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Funimation Licenses Studio Trigger's Ninja Slayer Anime Series

posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Action series premieres in Japan on Niconico on April 16

Funimation Entertainment announced on Monday that it has acquired the streaming and home video rights to Ninja Slayer From Animation, the television anime adaptation of the Ninja Slayer novel series. Funimation will announce the simulcast start date and time at a later date.

Funimation describes the story:

Ninjas. Karate. Sushi. The dystopian cyber underworld of Neo-Saitama is ruled from the shadows by an intricate web of drugs, yakuza gangs, and evil syndicate ninjas wielding fearsome “karate.” In a sea of the blood of his enemies, a lone maverick stands. NINJA SLAYER is a ninja who kills other ninjas in the name of ninja vengeance. A former salaryman whose family was killed by evil ninjas, Ninja Slayer cheats death and casts away his past to embrace the dark, mystical NINJA SOUL, a mysterious spirit that grants him great power in his quest for revenge. But will this bloodthirsty spirit consume Ninja Slayer before his enemies are all “dead on departure?” Domo. I'm Ninja Slayer.

The anime will star:


Toshiyuki Morikawa as Ninja Slayer


Sho Hayami as Dark Ninja


Masane Tsukayama as Laomoto Khan
Chiwa Saito as Nancy Lee
Sora Amamiya as Koki Yamoto
Risa Taneda as Dragon Yukano
Tessho Genda as Clone Yakuza
Goblin as the Narrator

The cast members are reprising their roles from the novels' audio drama adaptation.

The anime series will premiere on the Japanese streaming website Nico Nico on April 16 at 11:00 p.m. JST. The series is slated to air on television in Japan in 2016.

The anime will stream in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, South America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Northern Europe, South Korea, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. (The anime's website lists some regions twice.) The platform or platforms for overseas streaming has yet to been announced.

The series will also be available online in Japan through Niconico Live Ginza, D Anime Store, Anime Pass, Gyao!, Hikari TV, DMM.com, the PlayStation Store, Bandai Channel, Rakuten Showtime, and Video Market.

The website revealed an updated staff list earlier this month:

Series Director, Series Composition: Akira Amemiya
Scripts: Yū Satō
Character Design: Hiroyuki Imaishi, Yusuke Yoshigaki, illustrators saitom, Serere Inato, and Shinjiro
Art Director: Akira Katsuta, Young-jae Lee (Qreazy)
Color Key: Akemi Nagao (Wish)
Director of Photography: Kentaro Kashiwagi (Asura Film)
Music: Shinichi Osawa, Kenji Fujisawa (Team-MAX)
Music Production: Starchild Records
Sound Director: Yuki Satofumi
Sound Production: grooove
Animation Production: Trigger
Production: Ninja Committee

Boom Boom Satellites is performing the main theme song "Back in Black." The rock band Boris will perform the first episode's ending theme song "Kilmister."

The story was originally posted piecemeal on Twitter by Japanese "translators" Yu Honda and Leika Sugi, allegedly translating the work of American authors "Bradley Bond and Philip Ninj@ Morzez." After the story grew in popularity, Enterbrain published the first Japanese-translated volume in print, Ninja Slayer: Neo Saitama in Flames, in September 2012. The story then inspired comic adaptations from Enterbrain and Kodansha (including Kōtarō Sekine's Ninja Slayer Kills in Shōnen Sirius), as well as an audio drama with Toshiyuki Morikawa as the title character.

Tokyo Otaku Mode is publishing both the original novels and Yogo Yuki's Ninja Slayer: Machine of Vengeance manga adaptation online for free. Vertical Comics will also be publishing the manga in print.


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