Sengoku Youko: The best-selling manga gets a lush anime adaptation this January

The fantasy manga series Sengoku Youko, created by Satoshi Mizukami, has been thrilling readers worldwide since it began in 2007, with its tale of heroes battling monsters in feudal Japan. Nine years after the manga story concluded in 2014, prolific anime studio White Fox is adapting Sengoku Youko into a full series set to premiere this January and available to stream internationally on Crunchyroll. Powered with an immersive vision of Japan and memorable characters, Sengoku Youko is perfect for fans of similar anime series like Bleach or InuYasha while providing viewers with a faithful adaptation of Mizukami’s story.

Sengoku Youko takes place in a world where the land is divided between humans and monsters, known as katawara. A young katawara named Tama is determined to defend humanity while her more fiery-tempered brother Jinka despises them. The two siblings, along with a meek swordsman named Shinsuke out to prove himself as a warrior, uncover a conspiracy revolving around transforming humans into monsters and set out to dismantle it by any means necessary. This places them on an epic journey across Japan, making plenty of friends and enemies along the way as they navigate the fragile dynamic between humanity and the katawara.

In an exclusive interview with Popverse, Sengoku Youko director Kagetsu Aizawa and producer Allian Cai (credited below as a single speaker) detail how they approached adapting the manga story for modern audiences, take about how they brought characters and sweeping environment to life, and tease what audiences can expect when Sengoku Youko premieres this January.