Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru is a Japanese anime series produced by Doga Kobo, Takashi Naoya directed the series, and Pierre Sugiura wrote the script. Junichiro Taniguchi drew the character designs and Kenji Kawai composed the music. The anime was inspired by the video game Touken Ranbu.
In December 2017 a compilation film titled Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru Makuai Kaisoroku premiered. In recent news, a trilogy titled Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru Setsugetsuka is set to premiere from May to September 2022.
On May 20, 2022, the first film entitled Yuki no Maki (Snow Story) will open. Yuki no Maki will be directed by Takashi Naoya (Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru). On July 8, the second film entitled Tsuki no Maki (Moon Story) will open. Tsuki no Maki will be directed by Tomoaki Koshida (Zoku Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru). And lastly, on September 1, 2022 the third and final film entitled Hana no Maki will open. Hana no Maki will be directed by Sumie Noro.
Touken Ranbu fans are excited to see a new character, Yamanbagiri Choji
The first film will have the same producer as the anime series, Doga Kobo. The second season of the anime was written by Yuki Nekota and he will be writing the script for the first film. Junichiro Taniguchi will once again be handling the character designs with Mitsue Mori and Eriko Iida working as sub-character designers.
The Touken designers are Hiyori Denforword Akishino and Eri Nakajima. Hiyori will be working with prop designers Tamami Izawa and Kazumi Ono. Takeshi Takahashi will be in charge of the art setting with Yukari Yasuda as art director. The key color artist will be Yuki Ito.
The compositing director of photography is Takehiro Go, who also worked on the second season. Kentarou Tsubone is a returning editor. The sound director is Fumiyuki Go with Katsuhiro Nakano assisting with the sound effects. Composing the music of the first film is Kenji Kawai.
A new Touken Danshi character will be making his debut in the films and is named Yamanbagiri Chogi. He will be voiced by Kengo Takanashi.
The new scene cuts from the first film show Yamabagiri Kunihiro (the blonde bishonen) acting mysterious while encountering Yamanbagiri Chogi (the silver-haired bishonen).
Legendary Japanese swords are personified as hot men
The Touken Ranbu sword training game takes famous swords from Japanese history and turns them into “pretty boy” bishonen. Nitroplus is behind the character design and plot of the game. In January 2015, the game launched. The game’s popularity allowed it to get an anime adaptation, a compilation film, a live-action film, a series of stage musicals and plays, a manga, and the upcoming film trilogy.
In April 2021, the Touken Ranbu browser game was released by Johren in English. In August 2021, a smartphone version of the game was released. On February 17, 2022, KOEI Tecmo Game launched the game entitled Touken Ranbu Warriors in Japan for PC and Switch. Touken Ranbu Warriors will be released for Switch in North America on May 24, 2022.
The most recent trailer for the film trilogy can be seen here:
The first trailer that was released to promote the trilogy can be seen here:
On May 16, 2022, at 21:00 hours there will be a live special commemorating the release of the film Yuki no Maki. Special guests include Toshiki Masuda as Kyomitsu Kashu and Mitsuhiro Ichiki as Mamoru Yamato. You will be able to watch this live special for free on the TOHO animation YouTube channel.