Crunchyroll announced that it has licensed and added the upcoming historical fantasy TV anime series Shabake to its Fall 2025 simulcast lineup. Weekly streaming of the series will begin on the same date of the Japanese premiere on October 3, 2025.
The company will stream the series in the following territories: North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, CIS, and Indian subcontinent.
Takahiro Okawa (Mononogatari assistant director) is directing the anime series, with Toko Machida (The Strongest Magician in the Demon Lord’s Army was a Human) as series screenwriter and Akari Minagawa (Attack on Titan Final Season The Final Chapters co-animation director) as character designer. BN Pictures is handling the animation production.
Meanwhile, the anime’s voice cast includes:
- • Daiki Yamashita as Ichitaro
- • Koji Okino as Nikichi
- • Taku Yashiro as Sasuke
- • Daisuke Namikawa as Nozoki Byobu
- • Seiichiro Yamashita as Matsunosuke
- • Shimba Tsuchiya as Eikichi
- • Shion Wakayama as Oharu
- • Akira Sekine as Suzuhiko-hime
- • Shinya Takahashi as Noderabo
- • Misako Tomioka as Kawauso
- • Akane Matsunaga as Yanari (1)
- • Aika Wakuno as Yanari (2)
- • Takako Tanaka as Yanari (3)
The anime is based on the novel series written by Megumi Hatakenaka, which was first published by Shinchosha on December 1, 2001 and has released 23 volumes as of July 2024. The book series was an Excellence Award recipient at the 13th Nihon Fantasy Novel Taishou in 2001.
The novels inspired a manga adaptation by Mimori that ran in Monthly Comic Bunch magazine from 2017 to 2023. Four total tankoon volumes were released. It also inspired a ONA short from Shuka in July 2021, as part of the novel series’ 20th anniversary.
Crunchyroll describes the main synopsis of Shabake as:
Ichitaro, the young master of Nagasakiya, one of the top commercial stores in Japan during the Edo period, was born with a weak constitution that leaves him unable to go out much. He is always surrounded by his spirit companions, including a Hakutaku and an Inugami, who protect him. One night, Ichitaro steps outside and witnesses a murder, and from that day onward, bizarre murder cases keep happening all over Edo. So with the help of the spirits, Ichitaro’s hunt for the culprit begins!
Sources: Crunchyroll Official Twitter, Crunchyroll News
