Voice actor Chiaki Kobayashi is joining the main cast of The Blue Wolves of Mibu TV anime series as Hajime Saito, having been revealed as the fourth overall cast member. The anime’s premiere date is still to be determined.
Kobayashi joins a voice cast that includes Shuuichirou Umeda as Nio Chirinu, Youhei Azakami as Toshizou Hijikata, and Kensho Ono as Okita Souji.
Kumiko Habara (I’m Standing on a Million Lives) will direct the anime series, with Kenta Ihara (Gamera: Rebirth, The Marginal Service) as series screenwriter, Miyako Nishida (A Playthrough of a Certain Dude`s VRMMO Life sub-character designer) and Yuuko Ooba (My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1 character design) as character designers, and Yuuki Hayashi (Arknights: Perish in Frost) as music composer. MAHO FILM is handling the animation production for the series.
Tsuyoshi Yasuda’s original manga series was launched in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine on October 13, 2021. Eleven tankoubon volumes were released as of November 2023.
Kodansha USA is set to release The Blue Wolves of Mibu manga in Spring 2024, describing the synopsis as:
It’s 1863, the twilight of the shogunate, and Japan is on the cusp of monumental change. The streets of the nation’s capital are soaked in blood as political upheaval and rising tensions between masterless, wandering ronin and government samurai set the stage for one of the most turbulent times in Japan’s history. Young orphan Nio is no stranger to the harsh realities of the world, and yet he can’t help but cling to his burning passion for justice and desire to change the world for the better.
One day, he crosses paths with two men who will become central figures of the coming revolution: Hijikata Toshizo and Okita Souji, two of the founding members of a group of hated ronin known as the Miburo–who would later become known as the Shinsengumi. Inspired by the efforts of the so-called “Blues Wolves of Mibu,” Nio decides to join the ranks to help carve a path to the world he wishes to see. But with new betrayals and reversals every day, will Nio be able to stay true to his conscience?
