The official website for the anime of late manga creator Hisaya Nakajo‘s Hana-Kimi manga presented the anime’s second key visual and three more cast members on Sunday.
© Hisaya Nakajo, Hakusensha / “Hana-Kimi” Production Committee
The newly announced cast members are:
Notably, Koyasu is reprising the role from the manga’s previous CD drama.
© Hisaya Nakajo, Hakusensha / “Hana-Kimi” Production Committee
©中条比紗也・白泉社／「花ざかりの君たちへ」アニメ製作委員会
Viz Media describes the Hana-Kimi story:
Japanese-American track-and-field star Mizuki has gotten herself to transfer to a high school in Japan…but not just any school! To be close to her idol, high jumper Izumi Sano, she’s going to an all-guys’ high school…and disguising herself as a boy! But as fate would have it, they’re more than classmates…they’re roommates! Now, Mizuki must keep her secret in the classroom, the locker room, and her own bedroom. And her classmates–and the school nurse–must cope with a new transfer student who may make them question their own orientation…
The anime stars:
Natsuki Takemura (Go! Go! Vehicle Zoo director, Dragon Goes House-Hunting episode director) is directing the anime at Signal.MD, and Shigeru Ueda (To Love-Ru, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV episode director) is the assistant director. Takao Yoshioka (Aharen-san wa Hakarenai, Horimiya: The Missing Pieces) is in charge of series scripts, Shi Yi Su (Dragon Goes House-Hunting) is designing the characters, Masaru Yokoyama (Arakawa Under the Bridge, Horimiya: The Missing Pieces, 2022 & 2024 Urusei Yatsura) is composing the music, and Jin Aketagawa (86, Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc, Golden Kamuy) is the sound director.
The other staff members include:
The anime had its episode 1 world premiere at the Anime NYC event on August 23.
The anime premiered on the Tokyo MX channel on January 4, 2026 at 9:30 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EST), and it also runs on BS11, MBS, CBC TV, RKB Mainichi Broadcasting, and other channels.
Crunchyroll is streaming the anime with English subtitles and same-day dub in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, the CIS, and India.
Nakajo died at 50 years old in October 2023 due to a heart condition.
Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e (Hana-Kimi) was Nakajo’s defining work, running in Hakusensha‘s Hana to Yume magazine from 1996 to 2004.
Nakajo ran a short continuation of the Hana-Kimi manga in 2011, and published a special chapter in 2014. Her latest update to the series was Himitsu – Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e After School, which debuted in 2021. Viz Media published the Hana-Kimi manga in North America, and also published her Sugar Princess manga.
The manga inspired a 2007 live-action television series and a second live-action series starring AKB48 idol group member Atsuko Maeda in 2011. Besides the two Japanese live-action television series, the manga also inspired a live-action television version in South Korea and a 2006 live-action television version in Taiwan.
Sources: Hana-Kimi anime’s website, Comic Nataliel