The official website for the anime of late manga creator Hisaya Nakajo's Hana-Kimi manga presented the anime's second key visual and three more cast members on Sunday.
The newly announced cast members are:
- Masaaki Mizunaka as Megumi Tennōji
- Junya Enoki as Itsuki Kujō
- Takehito Koyasu as Masao Himejima
Notably, Koyasu is reprising the role from the manga's previous CD drama. Viz Media describes the Hana-Kimi story:
Japanese-American track-and-field star Mizuki has gotten herself to transfer to a high school in Japan...but not just any school! To be close to her idol, high jumper Izumi Sano, she's going to an all-guys' high school...and disguising herself as a boy! But as fate would have it, they're more than classmates...they're roommates! Now, Mizuki must keep her secret in the classroom, the locker room, and her own bedroom. And her classmates--and the school nurse--must cope with a new transfer student who may make them question their own orientation...
The anime stars:
- Aya Yamane as Mizuki Ashiya
- Taku Yashiro as Izumi Sano
- Kikunosuke Toya as Shuichi Nakatsu
- Yūichirō Umehara as Minami Nanba
- Jun Fukuyama as Hokuto Umeda
- Reiji Kawashima as Senri Nakao
- Kōki Uchiyama as Daiki Kayashima
- Wataru Komada as Kyogo Sekime
- Anan Furuya as Shinji Noe
- Kōtarō Nishiyama as Wataru Nihonbashi
- Yūko Natsuyoshi as Julia M. (Maxwell)
- Satoshi Hinoas Makoto Kagurazaka
Natsuki Takemura (Go! Go! Vehicle Zoo director, Dragon Goes House-Hunting episode director) is directing the anime at Signal.MD, and Shigeru Ueda (To Love-Ru, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IVepisode director) is the assistant director. Takao Yoshioka (Aharen-san wa Hakarenai, Horimiya: The Missing Pieces) is in charge of series scripts, Shi Yi Su (Dragon Goes House-Hunting) is designing the characters, Masaru Yokoyama (Arakawa Under the Bridge, Horimiya: The Missing Pieces, 2022 & 2024 Urusei Yatsura) is composing the music, and Jin Aketagawa (86, Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc, Golden Kamuy) is the sound director.
The other staff members include:
- Prop Design: Yoshitomo Hara
- Color Key Artist: Natsuyo Ban
- CG Director: Masayoshi Nishimuta
- Art Director: Kei Ichikura
- Compositing Director of Photography: Masashi Uoyama
- Editing: Kasumi Shibata
The anime had its episode 1 world premiere at the Anime NYC event on August 23.
The anime premiered on the Tokyo MX channel on January 4, 2026 at 9:30 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EST), and it also runs on BS11, MBS, CBC TV, RKB Mainichi Broadcasting, and other channels.
Crunchyroll is streaming the anime with English subtitles and same-day dub in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, the CIS, and India.
Nakajo died at 50 years old in October 2023 due to a heart condition.
Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e (Hana-Kimi) was Nakajo's defining work, running in Hakusensha's Hana to Yumemagazine from 1996 to 2004.
Nakajo ran a short continuation of the Hana-Kimi manga in 2011, and published a special chapter in 2014. Her latest update to the series was Himitsu - Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e After School, which debuted in 2021. Viz Media published the Hana-Kimi manga in North America, and also published her Sugar Princess manga.
The manga inspired a 2007 live-action television series and a second live-action series starring AKB48 idol group member Atsuko Maeda in 2011. Besides the two Japanese live-action television series, the manga also inspired a live-action television version in South Korea and a 2006 live-action television version in Taiwan.
Sources: Hana-Kimi anime's website, Comic Nataliel