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Katsugeki! Touken Ranbu TV Anime's 3rd Promo Video Previews Kalafina's Theme

The official website of the Katsugeki! Tōken Ranbu (Action Picture! Touken Ranbu) television anime series began streaming the show's third promotional video on Friday. (Note: The video at the link above is region-locked to Japan.)

The series will premiere in Japan on Tokyo MX, BS11, Gunma TV, and Tochigi TV on July 1 at 24:30 (effectively July 2 at 12:30 a.m.) before airing on MBS at 3:08 a.m. The anime will premiere later in the month on Okayama Broadcasting, Kōchi Sunsun TV, and TV Aichi.

Aniplex of America will stream the series beginning in July, and it describes the story:

The year is 1863 as the tumultuous samurai era is coming to an end, Japan is split between the pro-shogunate and anti-shogunate factions. The fate of the world is threatened as an army of historical revisionists are sent from the future to alter the course of history. In order to bring these forces down and protect the real history, two sword warriors, spirits who are swords brought to life by Saniwa (sage), rush to Edo. The polite and thoughtful Horikawa Kunihiro and the short tempered yet skillful Izuminokami Kanesada, who served the same master, confront the invading army along with a lively gang of other warriors including Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki, Yagen Toushirou, Tombokiri, and Tsurumaru Kuninaga.

As the fate of history lies in these hero's hands, what meets the blade is yet to be uncovered...

The previously announced cast includes:

• Ryōhei Kimura as Izuminokami Kanesada
• Kento Hama as Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki
• Junya Enoki as Horikawa Kunihiro
• Seiichirō Yamashita as Yagen Tōshirō
• Tooru Sakurai as Tonbokiri
• Sōma Saitō as Tsurumaru Kuninaga
• Junko Minagawa as Saniwa
• Takuma Nagatsuka as Konnosuke

Toshiyuki Shirai (Fate/Zero, Tales of Zestiria the X animation director) is directing the series at ufotable. Mitsuru Obunai, Masaru Kimura, and Masayuki Kunihiro are the sword fight animators. Tatsuya Yamamura is in charge of historical research, and Kōgyoku Watanabe is the sword fight supervisor. Hideyuki Fukasawa (Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, Flowers of Evil) is composing the music. Sōma Saitō is performing the show's opening theme song "Hikari Tatsu Ame" (The Rain that Cuts the Light), and Kalafina is performing the ending theme song "Hyakka Ryōran" (The Blooming of 100 Fires).

The show has eight character designers, each handling the animation design for a different character:

• Toko Uchimura, designing Izuminokami Kanesada
• Moe Tsuzuki, designing Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki
• Miyuki Ishizuka, designing Horikawa Kunihiro
• Rio Niisato, designing Yagen Tōshirō
• Yuka Shiojima, designing Tonbokiri
• Miki Yamazaki, designing Tsurumaru Kuninaga
• Kayo Onizawa, designing Saniwa
• Yukako Serai, designing Konnosuke

Honami Tsuda is launching a manga adaptation of the series in the August issue of Shueisha's Jump SQ. magazine.

Thanks to Dennis R for the embedded video.