BEAT RUNNERS by Koichi Sakamoto
 

Director Koichi Sakamoto's next project is a new title called BEAT RUNNERS. Other notable staff are:
* Tomokazu Seki who recently appeared as Producer Kazu Sekimoto in No.1 Sentai Gozyuger as Casting Producer
* Kenichi Muraeda (Kamen Rider Spirits), Shoma Muto (worked on multiple Ultraman shows and Kamen Rider Gavv), and K-Suke (recently worked on Shining Knife & Sweet Cake for Gozyuger) as character designers.

Official website: https://beatrunners.co.jp


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaZmzT636R0

Interesting. There's been a lot of news like this lately. I have a feeling that either due to the relative success of Dogengers and Jizaris, or because of the demise of Super Sentai, there are a lot of tokusatsu projects popping up outside of the big franchises.

So this is what Sakamoto has been up to lately.

I'm going to guess there's some kind of big music component.

It looks like two of the members are women?

Exactly. First MKP, and now this.

Teaser No.2 has dropped. Our main four protagonists are Presto, Adagio, Vivace, and Lento. A fifth character by the name of Soraiya (I assume is the commander/mentor figure of the show) has also been revealed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUu_jaOTN2o

* Presto will be suit-acted by Ryuma Hashido (suit-acted as Wingman in WINGMAN, acted as Tasogare/Kamen Rider Eternal in Kamen Rider Gotchard and Iwashita/UW Zyuoh Eagle in Gozyuger) and voiced by Kensho Ono.

* Adagio will be suit-acted by Momoka Takasaki (suit-acted as Dino Fury Pink in PRDF, Cosmic Fury Red PRCF, UW Red Racer in Gozyuger, and Kamen Rider Muez in Kamen Rider 555: Paradise Regained) and voiced by Kaori Nazuka.

*Vivace will be suit-acted by Takashi Furuya (suit-acted as Cosmic Fury Orange in PRCF, Kiramai Yellow in Kiramager VS Ryusoulger) and voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi (Torabolt in Robotack and Ticket in ToQger).

*Lento will be suit-acted by Mizuho Nogawa (suit-acted as Momoninger in Ninninger and Kyoryu Pink in King-Ohger) and voiced by Megumi Han (Kyuemon Izayoi in Ninninger, Luna Kokonoe/Midoninger in Ninninger: Ninnin Girls vs Ninnin Boys FINAL WARS, and Pega in Ultraman Geed).

Very interesting design. Looks like we're in for an alien action movie with pop music.

So we’re going with characters in full suits even when not in action. Interesting.

This is basically "We have Ultra Galaxy Fight at home" but I also mean that in the best way possible.

Still need to get used to some of these suit designs, but I'll be interested in checking this out.

Oh this looks REALLY cool to me, I love when toku has always-suited protagonists and these designs seem really fun and unique

Yep. Presto definitely feels like something Muraeda would come up with.

They sure are. I'm also interested in the four characters at the 00:37 mark, maybe they're backdancers/the BEAT RUNNERS operation crew?

The way it's shot definitely has that Ultra Galaxy Fight aesthetic to it, which, if I recall, Sakamoto participated in.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I'm also getting strong Sun Wukong vibes from Presto, which makes me wonder if this will be in some way inspired by Journey To The West

Looking at their designs on the official site (here: https://beatrunners.co.jp/) I'm getting even more fond of them, they have a neat combination of tokusatsu rule-of-cool sensibilities and a more grounded military scifi look.

I'm still not confident in my Journey To The West interpretation until we get more information, but as of now I can see Presto as Sun Wukong, Adagio as Tang Sanzang, Lento as Zhu Bajie, and Vivace as Sha Wujing.

Some info about the characters according to the official website.

* The Beat Runners are described as a "Space Threat Countermeasures Combat Team".

* Presto is a courageous bioroid who has perfect pitch.

* Adagio is the calm and collective leader of the team and a perfectionist.

* Vivace is a jovial inventor/mechanic with skills to back it up.

* Lento is a sniper with a lot on her mind but has "beautiful aim".

* Soraiya is the "Queen of the Beginning" who has been described to have evolved after learning about emotions.

*T.D.4, or Tear.Drop.4, is the support singer unit consisting of Ristics, Hugh, Applet, and Spinrock.

I hope this gets official English subs when it gets released.

They should. I understand if a dub is beyond their budget for now, but they should get a super-skilled translator to work on the subs, at the very least.