The official website for Atsushi Wada‘s Ikimono-san series of anime shorts streamed the anime’s second full promotional video on Thursday. The video reveals and previews the anime’s theme song “Mochimochi” by the pop band Nekosen.

The anime will premiere on the MBS and TBS channels and their affiliates on the “Super Animeism” programming block on July 7. The series will have 52 90-second episodes.

Makoto of the comedy duo Yoneda 2000 will play the role of Igaguri, a boy who is always with his dog, and tries to emulate the creatures he encounters. Norihiro Urai of the comedy duo Dansei Blanco will play the role of Dog (or Inu), Igaguri’s dog. He is a kind dog, who always tries his best to make Igaguri’s wish to become a living creature come true.

The series of shorts is based on Wada’s My Exercise game about a curious boy who exercises with a dog. The boy encounters various creatures and tries to emulate them, with the valiant help of his dog.

Wada is personally directing the shorts, and Nobuaki Doi is in charge of planning and production. New Deer is animating the shorts, and Toei Animation is distributing.

The anime’s “Turtle” short will compete in the Grand Competition – Short Film category at the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 2023 event in Croatia from June 5-10.

The My Exercise game launched in August 2020 for iOS, Android, and PC via Steam and itch.io.

Wada’s “Hantō no Tori” (“Bird in the Peninsula”) short screened at last year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The short won a special mention in the short film category at last year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

Sources: Ikimono-san anime’s website, Comic Natalie