The staff for the upcoming anime adaptation of Tsuyoshi Takaki’s Black Torch manga revealed the second promotional video along with the show’s theme song information. SiM will perform the opening theme song, “Freeze Me Up,” while I Don’t Like Mondays. will perform the ending theme song, “Groooovy.” The trailer previews both theme songs.
The cast includes:
- Ryota Suzuki as Jiro Azuma
- Yoji Ueda as Rago
- Sayaka Sembongi as Ichika Kishimojin
- Junya Enoki as Reiji Kirihara
- Reina Ueda as Hana Usami
- Junichi Suwabe as Ryosuke Shiba
- Shinpachi Tsuji as Toshimasa Azama
- Yūko Kaida as Toko Kusumi
- Hōchū Ōtsuka as Banjuro Tokieda
The anime will debut on July 4 and will be streamed worldwide, excluding Asia, on Crunchyroll.Black Torch will also receive an English dub with AJ Beckles starring as protagonist Jiro Azuma. Kei Umabiki will direct the anime at 100Studio. Gō Suzuki is designing the characters, Gigaemon Ichikawa is supervising and writing the series scripts, and Yutaka Yamada is composing the music. Additional staff members include:
- Sub-Character Design: Yumi Nakamura, Masahiko Suzuki, Mariko Kinoshita
- Design Works: Shunya Kikuchi
- Art Director: Sachi Takahashi, Shōko Imaizumi
- Color Design: Haruko Nobori
- CG Director: Hirotaka Naitō
- Director of Photography: Satoshi Yamamoto
- Editing: Masato Yoshitake
- Sound Director: Takeshi Takadera
- Sound Effects: Naoto Yamatani
The Black Torch manga series was first serialized in Shueisha’s Jump Square and Shonen Jump+ between 2017 and 2018. VIZ Media publishes the manga in English. Lastly, here’s a synopsis of the story, via the anime’s official website:
Jiro Azuma is not your average high schooler. Hailing from a long line of ninja, Jiro has been brought up by his grandfather in the ancient warrior art of the shinobi. Jiro also happens to be a particularly skilled communicator able to converse with the animal world. But life takes an abrupt turn thanks to a mysterious encounter in the forest with an injured black cat named Rago.
Only, Rago’s feline appearance is deceiving…
It turns out the “ordinary” cat is the stuff of mononoke legend–the Black Star of Doom!
Swarming in the shadows are more mononoke, eager to exploit Rago’s uniquely immense powers. To fight back against the tide of dark spirits, the undercover Bureau of Espionage is poised to seek and destroy.
Of course, everyone has their motives when it comes to Rago’s powers. But Jiro and Rago are ready.
A shinobi clash between boy and mononoke is about to ignite!
