Good to see Yui Makino and Asami Tano getting roles because they both have really few roles, they need more!!!
I'll keep an eye on this one.

Mar 6, 2014 2:55 AM by Tengai

That PV looks so bad lol. I doubt I'll pick this up to be honest.

Mar 6, 2014 2:38 AM by Plantz

Gonna Probably ignore this show when it airs. Another show hiding in a shadow with the same generic theme all over again.

Man, I just wish they could really do some shows that's more on quality these days. Now, I understand were some people are coming from saying "recent anime shows are crap and whatever"

Mar 5, 2014 5:23 PM by Altaria-chan

lolwut, Zombie Idol? Hmm.. Might watch.

Mar 5, 2014 4:26 PM by SandyBoi

Undead idol. Francesca. Promote Hokkaido.
WHAT?!

Mar 5, 2014 1:40 PM by Frezlaj

Charadesign is really cute, but I don't know if it will make a good TV series...

Mar 5, 2014 11:08 AM by Kitsu-nee

Zombie idol?
Only in Japan.

Mar 5, 2014 8:51 AM by Chibi-Alice

think I will pass i'm not really into idol right now.

Mar 5, 2014 8:39 AM by Mr_Gutts

Zombie? Idol? Makino Yui??
Misakiiii!!!!!!!! Yusa-san!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll definitely watch this xD

Mar 5, 2014 6:44 AM by Rayl1ght

When I heard the word "zombie", I thought this show will be good and finally have it. But, after looking at the page on MAL, I was like forget on watching this.

Mar 5, 2014 4:21 AM by LegendGoldDark

Red_Keys said:
The animation looks like it was made on Flash, and the sound reminds me of Mars of Destruction.

Seems like the premise is just a gimmick though, and won't actually bring anything new, interesting, or worthwhile to the table. Definitely passing on this.

Most of these shows just add tropes for gimmick's sake in an attempt to disguise how generic they are. I assume this will be the case here as well, passing on it.

Mar 5, 2014 4:14 AM by Nidhoeggr

The animation looks like it was made on Flash, and the sound reminds me of Mars of Destruction.

Seems like the premise is just a gimmick though, and won't actually bring anything new, interesting, or worthwhile to the table. Definitely passing on this.

Mar 5, 2014 2:39 AM by Red_Keys

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