Tons of exciting news was announced at Touken Ranbu Hanamaru stage at Anime Japan 2017!

The event was split into three different parts, the first part being mainly about the Touken Ranbu game, where the producer Digitaro, and Yuudai Hanazawa (Executive Producer of Touken Ranbu Online) shared their thoughts about the game becoming immensely popular although it was not widely advertised. They also introduced some new Touken Ranbu goods that were made in collaboration with Aso shrine, which was affected by the Kyushu earthquake last year. They thanked everyone for supporting the collaboration as the goods we’re completely sold out!

The second part was for the anime, Touken Ranbu Hanamaru, which was aired last year.  Three of the main cast members, Mitsuhiro Ichiki (Yasusada Yamatonokami) Toshiki Masuda (Kiyomitsu Kashuu) as well as Shingaki Tarusuke (Hasebe Heshikiri and Kotetsu Nagasone)  appeared on stage and greeted the audience. They each chose one favourite scene in the anime that showcased their respective characters.

Mitsuhiro Ichiki chose a scene from episode one, where his character was going to battle at Ikedaya, and looked really cool while saying,  “drop your heads and die!” Toshiki Masuda chose a scene from episode 12 when Kiyomitsu Kashuu showed a different side of himself when he was so happy that Yamatonokami was alive, after seeing him getting injured.

Shingaki Tarusuke chose a scene for each of his characters.  For Hasebe Heshikiri, he chose a scene in episode two to showcase how comical Hasebe was in the Touken Ranbu Hanamaru anime, compared to the very serious mode when in the game. For Kotetsu Nagasone,  he chose a scene in episode 11 where the brothers forged a bond before the Ikedaya battle.

An exclusive video clip was played, which revealed that season two of Touken Ranbu Hanamaru would be airing in January 2018, and the main characters would be reprising their roles. Toshiki Masuda joked that reprising his role was the most important part of the video clip.

The three seiyuus offered their views on the season two,  and then got the audience to hold up an “ok” sign to represent “maru” or “circle”.

Touken Ranbu Hanamaru was certainly not the only anime version of Touken Ranbu, as Katsugeki Touken Ranbu, or “Action Touken Ranbu” would be airing from July this year,  so fans can get more and more of Touken Ranbu! Three of the main cast of this new anime were then invited on stage for the next segment! They appeared in the order, Ryouhei Kimura (Izuminokami Kanesada), Kento Hama (Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki), Junya Enoki (Horikawa Kunihiro).

They talked about the anime, and expressed that at this point, no one really knew exactly what the contents of this anime. They also joked that maybe the characters will break into a figure skating routine halfway through the anime? The audio recording until episode two has been done so far, with incomplete animation, and that they are in no hurry, as setting the correct atmosphere and direction was more important. The production team also consulted period drama veterans from NHK with regards to the historical accuracy and fight sequences. We can definitely expect this work to be one of high quality!

Another surprise announcement came up, which was the announcement of the artists that will sing the opening and ending songs of the Katsugeki Touken Ranbu, which are as follows:

Opening theme: Soma Saito (who plays Namazuo Toushiro and Tsurumasu Kuninaga)
Ending theme: Kalafina

The audience erupted with cheers! It was indeed good news that Kalafina was to sing an anime theme song for Ufotable again,  and that Soma Saito was to sing his first anime theme song as a solo artist.

Another exclusive video showing the action and art of Katsugeki Touken Ranbu was showed and it indeed made everyone look forward to watching it even more. A special fan viewing of the first episode of the anime will be held on 1 May this year, with appearance by the cast as well.

The programme ended with the host inviting he rest of the cast and staff from the production team back on stage, with the audience participating in a call and response with the guests on stage.