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SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table Anime Reveals January 7 Debut, More Cast in Video
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Kadokawa revealed during MF Bunko J's Fall School Festival 2025 special livestream on Sunday a new promotional video and five more cast members for SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table, the television anime of writer Yūshi Ukai and artist Nekometal's Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table (Shibō Yūgi de Meshi o Kuu) light novel series.
The event also revealed a new visual, the opening theme song artist, and the January 7 debut with a 60-minute first episode.
The new cast includes:
LIN from MADKID will perform the opening theme song "¬Ersterbend" (pronounced as "Not Ersterbend").
The anime will debut on Tokyo MX on January 7 at 11:00 p.m., and the first episode will be 60 minutes long. The second episode and later will debut at 11:30 p.m. instead of 11:00 p.m. The anime also debut on January 7 on ABC TV, and will debut on WOWOW on January 13. The anime will also stream on Netflix and other streaming services in Japan at the same time as the television debut.
Sōta Ueno (Days With My Stepsister) is directing the anime at Studio DEEN. Rintarou Ikeda (The Seven Deadly Sins: Dragon's Judgement) is in charge of series composition. Eri Osada (Blade & Soul) is designing the characters. Noriyoshi Konuma (The Dangers in My Heart) is the sound director.
The staff also includes:
- Concept Art: hewa
- Color Design: Imari Katsuragi
- Art Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura
- Director of Photography: Shinyo Kondō
- Editing: Haruko Kikuchi
- Sound Effects: Kaori Yamada
- Music: Junichi Matsumoto
- Music Production: Nippon Columbia
Yen Press licensed the light novel series and describes the story:
Yuuki wakes up to find herself wearing a maid's uniform in a strange manor. After wandering into the dining room, she comes across five other girls, each in the exact same outfit. Soon, the girls learn that the manor is brimming with lethal weapons and an array of deadly traps…and that they can only escape by playing the most gruesome of games. As the terrifying truth sets in, each girl's face goes pale—except Yuuki's. Why? Because this isn't her first go-round. That's right—Yuuki is a professional death game player who lives off the prize money she collects from winning brutal killing competitions, and she's not about to let this chance pass her by.
Kadokawa's MF Bunko J imprint published the light novel series' first volume in November 2022, after the series won the Excellence Award at the 18th MF Bunko J Light Novel Newcomer Award that same year. The novels' eighth volume shipped in Japan on February 25, and the ninth volume will ship on January 23, 2026.
The light novel series also ranked #1 in the New Title category of Takarajimasha's 2024 Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! (This Light Novel Is Amazing!) rankings.
Banzai Kotobuki Daienkai launched a manga adaptation in Kadokawa's Comp Ace magazine in April 2023. Kadokawa published the manga's fourth volume on September 24, and will publish the fifth volume on January 23, 2026.
Source: Press release
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
