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Hana-Kimi TV Anime's New Video Unveils More Cast & Staff, January 4 Debut
posted on by Egan Loo
The Animate Girls Festival special stage panel for the anime of late manga creator Hisaya Nakajo's Hana-Kimi manga debuted a new promotional video on Saturday. The video announces one more cast member, more of the staff, and the anime's January 4 premiere. The video also previews the ending theme song "Baby" and opening theme song "Adrena" — both by YOASOBI.
Update: Added subtitled trailer
Satoshi Hino joins the cast as Makoto Kagurazaka.
The newly announced staff members are:
- Prop Design: Yoshitomo Hara
- Color Key Artist: Natsuyo Ban
- CG Director: Masayoshi Nishimuta
- Art Director: Kei Ichikura
- Compositing Director of Photography: Masashi Uoyama
- Editing: Kasumi Shibata
The anime will premiere on the Tokyo MX channel on January 4, 2026 at 9:30 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EST), and it will also run on BS11, MBS, CBC TV, RKB Mainichi Broadcasting, and other channels.
The anime stars:
- Aya Yamane as Mizuki Ashiya
- Taku Yashiro as Izumi Sano
- Kikunosuke Toya as Shuichi Nakatsu
- Yūichirō Umehara as Minami Nanba
- Jun Fukuyama as Hokuto Umeda
- Reiji Kawashima as Senri Nakao
- Kōki Uchiyama as Daiki Kayashima
- Wataru Komada as Kyogo Sekime
- Anan Furuya as Shinji Noe
- Kōtarō Nishiyama as Wataru Nihonbashi
- Yūko Natsuyoshi as Julia M. (Maxwell)
The anime had its episode 1 world premiere at the Anime NYC event on August 23.
Crunchyroll will stream the anime when it premieres in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, the CIS, and India.
Nakajo died at 50 years old in October 2023 due to a heart condition.
Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e (Hana-Kimi) was Nakajo's defining work, running in Hakusensha's Hana to Yume magazine from 1996 to 2004.
Nakajo ran a short continuation of the Hana-Kimi manga in 2011, and published a special chapter in 2014. Her latest update to the series was Himitsu - Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e After School, which debuted in 2021. Viz Media published the Hana-Kimi manga in North America, and also published her Sugar Princess manga. Viz Media describes Hana-Kimi:
Japanese-American track-and-field star Mizuki has gotten herself to transfer to a high school in Japan...but not just any school! To be close to her idol, high jumper Izumi Sano, she's going to an all-guys' high school...and disguising herself as a boy! But as fate would have it, they're more than classmates...they're roommates! Now, Mizuki must keep her secret in the classroom, the locker room, and her own bedroom. And her classmates--and the school nurse--must cope with a new transfer student who may make them question their own orientation...
The manga inspired a 2007 live-action television series and a second live-action series starring AKB48 idol group member Atsuko Maeda in 2011. Besides the two Japanese live-action television series, the manga also inspired a live-action television version in South Korea and a 2006 live-action television version in Taiwan.
Source: Animate Girls Festival's Hana-Kimi special stage panel
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