HIGHSPEED Étoile, a futuristic racing anime project created in partnership with Super Formula, will begin its television broadcast in 2024. The project also revealed on Friday a teaser visual and the voice cast for eight of the main characters, with Fuka Izumi portraying protagonist Rin Rindoh.
The show will be Izumi’s first in a lead role, with many of her previous appearances being as background and supporting characters. Previous castings include extras in Healer Girl, Teasing Master Takagi-san, and Z/X: Code Reunion.
Yoko Hikasa will voice Kanata Asakawa. Hikasa is a household name in the anime industry, having starred in multiple prominent series since her career breakthrough with K-On!. She has also voiced major roles in New Game!, High School DxD, The Devil is a Part-Timer!, and the BanG Dream! franchise.
Likewise, Yui Horie arrives on the project as Sophia Bryant Tokitō with a decorated music and voice acting career in shows like Fairy Tail, Fruits Basket, and Toradora!. Horie is no stranger to motorsport anime either, having portrayed a character in the 2005 mecha racing show Immortal Grand Prix.
Nana Mizuki will play Alice Summerwood. A longtime singer and voice actress, Mizuki has been involved with acclaimed shows such as both iterations of Fullmetal Alchemist and Naruto, while also providing Japanese dubbing for various Western films.
After notably voicing in The Asterisk War and Made in Abyss, Shiori Izawa is cast as Towa Komachi. Ayaka Suwa, who worked alongside Horie on KonoSuba and has appeared in numerous video games like Fire Emblem, will portray Ryu Yuzen.
Among the male voice actors confirmed to have roles are Kenichiro Matsuda and Kōsuke Toriumi, who will respectively portray Richard Parker and Lorenzo M. Salvatore. Matsuda typically provides narration for series like Spy×Family and Vinland Saga but also voices characters in said shows along with Ghost in the Shell: Arise, among others. Toriumi’s portfolio includes Naruto, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, and Genshin Impact.
HIGHSPEED Étoile was created by King Amusement Creative and ties were established with Super Formula’s overseer Japan Race Promotion shortly after the project’s reveal in July. Super Formula, the top open-wheel championship in Japan, gave HSE its blessing as part of the NEXT 50 Project, a celebration of SF’s fifty-year anniversary through promoting the series in entertainment and environmental initiatives. The HSE staff closely followed Super Formula races during the 2022 season, and has also expressed interest in having real-life companies appear as sponsors in the anime despite its futuristic setting.
Takuya Fujima serves as character designer.
Other details such as a studio and animation staff were not immediately announced. However, Yostar Pictures, behind anime adaptations of the games Azur Lane and Arknights, remains one of the parties involved in the project; much of the confirmed cast has voiced characters for said games and their adaptations, with Horie and Suwa having done both.
HSE is not the only upcoming anime to team up with a racing series as Overtake!, announced in January, will follow a fictionalised F4 Japanese Championship.
UPDATE (27 February): A tweet from HSE confirmed that Izawa’s character is named Towa Komachi. The article initially listed her name as Eien Komachi in a directly kanji translation.
