The Ogre's Bride Anime Reveals Theme Songs, July 4 Premiere
The July 4 premiere date and the involvement of ClariS, a group with a long history of anime theme songs, give the adaptation a clear commercial push ahead of a competitive summer season.
Reporting from 2 sources: Anime News Network, Comic Natalie.
The television anime adaptation of Kureha's light novel series The Ogre's Bride will premiere in Japan on July 4. The announcement came with a full promotional video and a new key visual on Sunday. The opening theme song "Hitokoto" is performed by the trio ClariS, and the ending theme song "Shinboshi" is performed by actor and singer Ikusaburo Yamazaki. The anime will air on Tokyo MX, BS11, Gunma TV, and Tochigi TV at 24:30 on July 4, effectively July 5 at 12:30 a.m. It will also stream on d Anime Store, ABEMA, U-NEXT, and Anime Hodai starting the same day and time, with additional channels and platforms to follow. Newly announced staff members include art director and art setting by MAI MAI, color key artist Akiko Shibata, compositing director of photography Tomoyoshi Ishizuka, editor Junichi Itou, sound director Kazuhiro Wakabayashi, and sound production by Rakuonsha. The series is directed by Kazuhito Omiya at Colored Pencil Animation Japan, with series scripts by Yumi Kamakura, main character designs by Hikari Tanaka, and music by Masaru Yokoyama. The light novel series and its manga adaptation have over 5.8 million copies in circulation.
ClariS described their opening theme "Hitokoto" as "a song that carries Yuzuki-chan's feelings on a glamorous and poignant melody," with harmonies that let listeners "enjoy the overlapping and thickness of the three voices." The trio also announced a September 18 concert in Tokyo as part of their 15th anniversary tour.
Ikusaburo Yamazaki said he was "deeply moved by the strength within the sadness and the beauty of 'loving' that the work possesses" and called the ending theme "Shinboshi" a song that "can accompany the world of this work."
The story is set in a Japan where humans and demons coexist peacefully. Yuzu Shinonome is an ordinary high school girl who lives in the shadow of her older sister, the bride of a demon. One day she meets Reiya Kiryuin, a beautiful ogre at the top of the demon hierarchy who claims her as his bride. Comic Natalie described the series as a "Japanese-style ayakashi Cinderella story."
The full cast includes Saori Hayami as Yuzu, Yuichiro Umehara as Reiya, Manaka Iwami as Karin Shinonome, Ryota Osaka as Yota Kogetsu, Sayaka Senbongi as Tōko, Natsuki Hanae as Tokichi Nekota, Taito Ban as Takamichi Araki, Nobunaga Shimazaki as Ouga Kiyama, Aya Endo as Sakurako Kiyama, Momoka Terasawa as Sou, and Miyu Kobashi as Ao. Hiroko Shigekuni is also credited for character designs alongside Hikari Tanaka.
The light novel series began on Starts Publishing's Novema! platform in 2019 and won the grand prize at the First Novema! Character Short Story Contest. A live-action film adaptation opened on March 27, selling 146,000 tickets for 202,395,960 yen in its first three days.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- Anime News Network News The Ogre's Bride Anime's New Video Unveils Theme Songs, More Staff, July 4 Debut
- Comic Natalie アニメ「鬼の花嫁」本PV＆キービジュアル公開 OPはClariS、EDは山崎育三郎