Haunting Performances Abound in Phantom of the Idol TV Anime

Yuuya Niyodo cops a hostile attitude during his performance as a male idol in a scene from the motion comic advertising the TV anime adaptation of Phantom of the Idol.

Get ready to cheer your life away, because a TV anime adaptation has been announced for Phantom of the Idol (known in Japan as Kamikuzu-Idol), a comedy shoujo manga about a surly male idol whose career takes an unexpected turn when he becomes haunted by the spirit of a peppy, recently deceased female idol. The main cast for the series includes:

Fumiya Imai as Yuuya Niyodo.
Nao Tōyama as Asahi Mogami.
And Shun Horie as Kazuki Yoshino.

The original Phantom of the Idol manga is serialized in Ichijinsha's Monthly Comic ZERO-SUM shoujo manga magazine, and an English language version is also in-development from Kodansha Comics, who describe the story of the series as follows:

Yuuya, one half of the boy pop duo ZINGS, may be the laziest performer in the Japanese music industry. His partner is out there giving 110% every night (and, thankfully, he’s quite popular), but Yuuya’s half-assed, sloppy dancing, and his frankly hostile attitude toward the audience, has the fans hating him and his agent looking for any excuse to cut him loose. The career of a pop idol just isn’t the path of easy leisure and adulation Yuuya expected…

After a particularly lifeless concert appearance, Yuuya meets a girl backstage. She’s dressed to the nines in a colorful outfit, she’s full of vim and vigor, and all she wants from life is to perform. There’s just one problem: She’s been dead for a year. This is the ghost of Asahi Mogami, the beloved singer whose time on the stage was tragically cut short, unless… If ghosts are real, is spirit possession really that much of a stretch?

A key visual for the upcoming Phantom of the Idol TV anime, featuring the main characters Yuuya Niyoda and Asahi Mogami striking a pose while performing in their idol stage costumes. Asahi is enthusiastic, while Yuuya lacks motivation.