A Couple Of Cuckoos (Release Date 2022)

A Couple of Cuckoos might just be the fastest manga series to ever get an anime adaptation! Not even a year has passed since and yet the anime release date has already been confirmed.

The manga just set a new record in the history of anime but it’s really not that surprising considering the colossal HIT it made.

With four uninterrupted print runs, it smashed the company’s record in terms of printing and shipping. In October, every second, at least two volumes of the manga were being sold.

RELEASE DATE

Although the exact date is not yet perfectly clear, we know that the first episode will be released in April 2022.

It will be animated by Shin-Ei Animation and SynergySP. The Director is Yoshiyuki Shirahata, and the Chief Director will be Hiroaki Akagi. In charge of the script, we have Yasuhiro Nakanishi. And finally, the design of the characters was left to Aya Takano.

It will be aired on TV Asahi’s NUMAnimation. The opening song was also revealed and it will be “Dekoboko” by Kiyoe Yoshioka, the vocalist of Ikimonogakari.

PREDICTED PLOT

Two different families gave birth on the same day at the same hospital. Two beautiful babies were born, a girl and a boy. However, due to a mix-up in the papers, the babies switched families.

17 years later, Nagi Umino, the second top student at Megurogawa Academy, discovers that his parents are not his biological ones and insists on meeting his real ones. They arranged a meeting with them immediately. When Nagi was on his way to that said meeting, he encountered a girl in a park.

The girls’ name was Erika Amano. She is a popular Instagram influencer and the person who switched places with him at birth. She was attempting to escape an arranged marriage and used Nagi to do so by asking him to pretend to be her boyfriend.

God knows how, but Nagi is now engaged to Erika and their parents made them live together in the same house to facilitate the process. Not that Nagi will ever complain since he will now be living with a mesmerizing yet kind famous personality and she is on board with it to top it off.

What a lucky little rascal! Well, frankly, it’s not like Erika drew the short straw since Nagi is not bad at all as well. His eyes are enough to make someone melt. A cute yet complex love story is now beginning. Misunderstandings, buried feelings, insecurities mixed with awkward situations, hilarious turn of events, and adorable emotional moments are on the menu.

A trailer was already released online. It doesn’t give us any additional information on the anime, it’s a simple introduction of the plot, however, we can at least discuss the artwork and the overall mood of the series. The designs are pure and aesthetic. The characters are beautifully drawn and the colors are cheerful and refreshing.

The passion and time poured into the series realization are reflected in the high quality that is offered. The trailer starts by showing us fun pictures of the main characters implying that it will be more focused on comedy than anything else.

A cliché story that will unexpectedly surprise you more than once. It has a unique turn of events, peculiar characters, and deep underlying morals at each shot. Let’s just say that the anime will be anything but boring. I was already excited before, but now I am even more! Not you?

PRODUCTION STAFF

Yoshiyuki Shirahata (Director)

He is known for directing UzaMaid: Our Maid is Way Too Annoying! in 2018 – 2019, The Great Pretender in 2020, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle in 2020, and of course, Kakkou no Iinazuke in 2022.

Hiroaki Akagi (Chief Director)

He is known for his assistance in the art department on Porco Rosso in 1992, Cybersix in 1999, Lupin III, Farewell To Nostradamus in 1995, Izetta The Last Witch in 2016, and finally Kakkou no Iinazuke in 2022.

Yasuhiro Nakanishi (Script Writer)

His most famous work is Kaguya-sama: Love is War in 2019 – 2021, Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle in 2016, Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju also in 2016, Carole & Tuesday in 2019, and Kakkou no Iinazuke in 2022.

Aya Takano (Character Design)

Aya is the most renowned personality among the people who have the task to bring the manga to life. Not only is she a manga artist, she is also a Superflat artist and a science fiction essayist.

She participated in many exhibitions, solo ones and in groups. She also worked in Literature and expanded her field to manga and anime.

In love with Japanese culture, she is an Otaku, just like us, that depicts her passion in paintings and pictures.

PREDICTED CAST

The predicted cast is a bit of a stretch since I’m pretty sure and can’t make a mistake with this one, the cast will be exactly like the manga.

Nagi Umino

He is one of the two main characters of the series and a student at Megurogawa Academy finishing his second year. In the overall school ranking in terms of grades, he holds the second place.

His real father is a hotel tycoon, however, due to a certain turn of events when he was born, he ended up being raised by another family.

He has a huge crush on the school number one ranker, Hiro Segawa, and promised himself to confess to her the day he will surpass her.

Erika Amano

She is the second main character along with Nagi. She is an Instagram Idol, pretty popular as well, and was raised by Nagi’s biological family while she is the real daughter of Nagi’s adoptive parents.

Her first encounter with Nagi was when she was taking videos at a certain park. She forces him to pretend to be her boyfriend in order to break free from an arranged marriage set up by her parents.

Therefore, instead of the first contestant, her parents decided to betrothe her to Nagi and made them live together in the same house.

When Erika’s school got wind of the pictures they made her transfer to Nagi’s school. This is when she started her Instagram account with the goal to get in touch with a certain someone she has been looking for for a long time now.

Sachi Umino

Nagi’s sibling and Erika’s real sister. In fear of losing her beloved big brother when he moves in with Erika, she runs away from home to live together with them instead.

She drowns herself in studies so she can attend the same school as her brother when she finishes junior high school.

Hiro Segawa

Nagi’s crush and the number one ranker of the school, she is also his classmate. Raised in a temple, she works as a Miko to make ends meet. She ends up befriending Erika after her transfer.

She also hides a secret that will be revealed later on in the series, she is engaged to an unknown individual.

Ai Mochizuki

She was a dear friend of Nagi’s and had to move to China when she was young because of her father’s work.

She came back to Japan just for Nagi’s sake. She is a popular singer, very famous especially online. Since her childhood, she has always been in love with Nagi and, in fact, still is. Her love kind of turned into a bit of an obsession when she filled her room with pictures of him.

Others

Yōhei Umino:

Erika and Sachi’s real father and Nagi’s adoptive one.

Namie Umino:

Erika and Sachi’s real mother and Nagi’s adoptive one.

Sōichirō Amano:

Nagi’s real father and Erika’s adoptive one.

Ritsuko Amano:

Nagi’s real mother and Erika’s adoptive one.

VOICE ACTORS

Kaito Ishikawa (Nagi Umino)

He debuted in 2012 by playing minor roles in multiple anime series.

He slowly moved up the ranks and ended up as the voice of Shun-Chen Yang in Ace of Diamond, Harutora Tsuchimikado in Tokyo Ravens, and Tobio Kageyama in Haikyū!! He even already has plans for 2024 as he will be Kamiorgus in Super Dragon Ball Heroes.

Akari Kitō (Erika Amano)

Also a singer, Akari stepped into the world of voice acting in 2014. She also started off in a minor role in an unknown anime and got promoted from this point on.

Her most significant roles would be Calen in Time Bokan, Suzune Horikita in Classroom of the Elite, Nezuko Kamado in Demon Slayer (although she doesn’t talk much), and Nene Yashiro in Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun

Konomi Kohara (Sachi Umino)

She begins her voice acting career as the latest of the bunch. Her first project was in 2016 and landed minor roles. She worked before with Akari Kitō when she was impersonating Akane Tachibana in Classroom of the Elite and in The Demon Girl Next Door.

Just most proud of her performance in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War as Chika Fujiwara, in Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation as Roxy Migurdia, and in To Your Eternity as Oopa.

Nao Tōyama (Hiro Segawa)

Nao’s career is extremely long and fulfilling. She began her adventure in 2010 and has been accumulating main roles after main roles ever since.

Her most noticeable performance would be when she brought to life Kanon Nakagawa from The World God Only Knows at the very start of her career in 2010, she was the MC, Chitoge Kirisaki from Nisekoi and Tomoe Koga from Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai.

She also won multiple awards, in 2019, she was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Award and got the Game Award in the 13th Seiyu Awards.

Ryōhei Kimura (Yōhei Umino)

Kimura is not only a voice actor but also a popular singer. His career includes playing the role of Ryouta Kise in the Kuroko no Basket series, Bokuto Koutarou in Haikyū!!, Tartaglia in Genshin Impact and Hinata from Angel Beats!

He received the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 6th Seiyu Awards.

Yōko Hikasa (Namie Umino)

Also a voice actress and singer, Hikasa debuted in 2007 in the series Sketchbook ~full color’S~ as Minamo Negishi.

Her most important character endorsements are Mio Akiyama from K-On!, Erica Blandelli from Campione!, Sakura Sakurakōji from Code:Breaker, Emi Yusa/Emilia Justina from The Devil Is a Part-Timer!!, and Rias Gremory from High School DxD.

Toshiyuki Morikawa (Sōichirō Amano)

The most experienced and most probably the oldest of the group, we have Morikawa. He debuted in 1992 Tekkaman Blade as the main character, Takaya Aiba/Tekkaman Blade.

His voice acting career is very long and he took on a lot of important roles, so let’s choose the best picks out of them.

He was Shishiwakamaru in Yu Yu Hakusho, Griffith in Berserk, Naraku in InuYasha after Hiroshi Yanaka, Tyki Mikk in D.Gray-man and Minato Namikaze in Naruto: Shippuden.

Yukiko Aruga (Ritsuko Amano)

Aruga is this team’s Rookie. There is nothing of note in her career. This anime will be kind of a stepping stone for her.

She gets to work with talented and passionate individuals with lots of experience. Let’s hope she makes the best out of it and uses this opportunity to grow as much as possible.

CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, A Couple of Cuckoos sounds really promising. We have an amazing staff, passionate and talented in charge of bringing that awesome manga to life.

We have elaborate characters, each of them have their own story and have their own highlight in the anime, no one will be left aside and that’s how we like it.

You might have thought that the plot is cheesy, but it will be anything but that. The author poured his whole heart into creating something unique, something we never saw before, something that won’t be found even in the future.

Some of you may say I’m exaggerating but you can just see how much success the manga had, just the fact that it’s already getting an anime adaptation is proof enough of its awesomeness.

So get excited, this will be one of the best anime that will be released this year. Not many people know about it, you can say it’s an unpolished gem. With some work and dedication, that gem will shine for years to come, maybe even decades.

So please give it a try, even the people who are not into romantic comedies, like myself I might add, will get absorbed in it (speaking from experience).

See you in April when the first episode will be released for some more news and feedback. You can tell me if I was right or wrong then. See ya!

Share:

Table of Content