A live stream on the official X (formerly Twitter) account for the new anime of Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2 manga revealed the anime's new and returning cast, staff, and October 5 premiere in its first trailer on Wednesday. The live stream also revealed that artist ano will perform the anime's opening theme song.
The anime's staff also revealed the key visual:
Kappei Yamaguchi, Megumi Hayashibara, and Noriko Hidaka will reprise their roles as (male) Ranma Saotome, (female) Ranma, and Akane Tendō, respectively (image above from left to right).
Other returning cast includes:
- Minami Takayama as Nabiki Tendō
- Kikuko Inoue as Kasumi Tendō
- Kōichi Yamadera as Ryōga Hibiki
- Rei Sakuma as Shampoo
Akio Ōtsuka will play the role of Sōun Tendō in the new anime, replacing Ryunosuke Ohbayashi. Chō will play the role of Genma Saotome in place of Kenichi Ogata, who will be the new anime's narrator, replacing the late Tadashi Nakamura.
Kōnosuke Uda (One Piece: Dead End film, DAYS) is directing the new series at MAPPA. Kimiko Ueno (Delicious in Dungeon, Astro Note) is in charge of series scripts, and Hiromi Taniguchi (Kurage no Shokudō) is designing the characters.
Additional staff includes:
- Chief Animation Directors: Hiromi Taniguchi, Takeshi Yoshioka, Yoshiko Saitō, Nao Ōtsu
- Main Animators: Nao Naitō, Rie Aoki
- POP Artwork: Minami Kitamura
- Art Director: Chihiro Ōkawa
- Color Key Artist: Yukiko Kakita
- Compositing Director of Photography: Atsushi Kanō
- Editing: Keisuke Yanagi
- Sound Director: Kōnosuke Uda
- Sound Effects: Takuya Hasegawa
- Music Selection: Makiko Chihara
- Sound Production: dugout
- Music: Kaoru Wada
- Planning Production: Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions
The anime will premiere nationwide in Japan on October 5 on the NTV channel at 24:55 JST (effectively, October 6 at 12:55 a.m. JST). The anime will exclusively stream on Netflix after its broadcast.
The manga inspired the Ranma 1/2 television anime series in April 1989. The anime continued into the Ranma ½: Nettō-hen series in October 1989, and it ran until September 1992. The franchise also inspired two movies, a theatrical anime, and OVAs, with the final OVA episode shipping in January 1996. The Ranma ½: Nightmare! Incense of Spring Sleep special anime launched in September 2008. The series inspired a live-action television special in December 2011.
Viz Media released the anime on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc. The company also published the manga.
Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura manga recently inspired a new television anime that premiered in the Noitamina programming block on Fuji TV in October 2022. The show's second half started on January 11. The show's fourth and final cours debuted on April 11.
Sources: Ranma 1/2 anime's website and X/Twitter account, Comic Natalie