The anime adaptation of Rieko Hinata‘s Hikari no Ou fantasy novels will be directed by Junji Nishimura (True Tears, Ranma 1/2 Nettou Hen Ep 70 onwards) with Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell director, Urusei Yatsura Ep 1-Ep 129 chief director) as series composer and scriptwriter, Japanese broadcaster WOWOW has announced. The anime’s logo design was also revealed.
Nishimura and Oshii previously worked together on the 2021 vampire comedy Vlad Love, with the former as director and the latter as chief director, series composer, and scriptwriter. For the 1984 Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer movie, Oshii served as director with Nishimura as unit director.
The Hikari no Ou anime was announced back in November 2020. The show will be broadcast via the WOWOW channel and is produced by Signal.MD.
The Holp Shuppan-published books that the anime is based on began in 2018 and ended in 2020 with four volumes. Akihiro Yamada provided the illustrations.
Hikari no Ou takes place after mankind’s final war, with the land covered by a black forest in which fiery creatures roam. There is also a pathogen that causes human bodies to ignite. With the creatures being the source of the only fire that humans can safely handle, sickle-armed fire hunters (Hikari) venture into the forests to seek these beings. Among the hunters, there is a talk of a thousand-year comet, and of how the one to hunt it will be called the King of the Fire Hunters (Hikari no Ou). The main characters are 11-year old Touko and 15-year old Koushi, whose intersecting fates set the story in motion.
Sources: PR Times, Comic Natalie
