The first full promotional video for the upcoming anime based on the Hikari no Ou (The Firecatcher Lord) fantasy novel series by Rieko Hinata and Akihiro Yamada was posted to the anime’s official Twitter account on January 14, teasing that it would start the following week.
The first episode of the anime series will air on WOWOW, a premium subscription channel, on January 14 at 10:30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. EST).
The first episode of the anime will air for free on the channel in Japan.
CAST & STAFF MEMBERS:
The anime’s cast includes:
- Misaki Kuno as Tōko
- Shōya Ishige as Kōshi
- Maaya Sakamoto as Akira
- Yoshimasa Hosoya as Roroku
- Saori Hayami as Kira
- Megumi Yamaguchi as Hinako
The anime’s staff recently announced 16 more cast members for the series.
Junji Nishimura (Ranma ½, You’re Under Arrest: The Motion Picture, True Tears, Vladlove) is directing the anime at Signal.MD (Recovery of an MMO Junkie, Napping Princess, The Wonderland), and Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Angel’s Egg, Jin-Roh – The Wolf Brigade, Blood: The Last Vampire, Vladlove) are overseeing and writing the scripts.
Additional staff members include:
- Character Design: Takuya Saito (Knights of Ramune & 40, Outlaw Star, Macross Zero)
- Chief Animation Directors: Takuya Saito, Kazuchika Kise, Toshihisa Kaiya
- Music: Kenji Kawai (The Sky Crawlers, Stray Dog, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Patlabor the Mobile Police)
- Sound Director: Kazuhiro Wakabayashi
ABOUT HIKARI NO OU:
The tale of the novel takes place in a world in disarray following humanity’s final war. The earth is covered in a vast forest teeming with flaming creatures and other dead things, with human populations concentrated in a few safe havens.
Humans spontaneously burst into flame when even slightly exposed to fire due to a unique weapon employed in the Last War. The only reliable source of energy for humanity is housed within the bodies of flailings, and it is the job of fire catchers, who venture into the depths of the great forest armed only with sickles.
There are rumors among the fire catches that there is one who will become “Firecatcher Lord,” someone who will be able to collect the energy of the “Wandering Spark,” the thousand-year comet that was launched into space before the Last War and is just now making its way back to Earth.
Tko, a young girl from a town known for its paper production, is attacked by flailings in the forest’s depths at the beginning of the novel, prompting a flame catches to hurry to her aid.
A young man named Kshi, who was born in the capital but whose mother was killed by factory poison, takes in and protects his younger sister.
The first book in the Hinata series was released in December 2018, and it was illustrated by Akihiro Yamada, who also illustrated The Twelve Kingdoms and designed characters for RahXephon.
On September 3, 2020, Hinata released the fourth book in the series, and on December 21, 2021, she released a spin-off volume.
