The staff of the TV anime adaptation of Yūki Suenaga and illustrator Takamasa Moue’s Akane-banashi manga confirmed that the series will continue with Akane-banashi Season 2. Akane-banashi Season 2 will premiere in January 2027, and to celebrate the announcement, character designer Kii Tanaka shared a new illustration.
The first season of Akane-banashi is streaming on YouTube in North America and South America, along with Netflix and other services around the world. Episodes are available with English subs and an English dub.
Multi-instrumentalist Keisuke Kuwata performs the opening theme song “Hitotarashi.”
The Japanese cast and staff of the Akane-banashi anime include:
Japanese Cast
- Anna Nagase as Akane Sakurazaka
- Takuya Eguchi as Karashi Nerimaya
- Rie Takahashi as Hikaru Koragi
- Jun Fukuyama as Shinta Arakawa (Toru Osaki)
- Nobunaga Shimazaki as Maikeru Arakawa
- Chiaki Kobayashi as Koguma Arakawa
- Yohei Azakami as Kyoji Arakawa
- Seiichiro Yamashita as Guriko Arakawa
- Fumihiko Tachiki as Zenshō Arakawa
- Hiroaki Hirata as Ikken Arakawa
- Shizuka Itō as Masaki Ōsaki
- Yumiko Konatsu as Saki Yoshino
- Ryōta Iwasaki as Kimihisa Kashio
- Hōchū Ōtsuka as Miroku Kashiwaya
- Ryōtarō Okiayu as Shomei Tsubakiya
- Hiroshi Naka as Enso Sanmeitei
- Mutsumi Tamura as Urara Ransaika
- Shinichirō Miki as Ryu’un Kenputei
- Tomokazu Seki as Chocho Konjakutei
Staff
- Original Work: Yuki Suenaga, Takamasa Moue
- Director: Ayumu Watanabe
- Assistant Director: Yu Harima
- Series Composer: Michihiro Tsuchiya
- Character Design & Chief Animation Director: Kii Tanaka
- Sub Character Design & Chief Animation Director: Yasunari Nitta
- Chief Animation Director: Hisashi Kagawa
- Costume Design: Noriko Shimazawa
- Prop Design: Yoshinori Iwanaga
- Art Design: Shuhei Tada
- Art: Takumi Sakurada
- Color Design: Saori Goda
- Photography Director: Yuta Nakamura
- Editor: Kiyoshi Hirose
- Sound Director: Noriyoshi Konuma
- Music: Akio Izutsu
- Rakugo Supervision: Kikuhiko Hayashiya
- Animation Studio: ZEXCS
The English dub cast includes:
English Dub Cast
- Abby Trott as Akane Osaki
- Xander Mobus as Shinta Arakawa
- Rebecca Wang as Masaki Osaki
- Brook Chalmers as Shiguma Arakawa
- Evan Michael Lee as Issho Arakawa
- Rich Brown as Zensho Arakawa
- Kirk Thornton as Ikken Arakawa/Yanagiya
- Mona Marshall as Yoshino
- Clifford Chapin as Kimihisa Kashio/Emcee and Riichi
- Dorah Fine as Mrs. Ozaki
- Matt Shipman as Kaisei Arakawa
- Darius Marquis Johnson as Guriko Arakawa
- Kellen Goff as Karashi Nerimaya
- Anne Yatco as Hikaru Koragi
- Landon McDonald as Maikeru Arakawa
- Khoi Dao as Koguma Arakawa
- Jonathon Ha as Kyoji Arakawa
Yūki Suenaga and Takamasa Moue launched the Akane-banashi manga in February 2022. Viz Media releases the manga in English and describes the story as follows:
Akane unintentionally stirs up a scandal when she’s discovered taking informal lessons from her father’s former teacher, Shiguma Arakawa. And she’s about to make even bigger waves because she is about to begin her first steps in climbing the ranks of a rakugo performer from zenza opening act to shin’uchi headliner is exchanging her secret lessons for formal training. But she’ll still have to finish high school and navigate her relationship with Shiguma’s existing apprentices, all while learning that becoming a stellar rakugoka takes much more than just being good at performing!
