Atom the Beginning to stream on Anime Strike

Sentai Filmworks announced on Thursday that it has licensed the Frame Arms Girl and Atom the Beginning anime. Atom the Beginning will stream in the United States on Amazon's Anime Strike platform starting on April 15 as it airs in Japan. Frame Arms Girl will stream on "select digital outlets" as a simulcast, and Sentai Filmworks confirmed that it is also planning a home video release.

Frame Arms Girl will premiere in Japan on Tokyo MX on April 3 at 25:05 (effectively April 4 at 1:05 a.m.), before airing later on BS11 and AT-X.

Keiichiro Kawaguchi ( Hayate the Combat Butler , Sket Dance is directing the anime at ZEXCS and Studio A-Cat. Deko Akao ( Noragami , Flying Witch , Amanchu! ) is supervising the series' scripts. Kōsuke Kawamura ( Mayo Chiki! , OniAi , Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon ) is adapting Humikane Shimada's original character designs for animation. Takayuki Yanase is credited for mechanical design. Yuichi Goto ( Initial D , Kamisama Dolls ) is the CG director. Keigo Hoashi ( Dusk maiden of Amnesia , Concrete Revolutio ) and Kakeru Ishihama ( My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU , Nisekoi - False Love ) from MONACA are composing the music. Satoki Iida ( Mayo Chiki! , Assassination Classroom , Yuki Yuna Is a Hero ) is the sound director.

The anime's story begins when Ao opens a package that arrives at her doorstep. Inside the package is Gourai, a Frame Arms Girl: a small robot capable of independent movement. Gourai is a newly-developed prototype: a Frame Arms Girl equipped with an "Artificial Self," an advanced AI that gives her a personality. Ao is the only one that has activated her. Gourai begins to gather both battle data and emotions, starting a day-to-day life with Ao, who knows nothing about Frame Arms Girls.

Kotobukiya's Frame Arms models are a line of plastic robot model kits designed by mechanical designer Takayuki Yanase ( Mobile Suit Gundam 00 , Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse ). The new Frame Arms Girl line, introduced in 2015, introduces new designs by Humikane Shimada ( Strike Witches , Girls und Panzer character designs), featuring robots from the original Frame Arms line portrayed as girls. The first model in the line, Gourai, is based on Yanase's robot design with the same name.

The Frame Arms previously inspired a short anime bundled with the Frame Arms Versus Set Zelfikar vs. Hresvelgr=Ater kit in May 2015.

Atom the Beginning will premiere at 11:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 15 on NHK. The first episode will then stream on Amazon Prime Video in Japan at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 16. The anime will have 12 episodes.

The story takes place in Japan after a great calamity. There were two geniuses who dreamed of the future. One was Umatarō Tenma. The other was Hiroshi Ochanomizu. The two labored day and night in robot research — Tenma to create a "god," and Ochanomizu to create a "friend." Thus a robot, A106, was born from their collaborative friendship. Would A106 really become a god, or a friend? The manga and anime tell a prequel story leading up to the birth of Astro Boy.

Katsuyuki Motohiro (Psycho-Pass, live-action Ajin film) is serving as chief director, and Tatsuo Sato (Bodacious Space Pirates, Martian Successor Nadesico) is directing the series in cooperation with Tezuka Productions. Osamu Tezuka's son, Makoto Tezuka, is in charge of project planning cooperation and supervision, and Masami Yuuki ( Patlabor franchise, Birdy the Mighty) is credited with concept works. OLM, Production I.G, and Signal.MD are animating the series. Jun'ichi Fujisaku (Blood+, Appleseed XIII) is overseeing the series scripts, and Takahiro Yoshimatsu (Trigun, Basquash!) is the character designer. AI researchers Hitoshi Matsubara (Future University Hakodate professor), Satoshi Kurihara (The University of Electro-Communications, Artificial Intelligence eXploration Research Center president), Hiroshi Yamakawa (Dwango Artificial Intelligence Laboratory head), and Yutaka Matsuo (University of Tokyo special associate professor) are supervising the anime.