Shopping Guide
On July 19, an anime production press conference was held for the popular Japanese social game Girl Friend Beta at the Akihabara UDX Theater in Tokyo. Appearing at the press conference were four voice actresses who play heroines in the game: Satomi Sato (Kokomi Shiina), Rina Sato (Akane Sakurai), Sakura Tange (Chloe Lemaire), and Kaori Nazuka (Jumio Murakami). For roughly an hour, they talked about the charms of Girl Friend Beta.
Girl Friend Beta is a smartphone-based social game managed by CyberAgent. The story takes place at a high school, and players can enjoy meeting all kinds of female characters while clearing events to progress in the game. The game’s genre resembles that of a card game, with players collecting cards whenever they meet a heroine. Players can enjoy strengthening their decks and battling it out. The game calls itself an “audio moe school romance game.” It picked up popularity for its cast that includes over 80 voice actresses, and it currently has over 5.3 million registered players.
Announced at the event were the main cast and staff along with the start of the broadcast, which is planned for this fall. These announcements spurred loud cheers from the fans in attendance. The cast members who attended the press conference were also overjoyed about the anime adaptation, with Kaori Nazuka stating enthusiastically, “Up till now, recording for the game has been done individually, but with the anime everyone will be able to combine their efforts to create a wonderful work.” Naotaka Hayashi, the director of the anime, also commented: “We will try our best to widen the world of the game in the anime.”
Roughly two years since the game launched, Girl Friend Beta is finally becoming a longed-for anime. How will the lovely heroines who appear in the game develop in the anime, and what kind of story will it have? Stay tuned for a follow-up report.
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article written by Takayuki Yamanaka and translated by Jarrett Meuser.
