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Aniplus Asia Simulcasts Cestvs: The Roman Fighter Gladiator Anime

Aniplus-Asia announced on Tuesday that it will air a simulcast of Cestvs: The Roman Fighter, the television anime of Shizuya Wazarai's Kentō Ankoku Den Cestvs and Kendo Shitō Den Cestvs manga. The simulcast will premiere on April 15 at 1:30 a.m. GMT +8.

Aniplus-Asia describes the anime:

54 AD, the Roman Empire. Cestvs, a young slave who was placed in a school for boxers takes on his very first match, where he is matched against a good friend of his. Despite some hesitation, he wins the fight as the loser is killed on the spot.

Tomorrow will not come for those who lose.

"This is no different from murder if my opponent has to die each time I win!"

Clutching onto the sorrow and rage within his fists, Cestvs fights to survive as he faces powerful opponents one after another while the coronation of the Fifth Roman Emperor, Nero, takes place.

With no other chance at freedom other than to keep winning, how will Cestvs seize his future?!

Hiromu Mineta is starring in the anime as Cestus, in his first starring role in an anime. The other cast members are:

• Rikiya Koyama as Zafar, Cestus's trainer
• Kenshō Ono as Lusca, a member of the unarmed fighting guards
• Hiroki Touchi as Demitrius, Ruska's father and the head of the unarmed fighting guards
• Yūto Uemura as Nero, the fifth Roman Emperor
• Kikuko Inoue as Agrippina, the mother of the Roman Empire's fifth emperor Nero
• Aya Endō as Sabina, a beautiful daughter of a wealthy family from Pompeii
• Ryōta Takeuchi as Emden, Pompeii's Greatest Fighter
• Sanae Kobayashi as Roxanne of the unarmed fighting guards
• Akio Ohtsuka as Narrator

Toshifumi Kawase (Tenjho Tenge, Matchless Raijin-Oh) is the chief director of the anime. Bandai Namco Pictures is producing the series. Professional boxer Yoshihiro Kamegai is advising the staff for boxing scenes in the anime. Masahiro Tokuda, Akihiro Manabe, and Yoshiyasu Ueda are composing the music. LOGIC&MAGIC are producing the CG.

The group Dragon Ash is performing the opening theme song "Endeavor."

The series will premiere on April 14 at 24:55 (effectively, April 15 at 12:55 a.m.) in Fuji TV's +Ultra programming block.

Kentō Ankoku Den Cestvs ran in Young Animal from 1997 to 2009 and had 15 volumes. Kendo Shitō Den Cestvs launched in Young Animal in 2010, and then moved to Young Animal Arashi in 2014. The manga then moved again to the Manga Park app in 2018. The manga will again move to Hakusensha's Young Animal Zero magazine. Hakusensha published the 10th volume on Monday.

Source: Email correspondence