Ahead of an April 2026 broadcast, the Akane-banashi anime announced the casting of Masaki Terasoma (Kiroranke in Golden Kamuy ) as Shiguma Arakawa, Akane's rakugo teacher, and Akio Otsuka (All for One in My Hero Academia ) as Issho Arakawa, the head of the Arakawa School of rakugo. Anna Nagase (Natsuko in ZENSHU ) leads the series as Akane Osaki, alongside Takuya Eguchi (Loid in SPY x FAMILY ) as Karashi Nerimaya and Rie Takahashi (Yuzuriha in Hell's Paradise ) as Hikaru Koragi. RELATED: Akane-banashi Anime Reveals April 2026 Broadcast, More Cast in New Trailer Ayumu Watanabe ( Summer Time Rendering ) directs the Akane-banashi anime at studio ZEXCS, with series composition by Michihiro Tsuchiya ( Saint Cecilia & Pastor Lawrence scriptwriter), character designs by Kii Tanaka ( Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead ) and music by Akio Izutsu ( Akuma Kun ). Kikuhiko Hayashiya is also on board as rakugo supervisor. The original manga by Yuki Suenaga (story) and Takamasa Moue (art) began in February 2022 with 19 volumes released in Japan to date. VIZ Media releases an English-language version of the manga, and describes the story: 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! Source: Official X (formerly TwitteR)
