Anime fans typically come in one of two flavors. There are the ones who enjoy a gritty, cool, fiery action fiesta, and then there are the ones who clamor for cutesy, simple, adorable kinds of shows. Military anime tend to take those two ends of the anime spectrum and smash them together, though, delivering stories about cute little anime girls piloting giant tanks or naval warships. The latest in the genre of “cute girls doing decidedly not cute things” is Warlords of Sigrdrifa, an Aniplex production all about aerial dogfights to save the world.
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The talent behind Warlords of Sigrdrifa is perhaps the most exciting part of the new anime series. Novelist Tappei Nagatsuki, known for creating the wildly popular multi-media franchise Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, is supervising the writing of the series. He’s joined by world-building and research lead Takaaki Suzuki, who was also a co-creator of military anime High School Fleet. Nagatsuki noted in the anime announcement that he “has been a longtime anime fan whose dream was to have his creations adapted into anime.” Now, though, he gets to create a story specifically for an original anime. He also added that he “likes both strong girls, and the men who love strong girls.”
Despite Nagatsuki crafting Warlords of Sigrdrifa as an original anime, though, numerous spin-off manga are also in the works. Kanari Abe is set to launch Senyoku no Sigrdrifa Non-Scramble (Warlords of Sigrdrifa: Non-Scramble) in Kadokawa’s Monthly Comic Alive magazine on July 27th. The manga is set to be a slice-of-life spin on the series. In October, a more gritty and serious manga spinoff titled Senyoku no Sigrdrifa Kuruu no Eiyū (Warlords of Sigrdrifa: Heroes of the Frenzy) will launch on the Comic Hu manga website. This spinoff is helmed by Takeshi Nogami and Takaaki Suzuki. Nogami previously worked on Girls und Panzer: Ribon no Musha and Marine Corps Yumi, while High School Fleet co-creator Suzuki also served as the military history adviser on Girls und Panzer: Ribon no Musha and Sōkai no Seiki – Ōji to Otome to Kaientai.
As for the Warlords of Sigrdrifa anime itself, the series was originally slated to premiere in July. Due to COVID-19, though, the show has been pushed back and will now premiere in October. It’s being directed at A-1 Pictures by Record of Grancrest War and Sword Art Online: Alicization episode director Hirotaka Tokuda. Takumi Yokota, the artist behind Mitsuboshi Colors and Wave, Listen to Me! is adapting Takuya Fujima’s character designs for animation. CG elements of the series are being produced by Graphinica. Music composition is being handled by Shigeo Komori and Hajime Hyakkoku. Komori previously worked on From the New World and High School Fleet, while Hyakkoku previously composed for Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend and New Game!
The currently confirmed cast of characters and voice actors for Warlords of Sigrdrifa includes:
- Hibiku Yamamura as Claudia Bradford with the Gloster Gladiator Mk. II
- Nene Hieda as Miyako Muguruma with the Nakajima Ki-44-II Otsu
- M.A.O as Azuzu Komagome with the Heinkel He100D-1
- Sayaka Kikuchi as Sonoka Torai with the Macchi M.C.72R
- Ai Kayano as Rusalka Evereska
- Mikako Komatsu as Lizbet Crown
- Hitomi Ueda as Leyli Haltija
- Yui Horie as Misato Honjo
- Rina Hidaka as Nono Kazuura
- Sumire Uesaka as Komachi Mikuri
The opening song for the series, “Higher’s High,” will be performed by Akari Nanawo. The ending song, “Sayonara Namida” (Goodbye, Tears), is being performed by Spira Spica.
Here’s a synopsis of the series, as translated by AnimeNewsNetwork:
The Pillars suddenly appeared above Earth, threatening all life. A god who called himself Odin came to the aid of humanity as it was driven to near complete defeat. To counter the Pillars, Odin declared a counterattack by bequeathing humanity with the battle maidens Walküres and the “herocraft” as their wings.
Several years later, the battle between humanity and Pillars rages on, with men supporting the Walküres as they soar through the treacherous skies to save the world.
Japan is no exception. Three Walküres confront the giant Pillar looming over sacred Mt. Fuji. Each Walküre is skilled, but each also has issues. And now, an ace pilot has arrived from Europe.
“Now is the time to fight back, humanity. The day of reckoning has arrived. The time of Ragnarok draws nears.”
[Source]
