Astra Lost in Space Manga by Sket Dance's Kenta Shinohara Gets TV Anime

Manga creator Kenta Shinohara (Sket Dance) revealed on Tuesday that his Astra Lost in Space (Kanata no Astra) manga is inspiring a television anime. The announcement did not reveal a premiere date except that it will be in 2019.

Masaomi Andō (White Album 2, School-Live!, Scum's Wish) is directing the anime at Lerche. Norimitsu Kaihō(School-Live!, Gunslinger Stratos: The Animation, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka) is in charge of the series' scripts. Keiko Kurosawa (Re:␣Hamatora, Scum's Wish, Asobi Asobase) is designing the characters.

Viz Media publishes the manga in English, and it describes the story:

Itʼs the first day of Planet Camp, and Aries Spring couldnʼt be more excited! She, along with eight other strangers, leave for Planet McPa for a weeklong excursion. Soon after they arrive, however, a mysterious orb appears and transports them into the depths of space, where they find an empty floating spaceship…

Shinohara (Sket Dance) launched the manga in May 2016 on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ app. The manga launched simultaneously with its own voice drama, featuring Yūsuke Kobayashi as Kanata Hoshijima, Ayaka Suwa as Aries Spring, Lynn as Quitterie Raffaëlli, Aimi Tanaka as Funicia Raffaëlli, Daiki Hamano as Zack Walker, Ayumu Murase as Luca Esposito, Souichirou Hoshi as Charles Lacroix, and Kyousuke Kitayama as Ulgar Zweig.

The manga ended in December 2017, and Shueisha published five compiled book volumes for the manga. Viz Media began publishing the chapters online for free in August 2016, and published the fifth and final volume in print last December. The 2019 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! (This Manga Is Amazing!) guidebook ranked the manga at #3, and the manga was nominated for the 12th Manga Taisho awards earlier this year.

Sources: Kenta Shinohara's Twitter account, Astra Lost in Space anime's website, MoCa News