Akane-banashi Getting Anime Adaptation Next Year

By Elijah Gonzalez  |  August 4, 2025 | 4:30pm
Anime News Akane-banashi
Akane-banashi Getting Anime Adaptation Next Year

The popular Shonen Jump manga Akane-banashi is getting a TV anime in 2026, handled by Zexcs studio. For those unfamiliar, the series follows Akane Osaki, a teen attempting to avenge her father by climbing the ranks in the world of professional rakugo. The manga by Yuki Suenaga began on February 14, 2022, and currently has 17 volumes. As of last year, it had 2 million copies in circulation.

As for rakugo, this is an oral storytelling tradition where a lone performer narrates a tale using only a paper fan and a small cloth as props (for more context, you should check out the anime series Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū if you haven’t already).

Regarding the staff for Akane-banashi’s adaptation, it’s being directed by Ayumu Watanabe (After the Rain, Space Brothers, Children of the Sea, Witch Hat Atelier), with Yu Harima (Summer Time Rendering) as the assistant director. Kii Tanaka (Kaguya-sama: Love is War) will be the character designer and chief animation director. Michihiro Tsuchiya will be in charge of series composition. As for Zexcs, this studio has been around since 1998 and previously handled series like The Great Passage and Flowers of Evil.

The voice actors for the major characters are Anna Nagase (Ushio Kofune in Summer Time Rendering, Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad) as Akane Osaki, Takuya Eguchi (Hachiman Hikigaya in My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU) as Karashi Nerimaya, and Rie Takahashi (Ai Hoshino in Oshi no Ko and Emilia in Re:Zero) as Hikaru Koragi. Considering that this series is all about performance, it’s good to see that such experienced voice actors are in charge of the main cast.

 
Join the discussion...