Real Tennis Anime "Baby Steps," 2nd Season to Begin with Study Abroad in Florida, 25 Episodes from April 5!　New cast includes Hiroshi Kamiya and Megumi Ban

Broadcast information and new cast members for the second season of the TV anime "Baby Steps" have been announced.

Baby Steps" is an anime work based on a manga by Hikaru Katsuki (serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine). It is an adolescent sports drama about Eiichiro Maruo, a meticulous high school boy with excellent academics, who encounters tennis and grows up to become a professional tennis player with his smart strategies. Directed by Masahiko Murata, series composition by Katsuhiko Chiba, character design by Masayuki Koda, and animation production by Piero.

Broadcast information and new cast members for the second season have now been revealed. The second season will be broadcast on NHK E-television every Sunday from 5:30 p.m. on April 5. There will be 25 episodes in total. The story starts in Florida. The story depicts Eiichiro, who experiences rock bottom for the first time in his life while studying abroad, taking on the world's barriers as his rivals compete daily to become the world's best. The new cast includes Hiroshi Kamiya as Alex O'Brian and Megumi Ban as Marsha O'Brian. A rerun of the first season will be broadcast every Saturday from 10:30 a.m. onward.

Kenji Saito (Chief Producer, Development Strategy Promotion Department, NHK Broadcasting Corporation) comments
The new series is set at an academy in Florida that has produced numerous professional tennis players around the world. The program realistically portrays young players who aim for the top of the world with passion. It is a story of boys who are following their dreams with an easy-to-understand depiction of the behind-the-scenes world of tennis, the hottest topic in today's tennis world. Please look forward to it!