Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru is a Japanese anime series produced by Doga Kobo, the series was directed by Takashi Naoya, and the screenplay was written by Pierre Sugiura. Junichiro Taniguchi drew the character designs and Kenji Kawai composed the music. The anime was inspired by the video game Touken Ranbu.
In December 2017, a compilation film titled Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru Makuai Kaisoroku premiered. In recent news, a trilogy titled Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru Setsugetsuka will premiere in May-September 2022.
On May 20, 2022, the first film titled Yuki no Maki (Snow Story) starts. Yuki no Maki is directed by Takashi Naoya (Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru). The second film entitled Tsuki no Maki (Moon Story) will start on July 8th. Tsuki no Maki is directed by Tomoaki Koshida (Zoku Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru). And finally, on September 1, 2022, the third and final film entitled Hana no Maki will open. Hana no Maki is directed by Sumie Noro.
Touken Ranbu fans are excited for a new character, Yamanbagiri Choji
The first film will have the same producers as the Doga Kobo anime series. The second season of the anime was written by Yuki Nekota and he will write the script for the first film. Junichiro Taniguchi will once again handle character designs, while Mitsue Mori and Eriko Iida will serve as junior character designers.
Touken’s designers are Hiyori Denforword Akishino and Eri Nakajima. Hiyori will be collaborating with prop designers Tamami Izawa and Kazumi Ono. Takeshi Takahashi will be responsible for the art setting with Yukari Yasuda as art director. The key color artist will be Yuki Ito.
Compositing Director of Photography is Takehiro Go, who also worked on the second season. Kentarou Tsubone is a returning editor. The sound director is Fumiyuki Go, with Katsuhiro Nakano assisting with the sound effects. The music of the first film was composed by Kenji Kawai.
A new Touken Danshi character will make his debut in the films and is named Yamanbagiri Chogi. He is voiced by Kengo Takanashi.
The new scene is a snippet from the first film in which Yamabagiri Kunihiro (the blond bishon) acts mysteriously while meeting Yamanbagiri Chogi (the silver-haired bishon).
Legendary Japanese swords are personified as hot men
The sword training game Touken Ranbu takes famous swords from Japanese history and turns them into “handsome boys” bishonen. Nitroplus is behind the character design and storyline of the game. The game launched in January 2015. The game’s popularity made it possible to get an anime adaptation, a compilation film, a live-action film, a series of stage musicals and plays, a manga, and the upcoming film trilogy.
In April 2021, the browser game Touken Ranbu was released in English by Johren. A smartphone version of the game was released in August 2021. On February 17, 2022, KOEI Tecmo Game launched the game titled Touken Ranbu Warriors in Japan for PC and Switch. Touken Ranbu Warriors will be released for Switch in North America on May 24th, 2022.
The latest trailer for the film trilogy can be seen here:
The first trailer released to promote the trilogy can be seen here:
There will be a live special commemorating the release of the Yuki no Maki film on May 16, 2022 at 9:00 p.m. Special guests include Toshiki Masuda as Kyomitsu Kashu and Mitsuhiro Ichiki as Mamoru Yamato. You can watch this live special for free on the TOHO animation YouTube channel.
