The cast and staff of the dub have also been revealed.
Netflix has announced that the popular new rakugo anime “Akane-banashi” will soon be getting an English dub on 17 May, 2026. Moreover, the popular streaming service has also revealed the staff and voice cast of Akane-banashi English dub.
Akane-banashi
Premiere date: 4 April, 2026
Studio: Zexcs
Streaming service: Netflix
Who are the cast and staff of Akane-banashi English dub?
The Akane-banashi English dub voice cast includes:
- Abby Trott as Akane Osaki
- Xander Mobus as Shinta Arakawa
- Rebecca Wang as Masaki Osaki
- Brook Chalmers as Shiguma Arakawa
- Evan Michael Lee as Issho Arakawa
- Rich Brown as Zensho Arakawa
- Kirk Thornton as Ikken Arakawa/Yanagiya
- Mona Marshall as Yoshino
- Clifford Chapin as Kimihisa Kashio/Emcee (episode 1), Riichi (episode 2)
- Dorah Fine as Mrs. Ozaki
- Matt Shipman as Kaisei Arakawa (episode 2)
- Darius Marquis Johnson as Guriko Arakawa (episode 2)
- Darius Marquis Johnson, Matt Shipman, Dorah Fine, Kirk Thornton, and Rich Brown as various other minor characters
The production staff members working on the English dub include:
- Production: Bang Zoom! Studios
- Executive Producer: Eric P. Sherman
- Co-Producers: Mami Okada, Mio Moroe
- Associate Producer: Misa Shimogata
- ADR Director/ADR Writer: Alex Von David
- Casting Director: Mami Okada, CSA
- Production Assistant: Alisa Ogura-Traxler
- Sound Supervisor: Patrick Rodman, CAS
- Re-Recording Mixer: Michael Brooks
- Recording Engineer: Kenneth Thompson
- Dialogue Editors: Esgardo Valadez, Keeley Pierson (from episode 2)
- Audio Operations Supervisor: Ismael Yanez
- Assistant Engineer: Mara Westgaard
- Video Coordination: Kevin Ross
- Video Editor: Megumi M. Tsuji
- Closed Captions: Kaylyn Saucedo
- Spotting: Breaugh Olson
- Translation Yuki Urakawa
Who are the Japanese cast and staff members of Akane-banashi?
The series original Japanese voice 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.
What is Akane-banashi about?
The anime is based on the popular manga of the same name written by Yuki Suenaga and illustrated by Takamasa Moue. The series 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!