The Kept Man of the Princess Knight Anime Reveals Teaser Trailer, January 2027 Debut
The announcement locks in a production timeline and expands the staff roster for an adaptation of a Dengeki Novel Award grand prize winner, signaling Kadokawa's continued investment in light novel properties.
Reporting from 2 sources: Anime News Network, Anime Corner.
Kadokawa released the first teaser promotional video and teaser visual for the television anime adaptation of Toru Shirogane's The Kept Man of the Princess Knight light novel series on Monday. The anime is set to debut in January 2027. The teaser trailer features Junichi Suwabe as Matthew and Mikako Komatsu as Arwin, the Crimson Princess Knight. Newly announced staff members include action director Hibiki Yamaguchi, prop and monster design by Recommendation, Inc., art setting by Shingo Kakimoto, art direction by Ryōsuke Kawai, color design by Naomi Nakano, 3D direction by Yoshinori Ban, 2D works by Yumeta Company, compositing direction by Kōdai Washizu, offline editing by Nobutaka Maki and Kiminori Yoshida, music by Taku Iwasaki, sound direction by Satoshi Motoyama, and casting management by Ippei Tomari. Chihiro Kumano is directing the series at BLADE. Hisao Ishii is designing the characters based on Saki Mashima's original light novel designs. Deko Akao is handling series scripts. The light novel series won the 28th annual Dengeki Novel Awards grand prize and has over 200,000 copies in circulation. Yen Press publishes the novels in English.
The teaser trailer gives the first look at the pair's dynamic in motion, with Suwabe and Komatsu voicing the lead characters. The anime was first announced in February 2025. The light novel series, written by Toru Shirogane and illustrated by Saki Mashima, began publication under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko imprint on February 10, 2022, and has released six volumes as of May 2025. The seventh novel volume is set to ship on July 10. A manga adaptation by Keyyang launched on Kadokawa's ComicWalker website in September 2022 and has three compiled volumes. A sequel manga by Chihiro Yamazaki, titled The Kept Man of the Princess Knight Act2, began on August 31, 2025.
Yen Press publishes the novels in English and describes the story: "The Dungeon City is a wicked place filled with crime, debauchery, and death. Its one shining light is Arwin, the beautiful Crimson Princess Knight. She and her brave party of adventurers descend into the dungeon at the city's center, seeking a legendary treasure with the power to rebuild the princess's fallen kingdom. Many yearn to be by her side, but that spot is already taken by Matthew, a man despised by all in town as a cowardly weakling. Everyone thinks he is scum who just spends her hard-earned money on booze, women, and gambling. No one in the city-not even the princess knight-knows what Matthew is truly capable of." The series explores whether their unusual relationship will lead to hope or tragedy. Yen Press will ship the sixth English novel volume on August 11 and has also published the manga in English, with the third compiled volume shipping on January 6.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.