Pan Dorobō lands Kyary Pamyu Pamyu for its ending theme

The Pan Dorobō anime has its start date, its villain and its pop single. NHK announced on 17 September that the picture-book adaptation begins on E-Tele on 2 October, running Fridays at 18:40, with Atsumi Tanezaki cast as a grudge-bearing French bread and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu singing the ending theme.

Both arrivals came in the series' second main promotional video, which opens on Kana Hanazawa's title call before letting the new bread character creep into frame. Atsumi Tanezaki's character voice and the first audio of the ending song are both in there, and the footage stays close to Keiko Shibata's books: flat colour, soft edges and a great deal of food.

When does *Pan Dorobō* start, and where can you watch it?

E-Tele broadcasts the series from 2 October, every Friday at 18:40. NHK plans simultaneous and catch-up streaming on NHK ONE, and adds the standing caveat that broadcast and streaming plans can change. The dates announced are Japanese: no international broadcaster or streaming service has been named.

Who is in the cast?

Ayaka Asai plays Pan Dorobō and Junichi Suwabe the forest baker, with Aki Toyosaki as the counterfeit Pan Dorobō. Atsumi Tanezaki — Anya in Spy x Family — joins as the mysterious French bread, a character NHK describes as carrying a grudge against Pan Dorobō, taking life at its own pace and loving nothing better than the inside of a cardboard box. Kana Hanazawa narrates.

Tanezaki said she came across the books a few years ago while trading picture-book recommendations with friends, and that the sight of Pan Dorobō clutching a loaf won her over immediately. Hanazawa, who will be heard over every episode, said the recording sessions left her hungry.

Who wrote the ending theme?

The ending, 'Pang Pang Pang', is written, composed and arranged by Yasutaka Nakata of CAPSULE and performed by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu — the producer behind her breakout singles, back on a hook built around the phrase 'pan pan pan papa pan'. The opening theme, 'Pan Dorobō no uta', is sung in character by Asai and Suwabe as Pan Dorobō and the baker.

Who is making the anime?

The series adapts Keiko Shibata's Pan Dorobō picture books. Naohiko Kyogoku directs, with Chie Yamashiro as chief director, Mariko Mochizuki on series composition and scripts, and Miyako Mako on character design and chief animation direction. Shin-Ei Animation produces.

Our opinion

Children's television is really a bargain with the adults in the room, and this is a shrewd one. Reuniting Nakata and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu on a theme song for pre-schoolers is a direct play for parents who grew up on PONPONPON: a broadcaster gets a single adults will leave on, and the show gets a second life on playlists. The casting is the better joke, though. The villain here is a baguette with a grievance, which is about as honest as a series about a bread thief can be — the threat is appetite, not evil. The risk is temperament. Keiko Shibata's books are deadpan and quiet, and weekly television is neither, so the question for 2 October is whether the mysterious French bread is allowed to stay genuinely odd or gets smoothed into another cuddly mascot. Keep it odd and this is the most quietly peculiar show of the autumn.