Back in 2017, Kadokawa and DeNA released the mobile sword fighting game Tenkan Hyakken -Zan-. Like many Japanese mobile games, it’s a gacha game focused on collecting various beautiful samurai girls and limited-time crossover characters. Also like many Japanese mobile games, it’s part of a much larger multimedia franchise aiming to become the next big thing. The latest part of that plan has just been revealed, in the form of the new Tenka Hyakken anime adaptation.
The new short anime adaptation project is titled Tenka Hyakken: Meiji-kan e Yōkoso! (Welcome to Meiji Hall!). It was recently revealed on the official Kadokawa website for Tenka Hyakken, alongside the staff, cast, initial visuals, and a premiere date of October.
The anime is being produced by LIDEN FILMS, who previously produced the Boarding School Juliet and Hanebado! TV anime series. It’s directed by Daisuke Hashimoto, who will be designing the characters alongside Ryōta Azuma and Naoki Okada. Azuma is also serving as the chief animation director for the new Tenka Hyakken show. Meanwhile, the assistant director is Kentarō Fujita. Script writing and overseeing will be handled by Yū Satō, who worked on Inferno Cop and Space Battleship Tiramisu.
Art direction on Tenka Hyakken: Meiji-kan e Yōkoso! will be done by Yuri Sanan, while the color key artist is Emoki Onodera. Yui Hasegawa is contributing assorted 2D work. Junpei Takatsu, meanwhile, is compositing director of photography with Misaki Enokida handling editing. Studio Mouse will be handling sound direction with Ryousuke Naya serving as sound director.
A lot of voice actors from the mobile game are set to reprise their roles:
Yūko Ōno as Jōizumi Masamune
Rie Takahashi as Kuwanagō
Haruka Chisuga as Goō Yoshimitsu
Hitomi Ohwada as Kogarasumaru
Haruka Shiraishi as Nanaka
As for new cast members, we know of the following actors so far:
Hikaru Iida as Tōshi Masamune
Kanako Yanagihara as Hōchō Masamune
Yuki Harukawa as Horinuki Masamune
Some of these seiyuu will also be contributing to the music for Tenka Hyakken: Meiji-kan e Yōkoso! in the form of a special singing unit named Ohanamishū Tsubaki-gumi. The unit, consisting of Ōno, Takahashi, Chisuga, Ohwada, and Shiraishi, are performing the opening theme song “Aka, Hana o Sakasete” (Crimson, Let the Flower’s Bloom). The main soundtrack for the series will be composed by Ryūdai Abe, who previously composed for the anime 18if.
The Tenka Hyakken franchise centers around the “Mitsurugi,” maidens who are physical incarnations of ancient swords. They have pledged to live peaceful lives after the era of warfare, but are now returning to battle to fight a new foe that has arisen during an alternate version of the Meiji Era, three hundred years after the Battle of Sekigahara.
Tenka Hyakken: Meiji-kan e Yōkoso! is set to air in Japan in October of this year.