The shoujo manga ended in 2002.
A new website and X account has confirmed an anime adaptation for Chie Shinohara's “Sora wa Akai Kawa no Hotori” (Anatolia Story) is now in production. The anime series will be titled “Red River”.
The anime marks the first adaptation for this influential shoujo manga, which published from 1995 to 2002. The announcement was paired with a teaser visual:
“Red River” details
The anime adaptation will be directed by Kosuke Kobayashi at Tatsunoko Production, with series composition by Yoriko Tomita. Kenji Fujisaki designs the characters, while Kimiyoshi Matsumura, and Daisuke Yoshida of the Japanese Institute of Anatloian archaeology will handle historical supervision.
Unfortunately, no cast has been revealed as of yet.
“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 released between 1997 and 2000. The series won the Shogakukan Manga Award for the shoujo category in 2001, and currently has over 20 million copies in circulation.
The official website describes the story as:
Suzuki Yuri, a middle school girl, suddenly travels back in time to the 14th century BC in the ancient Orient's Hittite Empire.
Though Yuri is confused in a foreign land, she meets the third prince, Kail, who arranges for her to be taken in as a concubine for his protection.
Yuri's words and actions are refreshing to the people of that time, and she soon becomes revered by the people as “Ishtar, the Goddess of War.”
At first, Yuri wants to return to her original world, but as her bond with Kail deepens, she is drawn to him, and Kail also begins to feel that he doesn't want to let Yuri go... This is a grand historical fantasy set in the ancient Orient.