The new trailer also revealed the opening theme song of the series.
The upcoming rakugo anime “Akane-banashi” just unveiled a brand new trailer. It was revealed that the series will premiere on 4 April, 2026. Moreover, the opening theme song, and a key visual has also been released.
Akane-banashi anime details
The drama anime’s opening theme song, ‘HITOTARASHI’, is being performed by Keisuke Kuwata.
The series cast includes:
- Anna Nagase as Akane Osaki
- Takuya Eguchi as Karashi Nerimaya
- Rie Takahashi as Hikaru Koragi
- Jun Fukuyama as Shinta Arakawa (Tohru Osaki)
- Nobunaga Shimazaki as Maikeru Arakawa
- Chiaki Kobayashi as Koguma Arakawa
- Yohei Azakami as Kyoji Arakawa
- Seiichiro Yamashita as Guriko Arakawa
- Masaki Terasoma as Shiguma Arakawa
- Akio Otsuka as Issho Arakawa
Ayumu Watanabe directs the series at Zexcs, with Yū Harima as assistant director. Michihiro Tsuchiya handles series composition while Kii Tanaka is the character designer and chief animation director. Akio Izutsu (Akuma Kun) is the music composer with Kikuhiko Hayashiya as the Rakugo supervisor.
The anime is based on the popular manga series written by Yuki Suenaga and illustrated by Takamasa Moue. It began publishing in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine in February 2022, with 20 tankōbon volumes out so far. Viz Media publishes the manga in English and describes the story as:
Akane unintentionally stirs up a scandal when she’s discovered taking informal lessons from her father’s former teacher, Shiguma Arakawa. And she’s about to make even bigger waves because she is about to begin her first steps in climbing the ranks of a rakugo performer from zenza opening act to shin’uchi headliner is exchanging her secret lessons for formal training. But she’ll still have to finish high school and navigate her relationship with Shiguma’s existing apprentices, all while learning that becoming a stellar rakugoka takes much more than just being good at performing!