Anime

January 2, 2026

English Dub Premiere and Cast Announced for Hana

Crunchyroll has revealed that the anime adaptation of the late manga creator Hisaya Nakajo’s Hana-Kimi will be available with an English dub on the same day as its Japanese premiere. The announcement was made on Friday, and the streaming service will begin airing the dubbed version on Sunday.

The English dub features a talented cast of voice actors. Jad Saxton is at the helm as the director, with Susie Nixon serving as the producer. Heather Walker is responsible for adapting the script, while Gino Palencia handles the mixing and Tina Son is the engineer.

The anime will debut on the Tokyo MX channel at 9:30 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EST) on Sunday and will also be broadcast on BS11, MBS, CBC TV, RKB Mainichi Broadcasting, and other channels. Crunchyroll will stream the anime simultaneously in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, the CIS, and India.

Episode 1 of the anime had its world premiere at the Anime NYC event on August 23. The anime is being directed by Natsuki Takemura at Signal.MD, with Shigeru Ueda serving as the assistant director. Takao Yoshioka is in charge of the series scripts, while Shi Yi Su is designing the characters. Masaru Yokoyama is composing the music, and Jin Aketagawa is the sound director.

Additional staff includes the popular music duo YOASOBI, who will perform both the opening theme song “Adrena” and the ending theme song “Baby.”

Nakajo passed away at the age of 50 in October 2023 due to a heart condition. Hana-Kimi, also known as Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e, was Nakajo’s most renowned work, serialized in Hakusensha’s Hana to Yume magazine from 1996 to 2004. Nakajo continued the series with a short continuation in 2011 and a special chapter in 2014. Her latest update to the series, Himitsu – Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e After School, debuted in 2021.

Viz Media published the Hana-Kimi manga in North America and also released Nakajo’s Sugar Princess manga. The story follows Mizuki, a Japanese-American track-and-field star who transfers to an all-boys high school in Japan to be close to her idol, high jumper Izumi Sano. Disguising herself as a boy, Mizuki must navigate the challenges of keeping her secret while dealing with her classmates and the school nurse.

The manga inspired multiple live-action adaptations, including a 2007 television series in Japan, a 2011 series starring AKB48 member Atsuko Maeda, and live-action versions in South Korea and Taiwan.