The dark fantasy anime is getting a same-day release on Crunchyroll.
The Winter 2026 anime season is here! One of the most-awaited new releases of the season, Sentenced to Be a Hero, will begin streaming on 3 January. Ahead of the premiere, Crunchyroll announced that the series will get a simulrelease English dub. The cast and production staff of the dub have also been announced.
Sentenced to Be a Hero English dub cast, staff, and other details
Episode 1 cast of the dub includes:
- Xylo voiced by David Matranga
- Teoritta voiced by Emi Lo
- Dotta voiced by Joshua Waters
- Kivia voiced by Dawn M. Bennett
- Venetim voiced by Jessie James Grelle
- Rajit voiced by Nicholas Huber
- Priest voiced by Jim Foronda
- Siena voiced by Naya Moreno
- Zofflec voiced by Ethan Gallardo
- Additional Voices: Abigail Blythe, Kelly Greenshield, Peyton Howard, Joshua Hires, Tom Aglio, Mauricio Ortiz-Segura, Alex Hanback, Brandon Acosta, Eli Farmer, Abi Kumar, Conner Allison, Seth Magill
Shawn Gann is the voice director of the English dub while Susie Nixon is producing it. Audrey Drake Rigg and Matthew Greenbaum are in charge of the adaptation, William Dewell is the mixer, and Victor Acosta is the engineer.
Studio KAI is producing the Sentenced to Be a Hero anime series with Hiroyuki Takashima as the director. Yoshitake Nakakoji is the assistant director and creature designer while Kenta Ikara is in charge of series composition and scripts. Takeru Noda is designing the characters while Shunsuke Takizawa composes the music.
The anime is being adapted from Sentenced to Be a Hero: The Prison Records of Penal Hero Unit 9004, a light novel series written by Rocket Shokai and illustrated by Mephisto. It also has a manga adaptation. Yen Press publishes the novel in English and describes the story as:
Heroism—a punishment for only the worst criminals. Those sentenced to the fate of a hero are forced to fight on the front lines against deadly centers of contagion that rot the land and turn its creatures into roving armies of violent beasts. And if a hero dies, their only reward is being brought back to life so they can continue the never-ending battle. But when Xylo Forbartz, a member of Penal Hero Unit 9004 and a convicted goddess killer, comes face-to-face with a new goddess, the pact they forge might just be enough to change the world…