Slow Start

Genre

Comedy, Slice of Life

Synopsis

Middle schooler Hana Ichinose is excited to enter high school along with all her friends, but due to an unfortunate case of the mumps she misses all of her high school entrance exams and is forced to take a gap year as a “middle school ronin.” Unable to stay in her hometown, she moves in with her cousin before beginning to attend Hoshio Private Academy as a first-year student a year later than she had planned. With none of her old friends to accompany her, Hana makes new friends while hiding the fact that she’s a year older than them.

Background

Slow Start began as a four-panel manga written and illustrated by Yuiko Tokumi. The series has been serialized in Houbunsha’s seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara since 2013. As of January 2018, five tankobon volumes have been published, and an anthology comic was published in February 2018.

An anime adaptation of the series with animation by A-1 Pictures premiered in Japan on Jan. 7, 2018. The creative team includes Hiroyuki Hashimoto (Angel Beats!, Is the Order a Rabbit?) as director, with Mio Inoue (is the Order a Rabbit?) as series composer, Masato Yasuno (HeartCatch PreCure!) as character designer and chief animation director, and Nobuyoshi Yoshida (Durarara!!, Girls und Panzer) as the main animator. It features music by Yoshiaki Fujisawa (No Game No Life: Zero, Love Live! School Idol Project) and features "Ne! Ne! Ne!" by STARTails☆ as its opening theme and "Kaze no Koe o Kikinagara" by Sangatsu no Phantasia as its ending theme. The anime will run for 12 episodes. It’s been licensed overseas by Aniplex of America and is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

Characters

Hana Ichinose (CV: Reina Kondo)
The main protagonist, Hana is forced to enter high school a year late after missing her entrance exams due to a case of the mumps. She is very self-conscious about being a year older than her classmates and has none of her old friends to accompany her, but she quickly makes new friends while hiding the fact that she started high school a year late.

Eiko Tokura (CV: Tomomi Mineuchi)
One of Hana’s newfound friends, Eiko is very popular for having a natural charisma about her. She has a gentle and level-headed personality and has a crush on her homeroom teacher, Kiyose Enami.

Kamuri Sengoku (CV: Maria Naganawa)
A friend of Eiko’s from elementary school, Kamuri has a childlike appearance that belies her age. She likes to stay close to Eiko and becomes timid when she’s not around. Her main hobbies are eating and sleeping.

Tamate Momochi (CV: Ayasa Ito)
Hana’s classmate who likes to be friends with everyone she meets, Tamate has a bubbly and cheerful personality. Her hobby is cooking, and lives with her two grandmothers. She likes to be called “Tama” for short.

Kiyose Enami (CV: Manami Numakura)
Hana’s homeroom teacher, Kiyose cares less about her job and more about relaxing languidly, a trait that becomes an object of interest for Eiko.

Shion Kyozuka (CV: M.A.O.)
Hana’s cousin whom she moves in with to attend high school. She is the landlady of a boarding house but behaves more like a teenager than an adult. She enjoys closely following Hana’s personal life.

Hiroe Hannen (CV: Maaya Uchida)
A resident of the boarding house where Hana and Shion live, Hiroe had a similar experience to Hana and missed her college entrance exams. She became a shut-in due to the guilt she felt for lying to her peers about it, but she starts to become more confident after meeting and talking with Hana.

Miki Tokura (CV: Tomori Kusunoki)
Eiko’s younger sister.

Hazuki Ichinose (CV: Yoko Hikasa)
Hana’s mother.

Takeru Ichinose (CV: Rikiya Koyama)
Hana’s father.

Cast

Reina Kondo: Hana Ichinose
・Notable roles: Maga-Jappa/Yuka Tatsunami (Kaiju Girls), Toka Suzuki (Just Because!)
Tomomi Mineuchi: Eiko Tokura
・Notable roles: Natsumi Kitawaki (Ito Junji: Collection)
Maria Naganawa: Kamuri Sengoku
・Notable roles: Kanna (Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid), Chizu Kawabata (Occultic;Nine)
Ayasa Ito: Tamate Momochi
・Notable roles: Saya Yatomi (Cardfight!! Vanguard G series), Arisa Ichigaya (BanG Dream!)
Manami Numakura: Kiyose Enami
・Notable roles: Hibiki Ganaha (The Idolm@ster series), Saya Endo (Dagashi Kashi)
M.A.O.: Shion Kyozuka
・Notable roles: Yuka Koeda (This Art Club Has a Problem!), Akane Eimura (Aho Girl)
Maaya Uchida: Hiroe Hannen
・Notable roles: Ranko Kanzaki (The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls), Sharo Kirima (Is the Order a Rabbit?)
Tomori Kusunoki: Miki Tokura
・Notable roles: Karen Kohirumaki (Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online), Suzu (Children of the Whales)
Yoko Hikasa: Hazuki Ichinose
・Notable roles: Rias Gremory (High School DxD series), Shino Amakusa (Seitokai Yakuindomo)
Rikiya Koyama: Takeru Ichinose
・Notable roles: Fukuzawa Yukichi (Bungo Stray Dogs), Klaus Von Reinhertz (Blood Blockade Battlefront)

Staff

Original Work: Yuiko Tokumi
Director: Hiroyuki Hashimoto
Series Composition: Mio Inoue
Character Designer & Chief Animation Director: Masato Yasuno
Prop Designer: Masako Itou
Main Animator: Nobuyoshi Yoshida
Art Director: Katsufumi Hariu
Art Design: Tomohiro Maruyama, Emi Kesamaru
Color Design: Kanako Hokari
CG Director: Shinji Nasu
Director of Photography: Satoru Kuroiwa
Editor: Ayumu Takahashi
Sound Director: Jin Aketagawa
Sound Effects: Toshiya Wada
Music: Yoshiaki Fujisawa
Music Production Aniplex
Chief Producer: Yosuke Toba
Producers: Wataru Hashimoto, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Noriko Kosukegawa, Kouhei Tsuchikura, Daiki Ogami, Noriaki Tsuruta
Animation Producer: Keita Seto
Animation Production: A-1 Pictures
Production: Slow Start Production Committee (Aniplex, Houbunsha, Kinoshita Group, Drecom, Kansai Telecasting Corporation, Lawson)

Theme Songs

Opening Theme: "Ne! Ne! Ne!" by STARTails☆ (Ayasa Ito, Maria Naganawa, Reina Kondo, Tomomi Mineuchi)
Ending Theme: "Kaze no Koe o Kikinagara" by Sangatsu no Phantasia

Broadcast Information

Tokyo MX: Every Saturday at 12:30 am
Tochigi TV: Every Saturday at 12:30 am
Gunma TV: Every Saturday at 12:30 am
BS11: Every Saturday at 12:30 am
Kansai TV: Every Thursday at 2:25 am
TV Aichi: Every Tuesday at 2:05 am
AT-X: Every Monday at 8:00 pm

Online Streaming

In Japan
Nico Nico Namahousou, AbemaTV, dAnime Store, Nico Nico Channel, GYAO!, dTV, Bandai Channel, Amazon Video, Hikari TV, U-Next, SBM Anime Houdai, Video Market, auVideo Pass, J:COM On Demand Mega Pack, Hulu

International
Crunchyroll

Official Links

Anime Website (Japanese)