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Oedo Fire Slayer -The Legend of Phoenix- Anime's 1st Video Unveils More Cast, Staff, January 11 Debut

The official website for the  Oedo Fire Slayer -The Legend of Phoenix- television anime based on Hikuidori (Fire Eater), the first volume from Shōgo Imamura's Ushūboro Tobigumi historical novel series, unveiled on Wednesday the anime's first full promotional video, additional cast members, main staff, and January 11 premiere. 

Actress and model Ayaka Miyoshi voices Gengo's wife Miyuki (left in image above), and Junichi Suwabe voices Kankurō Ōto, leader of the Kaga clain's fire-fighting team and Gengo's rival.

Hiroshi Yasumi is directing the anime at Synergy SP and Hajime Kamegaki (Fushigi Yugi, Naruto Shippūden film, Lupin III vs. Detective Conan The Movie director) is the "head director." Ryūsuke Mori (Magic Repo Man) is in charge of the series scripts. Mori also writes the scripts along with Shōhei Fukuda, Yoriko Tomita, and Kōhei Nishimura. BILBA is credited for the original character designs, Takeshi Sanada (Yowamushi Pedal, Gintama: The Movie) is the CG director, Akiyoshi Tanaka (KenIchi the Mightiest Disciple) is the sound director, and Yasuharu Takanashi (BASTARD!! -Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy-, Fairy Tail, Naruto Shippūden film) is composing the music.

The series will premiere on CBC, TBS, and 26 other channels across Japan on January 11, and will air in the "Agaru Anime" programming block on Sundays at 11:30 p.m.

The anime will also have an advance screening of its first two episodes on January 8 at the United Cinema Toyosu in Tokyo with the cast in attendance . 

The anime stars:

Amuse Creative Studio describes the anime's story:

The fire extinguishing samurai who stopped the great fire was called "The fire-eating bird". Matsunaga Gengo, once known as the "Fire-eating Bird", was the best fire-fighting samurai in Edo. He had resigned from the fire brigade for a reason but suddenly received an invitation to serve in the Shinjo clan. The Shinjo clan's fire-fighting team had no money and no personnel and was looked down upon by those around them. With the encouragement of his wife, Miyuki, Gengo decides to rebuild the collapsed fire-fighting clan as its chairman. Gengo and his friends, all of whom have their own peculiarities, struggle to "save any life", despite being ridiculed as "ragged steeplejacks"(= the 'Boro-Tobi-Gumi'.), In Edo, a mysterious series of suspicious fires called "foxfires" continue.

An entertaining action drama opens, with the firefighters scrambling to save lives in the face of the approaching disaster!

Imamura launched the Ushūboro Tobigumi novel series with the Hikuidori story in 2017. Shodensha has published 12 volumes of the novel, and a volume of spinoff short story collection, which released in 2022. The novel won in the sixth Yoshikawa Eiji Bunko Award in 2021.

Shinobu Seguchi's manga adaptation of the Hikuidori novel, also titled Oedo Fire Slayer -The Legend of Phoenix-, launched in Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion on April 24. The manga was slated for a digital English release in North America this summer.

Imamura also wrote the 2022 Ikusagami (Last Samurai Standing) novels. Katsumi Tatsuzawa launched the novels' manga adaptation in Kodansha's Morning magazine in 2022. Kodansha USA Publishing licensed the manga. Netflix produced a live-action series based on Imamura's novels also titled Last Samurai Standing, that premiered on November 13.

Sources: Oedo Fire Slayer -The Legend of Phoenix- anime's website, Comic Natalie