The official X/Twitter account for the television anime adaptation of Hiromasa Okujima's Baban Baban Ban Vampire manga unveiled on Thursday the first promotional video, key visual, and two new cast members.
The newly announced cast includes Mayuko Kazama as Aoi Shinozuka (pictured below on left) and Taku Yashiro as Ken Shinozuka, also known as Franken (pictured below on right):
The series will debut in January 2025 in the channel's new programming block IM Animation that airs on Saturdays at 11:30 p.m.
The anime will star Daisuke Namikawa as Ranmaru Mori and Yūsuke Kobayashi as Rihito Tatsuno.
Itsurō Kawasaki (Arc the Lad, The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil , Magical Girl Ore) is directing the anime and writing the scripts at studio GAINA. Takahiro Tamano (episode director for We Never Learn: BOKUBEN, BNA: Brand New Animal) is the assistant director. Yukiko Ban (Dusk maiden of Amnesia, A Girl & Her Guard Dog) is the character designer and chief animation director. Shunsuke Masuda and Satoru Kiyomaru are both also chief animation directors. Jun Ichikawa (The Morose Mononokean II, Seven Days War) of Julydex is composing the music.
Other staff members include:
- Sub-Character Design: Manami Minakata
- Prop Design: Emi Ikemori, Shunsuke Masuda, Ryōta Tamura
- Color Design: Chie Yoshimura
- Art Directors: Hiroshi Katō (Totonyan), Hirofumi Sakagami (Totonyan)
- Background Art: Hiroshi Katō (Totonyan), Yuichi Asami (Totonyan)
- Director of Photography: Rieko Koike (Assez Finaud Fabric)
- Editing: Daisuke Hiraki (Assez Finaud Fabric)
- 2D Design: Sho Ikeuchi
- 3DCG Director: Masaru Kaise
- Effects: Tomomi Ishihara
- Sound Effects: Yasumasa Koyama
- Sound Production: Bit Grooove Promotion
The BL (indicated here as standing for "Bloody Love Comedy") manga centers on a 450-year-old vampire named Ranmaru, working part-time at an old public bath. He desires the blood of an 18-year-old virgin, and so watches over the growth of 15-year-old Rihito, the son of the bathhouse owners, and tries to prevent him from losing his virginity.
Okujima launched the manga in Akita Shoten's Bessatsu Shōnen Champion magazine in October 2021. Akita Shoten published the manga's seventh compiled book volume on March 7.
The manga is also inspiring a live-action film that will debut in 2025.
Viz Media's SuBLime imprint for boys-love manga licensed SHOOWA and Okujima's Bad Boys, Happy Home (Dōsei Yankee Akamatsu Seven) manga, and released the first volume physically and digitally in July 2021. The pair launched the manga in Akita Shoten's Kachi Comi magazine in April 2018.
Sources: Baban Baban Ban Vampire anime's X/Twitter account, Comic Natalie