19-year-old AKB48 idol group member Rie Kitahara (a.k.a. "Kitarie") will make her voice-acting debut in the supernatural anime series Gakkō no Kowai Uwasa: Shin Hanako-san ga Kita!!, which will premiere on Japanese television on August 13. The announcement was made during a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.

The story of the anime revolves around Hanako, a girl who lives in a supernatural world apart from our own. Hanako appears when schoolchildren are in trouble; she is a benevolent version of an enduring Japanese urban legend about Hanako, a ghost who lives in a toilet at the local school. Kitahara will play Howahowa, a floating, fuzzy creature and Hanako's close companion.

The new anime is an update of the Gakkou no Kowai Uwasa: Hanako-san ga Kita!! television anime series, which ran for 35 episodes between 1994 and 1995. The original anime spawned CDs and videogames, and the tie-in books have remained in print as bestsellers. The relaunched Gakkō no Kowai Uwasa: Shin Hanako-san ga Kita!! book series began shipping in 2006. The new anime will run on the BS12 TwellV satellite channel every Friday at 7:00 a.m.

ANN interviewed Kitahara during AKB48's visit to Anime Expo in Los Angeles in July. Kitahara will launch a monthly manga series, tentatively titled Kita-Rie no Mōsō Bungaku Shōjo-dō, in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine within two months.