The first episode of the anime premiered on 7 July.
The first episode of the long awaited anime adaptation of Chie Shinohara’s historical shōjo manga “Red River” premiered on 7 July, 2026 (8 July globally). Alongside an exciting first episode, it was also revealed that the Red River drama CD’s lead voice actors are also coming back to the anime to voice the protagonist Yuri’s parents. This is a nod to the manga’s long history and also a way to include the OGs into the new project!
Red River
Premiere: 7 July, 2026
Animation studio: Tatsunoko Production
Streaming service: Crunchyroll
Who are the voice actors playing Yuri’s parents in the anime?
Veteran voice actors Minami Takayama and Kazuhiko Inoue will voice the protagonist Yuri’s mother and father respectively.
In the original drama CD that came out in 1997, Takayama voiced Yuri and Inoue voiced the male lead Kail.
The rest of the cast of the anime includes:
- Mirai Tachibana as Yuri Suzuki
- Wataru Kato as Kail Mursili
- Hiroki Nanami as Narrator/ Himuro
- Aya Uchida as Queen Nakia
- Shōya Chiba as Zannanza Hattušili
- Tomoaki Maeno as Ilbani
- Kōji Yusa as Urhi
- Kōsuke Toriumi as Prince Mattiwaza
- Tomohiro Ono as Kikkuri
- Shiki Aoki as Hadi
- Natsumi Kawaida as Ryui
- Misato Matsuoka as Shala
- Haruki Ishiya as Kash
- Junya Enoki as Rusafa
- Shinichiro Kamio as Mittannamuwa
Who are the staff members working on the Red River anime?
Kosuke Kobayashi directs the Red River anime at Tatsunoko Production, with Yorika Tomita handling series composition. Kenji Fujisaki designs the characters while Kimiyoshi Matsumura, and Daisuke Yoshida of the Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology will handle historical supervision. Yoshihisa Hirano is composing the scores for the series, with Hirano Morishita as the sound director.
What is Red River about?
“Red River” adapts Chie Shinohara's drama-supernatural shoujo manga “Sora wa Akai Kawa no Hotori”, which was published by Shogakukan in their Sho-Comi magazine from January 1995 to June 2002. The manga was published in 28 tankobon volumes, and was later licensed by Viz Media for an English release in 2004.
The manga was also distributed in Vietnam, Germany, and Italy, and received a series of 8 drama CDs which were released between 1997 and 2003. The series won the Shogakukan Manga Award for the shoujo category in 2001, and currently has over 20 million copies in circulation.
Viz Media publishes the manga in English in North America, and describes the story as:
Yuri, a pretty Japanese girl, is ecstatic after passing her college entrance exam and having her first kiss with her childhood friend-turned boyfriend. However, her luck soon changes. She starts to notice that water becomes agitated whenever she goes near it. One night, hands appear out of a puddle on the street and drag her into the water! Transported to an ancient village in the Middle East, she is then captured by armed troops and taken to the Queen's palace for a human sacrifice.