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Sai-Kyo-Oh! Zukan: The Ultimate Tournament Anime Gets 'Special Edition' Film on January 23
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
The staff for Sai-Kyo-Oh! Zukan: The Ultimate Tournament, the second television anime based on Gakken's Sai-Kyo-Oh! Zukan children's book series, revealed on Friday that a special edition film of the anime titled Sai-Kyo-Oh! Zukan: The Ultimate Tournament Tokubetsu-hen Teppen Kimeyō ka! (Sai-Kyo-Oh! Zukan: The Ultimate Tournament Special Edition Let's Decide Who's on Top!) will premiere on January 23 in Aeon Cinema theaters throughout Japan. The staff also revealed the film's key visual and trailer video:
ROF-MAO VTuber unit member Hayato Kagami will perform the film's opening and ending theme songs, and will also make a special appearance in the film.
Yoshihisa Kawahara and Mie Sonozaki will reprise their roles as Mr. Most and TT, respectively.
The film will feature never-before-seen matches including the "Strongest Underwater Special Exhibition Final Match" between a Livyatan melvillei and a Spinosaurus, and the "Strongest King Dragon League Final Match" between the Hindu danava (mythical being) Vritra and Ōryū, the four-legged, winged beast that appears in Chinese mythology. The film will also feature a quiz activity by Mr. Most.
The film will be about 50 minutes in length.
The setting of the new anime is "Sai-Kyō-Jima" (The Ultimate Island), a mysterious isolated island with countless unexplored battlefields from wildernesses and rocky crags to forests, ice fields, and caverns. Here, players from various species such as otherwise extinct animals, bugs, and dinosaurs wage tournament-style battles, all to lay claim to the title of the strongest.
Makoto Satō directed the second anime at OLM Digital, replacing Shintarō Kishimoto. Yasuharu Takanashi, Johannes Nilsson, and Team-MAX were now credited for the music, replacing Ayato Shinozaki, Ryōsuke Tachibana, and Yusuke Kamimachi. Kunihiko Yuyama, Shinji Satō, Imaitoonz, and Kisuke Koizumi return in their previous staff roles from the previous anime.
Sai-Kyo-Oh! Zukan: The Ultimate Battles, the franchise's first television anime that was based on the Ishu Sai-Kyo-Oh! Zukan book, premiered in January 2024 on TV Tokyo within the Iniminimanimo program.
The Gakken editorial department and Tetsuya Meguro supervised the first television anime. Kunihiko Yuyama (Pokémon chief director) was the chief director, and Shintarō Kishimoto (tough guys!) directed the anime at OLM Digital. Shinji Satō (The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made) oversaw the series scripts. Imaitoonz designed the characters, Kisuke Koizumi directed the sound, and Yusuke Kamimachi composed the music.
The original children's book series has 6.3 million copies in circulation as of October 2025, and also marks its 10th anniversary this year.
Source: Press release
