Anime

November 8, 2025

Hana

The Animate Girls Festival recently unveiled an exciting new promotional video for the upcoming anime adaptation of the beloved manga Hana-Kimi. This adaptation is a tribute to the late Hisaya Nakajo, the creator of the original manga. The video, which debuted on Saturday, introduces a new cast member, additional staff details, and confirms the anime’s premiere date set for January 4.

The promotional video also gives fans a sneak peek at both the opening and ending theme songs. The opening theme, “Adrena,” and the ending theme, “Baby,” are both performed by the popular musical duo YOASOBI.

The cast for the anime continues to grow, with Satoshi Hino joining the lineup to voice Makoto Kagurazaka. The production team has also been expanded to include several talented individuals. Natsuki Takemura, known for her work on Go! Go! Vehicle Zoo and Dragon Goes House-Hunting, will be directing the series at Signal.MD. Shigeru Ueda, who has worked on To Love-Ru and Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV, will serve as the assistant director.

Takao Yoshioka, who has contributed to series like Aharen-san wa Hakarenai and Horimiya: The Missing Pieces, will be in charge of the series scripts. Character designs will be handled by Shi Yi Su, who previously worked on Dragon Goes House-Hunting. The music for the anime will be composed by Masaru Yokoyama, known for his work on Arakawa Under the Bridge and Horimiya: The Missing Pieces. Jin Aketagawa, who has worked on 86, Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc, and Golden Kamuy, will be the sound director.

The anime will make its debut on Tokyo MX on January 4, 2026, at 9:30 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EST). It will also be broadcast on BS11, MBS, CBC TV, RKB Mainichi Broadcasting, and other channels.

The episode 1 world premiere of the anime took place at the Anime NYC event on August 23. Crunchyroll will stream the anime in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, the CIS, and India.

Hana-Kimi, originally titled Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e, is Nakajo’s most renowned work. It was 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, Himitsu – Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e After School, was released in 2021.

The manga follows the story of Mizuki, a Japanese-American track-and-field star who transfers to an all-boys high school in Japan to be closer to her idol, Izumi Sano. Disguising herself as a boy, Mizuki must navigate the challenges of maintaining her secret while dealing with her new classmates and roommates. The manga has inspired multiple live-action adaptations, including television series in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.