A TV anime special will be commemorating the Uta no Prince-sama franchise’s 10th anniversary. The special also serves to celebrate the release of the upcoming film on July 31, 2022.
Titled Utano☆Princesama♪ Maji Love ST☆RISH Tours: Tabi no Hajimari (“The Start of a Journey”), the movie will feature returning cast:
- Takuma Terashima as Otoya Ittoki
- Kenichi Suzumura as Masato Hijirikawa
- Kishō Taniyama as Natsuki Shinomiya
- Mamoru Miyano as Tokiya Ichinose
- Junichi Suwabe as Ren Jingūji
- Hiro Shimono as Shō Kurusu
- Kousuke Toriumi as Cecil Aijima
A couple of new voice actors will also make an appearance, as follows:
- Hikaru Midorikawa as Eichi Ootori
- Showtaro Morikubo as Reiji Kotobuki
- Yūichi Nakamura as Tsukimiya Ringo
- Koji Yusa as Hyouga Ryuuya
To commemorate the airing of the Utano☆Princesama♪ Maji Love ST☆RISH Tours: Tabi no Hajimari TV anime special, a collaboration event with Karuizawa Prince Shopping Plaza (Karuizawa Town, Nagano Prefecture) will be held from August 19 to October 1, 2022, whereby attendants will be able to visit the places featured in the anime special.
The Uta no Prince-sama The Movie: Maji LOVE ST☆RISH TOURS theatrical film: what we know so far
The upcoming theatrical version of the Uta no Prince-sama The Movie: Maji LOVE ST☆RISH TOURS (Uta☆pri) will premiere on September 2, 2022.
The film is part of a “new theatrical film series” and will be entirely composed of the ST☆RISH idol group’s footage. The film is being produced by A-1 Pictures and will be distributed by Shochiku Films. The same animation studio is producing the Uta☆pri TV anime special.
The staff has also remained consistent over the years and features:
- Broccoli, Noriyasu Agematsu — original work
- Chika Nagaoka — director
- Chinatsu Kurahana — original character design
- Maki Fujioka — chief animation director
- Elements Garden — music
The Uta no Prince-sama timeline
Uta no Prince-sama (うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪, Princes of Song) is a multimedia franchise by Broccoli, which began as a series of otome video games. The first game for PlayStation Portable debuted in June 2010 and was followed by five additional ones and a couple of spin-offs.
The Uta no Prince-sama otome games are, as follows:
- Uta no Prince-sama (June 24, 2010). On August 11, 2011, the game was released for PlayStation Vita under the title Uta no Prince-sama Repeat
- Uta no Prince-sama: Amazing Aria (December 23, 2010)
- Uta no Prince-sama: Sweet Serenade (February 10, 2011)
- Uta no Prince-sama Debut (May 24, 2012)
- Uta no Prince-sama All Star (March 7, 2013)
- Uta no Prince-sama All Star After Secret — a sequel to Uta no Prince-sama All Star (March 12, 2015)
The Uta no Prince-sama spin-off music rhythm games are, as follows:
- Uta no Prince-sama Music (November 24, 2011)
- Uta no Prince-sama Music 2 — a sequel to Uta no Prince-sama Music (September 5, 2013)
- Uta no Prince-sama Music 3 (January 28, 2015) was released for PlayStation Vita
- Uta no Prince-sama Shining Live (August 27, 2017) was released for iOS and Android. The Global release (Japanese and English), co-developed by Broccoli and KLab, took place on January 24, 2018
The original game proved to be an immediate success. Since its release in 2010, Uta☆pri has evolved into a full-blown franchise, spanning an anime series (four seasons), a film, and a manga series.
The anime series are, as follows:
- The first Uta☆pri TV series by A-1 Pictures — Uta no Prince-sama: Maji Love 1000% (うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪ マジLOVE1000％) aired in 2011;
- The second season — titled Uta no Prince-sama Maji LOVE 2000% (うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪マジLOVE2000％) — aired in 2013.
- The third season — titled Utano☆Princesama Revolutions (うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪マジLOVEレボリューションズ) aired in 2015.
- The fourth season — titled Utano☆Princesama Legend Star aired in 2016.
With the anime series emerging to be rather successful, the first Uta no Prince-sama animated film was released in 2019. Titled Uta no Prince-Sama: Maji Love Kingdom, the film was directed by Tomoka Nagaoka (Kokoro Connect), with Takeshi Furuta (Haikyuu!!) serving as a chief director. The movie got an English sub and was screened at the Anime Expo 2019.
Sentai Filmworks has licensed all four TV anime seasons and the Uta no Prince-Sama: Maji Love Kingdom animated movie.