The Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari anime release date is on January 9, 2023, the Winter 2023 anime season.
The supernatural anime series was originally announced back in November 2021. The main cast and staff (see below) were announced alongside the Mononogatari trailer PV 1 in May 2022.
Only a week ago or so, it was communicated that the Malevolent Spirits will premiere in January 2023.
The precise January 2023 premiere date was revealed by the production team on November 16, 2022, alongside some additional information.
Firstly, there’s a brand-new trailer PV, which you can see immediately below:
The Mononogatari trailer previews the OP and ED theme songs: “Koigoromo” by ARCANA PROJECT and “rebind” by TRUE, respectively.
ARCANA PROJECT performed the second OP theme song for The Aquatope on White Sand (“Tayutae, Nanairo”), whereas TRUE performed the insert song “Renmei” for That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.
Finally, a new key visual also emerged on November 16, 2022.
Take a look:
Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari cast and staff
Ryuichi Kimura (Corpse Princess: Aka) is directing the series at Bandai Namco Pictures (BN Pictures).
Additional staff members include:
- Takahiro Okawa — assistant director
- Keiichiro Ochi — series composer
- Shiori Fujisawa — character designer
- John Kanda, XELIK — music composers
The main Mononogatari cast members include Takeo Ootsuka as Hyouma Kunato and Yuuki Takada as Botan Nagatsuki.
Additional cast members who will be voicing the series’ tsukumogami* include:
- Reina Ueda (Kanao Tsuyuri in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba) — Yu
- Chikahiro Kobayashi (Legoshi in Beastars) — Nagi
- Aimi Tanaka (Kusuo Saiki in The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.) — Kagami
- Yoshiki Nakajima (Yoshifumi Nitta in Hinamatsuri) — Suzuri
- Miyuki Sawashiro (Kurapika in Hunter x Hunter) — Haori
Another seiyuu is yet to be announced, namely the voice of the sixth tsukumogami named Kusige.
About the Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari manga
The Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari (もののがたり, Mononogatari) TV anime is based on the eponymous manga series by Onigunsou.
Mononogatari was originally serialized in Shueisha’s seinen manga magazine Miracle Jump from 2014 to 2015. Since January 2016, the manga has been serialized in Ultra Jump.The individual hapters have been collected into fourteen tankōbon volumes as of May 18, 2022.
Seven Seas Entertainment has licensed the title for an English release and will publish Volume 1 on January 10, 2023, and Volume 2 on April 11, 2023.
The publisher describes the series as:
“When spirits cross over into the human world, they can possess old objects and gain a physical form: a tsukumogami. Tsukumogami can be gentle, violent, or somewhere in-between, so the Saenome clan peacefully helps send them back to the spirit world to avoid destruction.
Kunato Hyouma is a member of the clan, but is…less than peaceful, since he holds a grudge from when a tsukumogami robbed him of something important. Afraid that Hyouma’s brash anger in dealing with these spirits will lead to supernatural catastrophes, Hyouma’s grandfather sends him to live in Kyoto with Nagatsuki Botan, an unusual young woman who actually lives with tsukumogami like family! Can Hyouma learn to control his emotions when dealing with tsukumogami, or is his own spirit doomed to be possessed with rage forever?”
*tsukumogami (付喪神 ) are living beings (especially kitsune (foxes) and tanuki (Japanese raccoon dogs)) and tools that have acquired a kami (a Japanese spirit concept).