The series is in active development with a manga adaptation launching in Monthly Big Gangan on August 25, 2026, and a television anime scheduled for October 2026.
The Faceless Mercenary Wants to Settle Down is expanding across media. Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan announced on July 24 that the light novel series, written by Ryuto, will receive a manga adaptation drawn by Daichi Matsuse. The manga launches in the magazine's next issue on August 25, 2026.
The series is also set to inspire a television anime in October 2026. Seven Seas Entertainment will publish the first novel volume digitally on October 27, 2026, giving English readers access to the source material around the same time as the anime's debut.
The coordinated release of the manga, anime, and English novel suggests a deliberate push to grow the franchise's audience across formats and regions.
Written with AI from the cited Yomimono stories below, each itself sourced.
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Facts
- Noted
- The games, set in China's Tang Dynasty, follow Wu Yuanzhao, the future Empress Wu Zetian, as she enters Emperor Taizong's harem around 640 AD. · 2026-08-05
- Noted
- The series took about three years from planning to release · 2026-08-05
- Noted
- over 100 days of filming · 2026-08-05
- Noted
- a total runtime of roughly 1,500 minutes · 2026-08-05
- Noted
- The games are available on PC via Steam, iOS, and Android · 2026-08-05
- Noted
- The bad endings were not a target metric but a necessity to give choices real weight · 2026-08-05
- Noted
- The team used a custom real-time editor and color-coded scripts to coordinate video and game scriptwriters. · 2026-08-05
- Noted
- The interviews reveal that the series' high death rate is a deliberate design philosophy, not a punishment · 2026-08-05
- Announced
- combined Switch version planned for 2026 · 2026-08-05
- Release
- game · 2026-06-20 · global · 2026-06-20
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Aug 5
New One Studio producer Demi discussed the making of the live-action interactive drama series Shengshi Tianxia: The Road to Empress I and II in interviews published on July 31, 2026. The games, set in China's Tang Dynasty, follow Wu Yuanzhao, the future Empress Wu Zetian, as she enters Emperor Taizong's harem around 640 AD. The series took about three years from planning to release, with over 100 days of filming and a total runtime of roughly 1,500 minutes. The second game alone features about 1,000 minutes of new footage across 32 episodes and over 100 branching routes, nearly double the first game's volume. Demi said the bad endings were not a target metric but a necessity to give choices real weight, so players feel that decisions carry irreversible consequences. The team used a custom real-time editor and color-coded scripts to coordinate video and game scriptwriters. The games are available on PC via Steam, iOS, and Android, with a combined Switch version planned for 2026 by Sega.
Jul 15
On July 15, 2026, the official Jump YouTube channel released two collaboration music videos for the manga My Hero Academia, featuring songs by Porno Graffitti and BUMP OF CHICKEN. The videos are the 53rd and 54th entries in the JUMP MV series, which pairs Weekly Shonen Jump works with artist songs, and were produced to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the My Hero Academia anime. The MVs are composed using the original manga by Kohei Horikoshi. The first video uses Porno Graffitti's "THE REVO," the opening theme for the TV anime My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON, and focuses on the hero Izuku Midoriya and the villain Tomura Shigaraki, depicting the history of their confrontations and their final encounter. The second video uses BUMP OF CHICKEN's "I," the ending theme for the final season, and showcases the bonds and growth of U.A. High School's Hero Course Class 1-A, including Izuku Midoriya. The My Hero Academia manga, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, has sold over 100 million copies worldwide.
Jun 20
Automaton published play impressions of the live-action interactive drama games Shengshi Tianxia: The Path to Empress I and II, set in China's Tang Dynasty around 640 AD. The games follow Wu Yuanzhao, modeled after Wu Zetian, through harem power struggles and succession disputes. They are available on PC, iOS, and Android, with a Nintendo Switch release planned. The sequel introduces branching historical and if routes with choices that affect later story branches.