Anime studio P.A. Works (True Tears, Hanairo, Tari Tari) is producing an adaptation of Tomihiko Morimi's Uchōten Kazoku (Ecstatic Family) novel for broadcast in July. Morimi wrote The Tatami Galaxy (Yojō-Han Shinwa Taikei) novel that inspired a 2010 television anime. Kôji Kumeta (Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Joshiraku) is providing the original character designs for Uchōten Kazoku — the first time he has done so for a project not based on one of his manga.

The comedy drama of Uchōten Kazoku is set in Kyoto, where tanuki (shape-shifting raccoon-dogs), tengu (long-nosed goblins of Japanese folklore), and humans intermingle. The story follows the Shimogamo family of tanuki who live in the Tadasu no Mori forest of Shimogamo Shrine.

Takahiro Sakurai plays Yasaburō (pictured as the girl and boy in the center of the image), the lead character and the third-oldest son in the Shimogamo family. He lives for whatever strikes his fancy at the moment, and he sometimes takes the form of a high school girl. Junichi Suwabe plays Yaichirō (far right), the oldest son who is earnest but often weak-willed at the last moment. Hiroyuki Yoshino plays Yajirō, the second-oldest son who often assumes the shape of a frog and and goes off into seclusion by himself at a well. Mai Nakahara plays Yashirō (far left), the timid youngest son. Kikuko Inoue plays their mother (top left), an obsessed fan of the all-female theater troupe Takarazuka. Rounding out the cast is Mamiko Noto as the bewitching girl Benten (topmost) who can be found floating carefreely in the skies.

The original novel has sold over 200,000 copies in Japan and won third place in the Honya Taishō awards in 2008. Masayuki Yoshihara (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex episode director, Eden of the East assistant director) is making his television series directorial debut with this project. Shôtarô Suga (Lagrange - The Flower of Rin-ne, episodes of Darker than Black) is in charge of the scripts, and Kousuke Kawazura is adapting Kumeta's designs for animation. Yoshiaki Fujisawa (Love Live! School idol project) is scoring the music.

Comic Natalie posted more designs from the anime.

Source: Comic Natalie

Image © Tomihiko Morimo, Gentosha/ Uchōten Kazoku Production Committee

Update: Name spelling corrected. Thanks, arsonal