Tougen Anki anime announced – key visual/trailer show Shiki’s transformation into a monster
In an interesting coincidence, it was only last month I read the first four volumes of the Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood action manga in Japanese.
No, my Japanese isn’t perfect, so it was a hard slog requiring a lot of dictionary work, but a friend who knows I enjoy a good shounen manga series recommended it.
Even so, I doubt I will read past the first four volumes as the mangaka, Yura Urishibara, while a brilliant artist, is lacking in the storytelling skills.
All of that leads me to today’s news — a Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood anime adaptation has been announced, along with an action-packed teaser trailer promoting the upcoming anime series.
Read further as well to see why, despite my reservations with the manga, I think an anime adaptation could be a hit.
What we know about the Tougen Anki anime adaptation
As is usually the case when a new anime is announced, few details are initially released.
Details for the Tougen Anki anime adaptation then look like this so far — the names of three voice actors have been announced, along with their characters’ initial visual, a striking first key visual was released (see below), and the anime has a premiere window of 2025.
That’s it, folks.
Those voice actors, though, are already heavy hitters in the acting world. They are:
Kazuki Ura (Yoichi in Blue Lock/Subaru in Shadowverse) who is playing protagonist Shiki Ichinose
Hiroshi Kamiya (Kusuriuri in Mononoke/Ataru in Urusei Yatsura) voicing Naito Mudano
Koutaro Nishiyama (Momose in My New Boss is Goofy/Minami in IDOLiSH7 ) plays Jin Kougasaki
Why a Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood anime could be amazing
The problem with the manga series the anime will be based on is not the plot or the art, it’s the way the mangaka expresses himself.
Or doesn’t express himself, I should clarify.
The plot is disjointed and sometimes confusing, the characters while beautifully drawn are often not well-written, extra-long exposition destroys the pace, and the constant talking becomes annoying quickly. It takes a long time for any development in the story as well.
All that being complained about, the plot premise is interesting and the art style is vibrant and cool.
With the right screenwriter then, and with a studio that can get rid of the extraneous b.s. few people want, and get right to the heart of the story instead, a tightly-written, nicely animated Tougen Anki anime might be a big hit.
The crazy prolific mangaka also has 20 volumes of Tougen Anki published since just 2020, so there is plenty of material for several anime seasons already.
The Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood plot
Ahead of the anime premiere, Yen Press will start to publish Tougen Anki in English soon, with the first volume out on September 17th.
Calling the manga series Tougen Anki: Dark Demon of Paradise, they describe its plot in this way:
Shiki Ichinose’s blood is Oni, and his father’s is Momotarou. Normally, those with Momotarou blood hunt the Oni—but Shiki’s father refused to kill him as an infant. Instead, he adopted Shiki and raised him despite the rebellious attitude and dangerous temper that comes with Oni blood.
When a member of the Momotarou Agency kills Shiki’s father, he vows to avenge hm. But as Shiki hones his abilities and learns to control his Oni blood, will he be strong enough to survive the dangers waiting for him…?
Meanwhile, Volume 20 of the Tougen Anki manga in Japanese is due out tomorrow.
The first Tougen Anki key visual centers around protagonist Shiki, who already appears scary in his initial appearance, without that out-of-control monster he transforms in hovering menacingly behind him.
A monster we also get a glimpse of in the new Tougen Anki trailer below.
We’ll keep you updated here on Baozi Buns as soon as more details emerge.
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