It was 2017 when ufotable announced they’d do a feature-length for Katsugeki: Touken Ranbu. That’s an anime about borrowing the spirits of swords from history to change the future.
It’s been a year since we last had a trailer, and that trailer was shared to convince fans the project was still being worked on.
Aniplex of America gives us the anime’s plot:
The year is 1863 as the tumultuous samurai era is coming to an end, Japan is split between the pro-shogunate and anti-shogunate factions. The fate of the world is threatened as an army of historical revisionists are sent from the future to alter the course of history. In order to bring these forces down and protect the real history, two sword warriors, spirits who are swords brought to life by Saniwa (sage), rush to Edo. The polite and thoughtful Horikawa Kunihiro and the short tempered yet skillful Izuminokami Kanesada, who served the same master, confront the invading army along with a lively gang of other warriors including Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki, Yagen Toushirou, Tombokiri, and Tsurumaru Kuninaga.
As the fate of history lies in these hero’s hands, what meets the blade is yet to be uncovered…The Touken Ranbu “sword personification training game” interprets legendary swords as bishōnen, and it came to Japan in January 2015.
There has been a lot of attention to detail which might be why the anime has taken so long. How much attention? Well, Toshiyuki Shirai (Fate/Zero, Tales of Zestiria the X animation director) supervised the TV series. Swordfight animators were Mitsuru Obunai, Masaru Kimura, and Masayuki Kunihiro. Kōgyoku Watanabe supervised sword fights, and Tatsuya Yamamura researched history. Eight character designers where used in total.
We see some of that detail in the trailer, even if it’s a short one. The trailer from a year ago was this one;
The property has also spawned two anime series, an anime film trilogy, and a compilation anime film from the Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru offshoot. The franchise has also spawned two live-action films, stage musicals and plays, and several manga.
Via Anime News Network.
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