Long Riders! Cycling Manga Gets Anime

Series about 5 female long-distance cyclists launched in 2012
The June issue of Ichijinsha's Comic Rex magazine is revealingon Monday that Taishi Miyake and Longriders' Long Riders!bicycling manga is getting an anime adaptation.

The manga follows Ami Kurata, a first year college student with no special qualities. One day she happens to notice someone riding a folding bike, immediately falls in love with it, and uses all her savings to buy one. She eventually gets introduced to the world of long-distance bicycling and road racer bikes, and she forms a cycling team called Fortuna with four other female college students from the same school. Their goal is to ride in a "brevet" or long-distance event called "Fresh."

The magazine is also revealing the show's main cast:


Nao Tōyama as Ami Kurata



Hiromi Igarashi as Aoi Niigaki



Rumi Ookubo as Hinako Saijyo



Yurika Kurosawa as Yayoi Ichinose



Yōko Hikasa as Saki Takamiya

Comic Rex will announce staff information in future issues.

Miyake launched the manga in September 2012, and Ichijinsha will ship the fifth compiled volume on May 27. The special edition of the fifth volume will include a CD with a 60-minute sound drama and a DVD with "accessory data" that can be used on a smartphone, tablet, or PC.

The manga has already inspired two "Touring Guide" books, a radio show, a TV Riders! television program on Tokyo MX TV, and an image song (seen below) by ChouCho titled "Starting up." Special editions of previous volumes of the manga also bundled sound dramas.