Smurfs: The Journey Continues

Smurfs: The Journey Continues (also known as Smurfs: Continuation of the Journey in Japan, Japanese: スマーフ：旅の継続, Hepburn: Sumāfu: Tabi no keizoku) is a Japanese/Belgian comedy anime television series developed by Japanese anime studio, Bones Inc. and Belgium's Studio Peyo, as a 26-episode sequel series to the Sony feature, Smurfs: The Lost Village (without Sony's involvement). Shinichirō Watanabe is the chief director of the series, along with Shingo Natsume. Distribution of the series in North America is by Funimation Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television. The series began airing in Japan on Tokyo MX around April 2019, followed by TV Osaka, TV Aichi, BS Fuji and AT-X.

Premise
This anime is a continuation of the 2017 film, Smurfs: The Lost Village (but with a more well-thought out storyline). Rather than just focusing on Smurfette, Hefty, Brainy and Clumsy, this anime focuses on many other characters besides the four (especially the Smurflings and Grouchy).

Characters

 * Smurfette (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Clumsy Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Hefty Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Brainy Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Jokey Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Grouchy Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Nosey Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Farmer Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Painter Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Handy Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Scaredy Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Poet Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Enamored Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Pretentious Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Greedy Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Baker Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Chef Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Dreamy Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Harmony Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Lazy Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Therapist Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Patient Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Passerby Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Wooly Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Sweepy Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Pushover Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Snappy Smurfling (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Slouchy Smurfling (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Natural 'Nat' Smurfling (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Sassette Smurfling (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Papa Smurf (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Gargamel (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Azrael (vocals by Don Messick (archival recordings)) - TBD
 * Monty (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Smurfwillow (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Homnibus (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - TBD
 * Oliver (voiced by TBA in Japanese, TBA in English) - Homnibus' teenaged servant and friend of the Smurfs.

Voice Cast
(reserved for KKDisney, Bricky Blocks or ModernClassicCartoonGamer15)

Production
The anime is directed by Shingo Natsume, with Shinichirō Watanabe serving as general director, and produced by Bones. Stories of the episodes are supervised at Studio Peyo in Brussels, Belgium.

The hand-drawn animation for the anime was done under half the cost of the 2017 CGI movie. For most of the episodes produced by subcontractor Dogakobo, it tends to have more cartoony and fluid animation in comparison to the others animated in-house by Bones, Inc. The anime even allowed characters to have as much movement as possible, and to avoid using the typical shortcuts of anime production.

Reception
Smurfs: The Journey Continues received mixed reviews from critics and audiences in its American premiere. Critics praised for the Japanese anime-style animation and giving the other Smurfs more screen time here than in the 2017 movie, while other critics panned for TBA.

Trivia

 * All the Japanese voice artists from the Japanese version of Smurfs: The Lost Village returned to reprise their roles for the anime. And unlike the North American release of Smurfs: The Lost Village, all the characters are voiced by the Funimation cast in the English dub.
 * The Smurflings were brought back for the anime, much to the delight of fangirls.
 * Characters from the 1980s Smurfs cartoon show (such as Dreamy Smurf, Scaredy Smurf, Pushover Smurf, etc.) have returned for the anime series.

Poll
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