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Lord of Vermilion Anime's Ad Previews Theme Song by May'n

The official website for Lord of Vermilion: Guren no Ō (Crimson King), the television anime of Square Enix's Lord of Vermilion arcade trading card game series, began streaming a commercial for the series on Friday. The ad previews May'n's opening theme song "Tenshi yo, Furusato wo Kike" (O Angel, Listen to the Hometown).

The anime will premiere on Tokyo MX on July 13 at 25:05 (effectively July 14 at 1:05 a.m.), before later airing on Sun TV, KBS Kyoto, TV Aichi, BS11, and AT-X. Crunchyroll will stream the series, and Funimation will stream an English dub.

The show stars:

Yūki Kaji as Chihiro Kamina

Misato Fukuen as Yuri Shiraki

Satoshi Hino as Kotetsu Dōmyōji

Hiroki Touchi as Isshin Kakihara

Ai Kayano as Shōko Hanashima

Toshiyuki Morikawa as Inuki Akaya

Aoi Yūki as Koume Sakiyama

Junichi Suwabe as Jun Aoi

Shinichirō Miki as Kaburagi Kark

Takuma Terashima as Haru Minakami

Chiwa Saito as Chiyu

Yui Horie as Julia Ichijō

Akira Ishida as Suruga Jūmonji

Yū Kobayashi as Marie Kurokami

Rie Kugimiya as Tsubaki Manazuru

Rina Satō as Akira Harabuki

Nogizaka46 member Sayuri Inoue as Dux

All cast members except for Sayuri Inoue are reprising their respective roles from the games.

The anime takes place in Tokyo in 2030. In a suburban area, suddenly a high-frequency resonant sound is heard, and at the same time a red mist shrouds the area. Anyone who hears the sound, be it human or animal, loses consciousness. The government estimates that it might be an unidentified virus, and fearful of an epidemic, blockades Tokyo and moves its base to Osaka. However, six days after the incident, those who lost consciousness from the sound awaken for no apparent reason. Those blockaded in Tokyo slowly start to get the city functioning again, but after that day strange incidents start to occur at the blockade border. Those who have awakened a hidden blood power arise, are drawn to one another, and must face a cruel fate.

Eiji Suganuma (Sasameki Koto, Karneval, B-PROJECT) is directing the anime. Masashi Suzuki (Shuffle!, Minami-ke: Okawari, The Sacred Blacksmith) is in charge of series composition. Toshie Kawamura (Yes! Precure 5, Mashiroiro Symphony - The color of lovers, Hugtto! Precure) is designing the characters.

JUNNA will perform the show's ending theme song "Akaku, Zetsubō no Hana" (Become Red, Flower of Despair).

Square Enix launched the Lord of Vermilion fantasy collectible card game in June 2008, and the game has since spawned the Lord of Vermilion II, Lord of Vermilion Re: 2, Lord of Vermilion III, and Lord of Vermilion IV sequels, as well as the Lord of Vermilion Arena Windows PC game. The franchise also spawned the Lord of Arcana spinoff for the PlayStation Portable in 2010, and a remake titled Lord of Apocalypse on the PlayStation Vita and PSP in 2012.

The Lord of Vermilion III game previously inspired a six-minute special anime video.

Sources: Lord of Vermilion anime website