A TV anime adaptation of the Always a Catch!: How I Punched My Way into Marrying a Prince series will premiere in 2026. A teaser trailer and visual have been released.
Yu Serizawa is playing protagonist Maria Annovazzi, a duke’s daughter who initially suffers a string of misfortune: she loses her succession rights to her newborn brother, struggles to succeed in the game of marriage. and has to go through the embarrassment of being told by another country’s crown prince that their engagement is off — because said prince mistook her for his actual fiancee. However, following various developments and an incident where Maria survives an attack by beating up her assailants, our heroines finds herself experiencing a more positive sort of unexpected twist when the prince, Renato di Rubini (Atsushi Tamaru), asks for her hand in marriage.
Akira Oguro (Giant Beasts of Ars) is in charge of directing the Always a Catch! anime at TROYCA. Other main staff members include Michiko Yokote (Call of the Night) as series composer and Isamu Suzuki as character designer.
Meanwhile, the other announced cast members are:
• Saori Hayami as Aida Amethis
• Shuichiro Umeda as Placido di Rubini
• Taku Yashiro as Raimondo Cigata
©ももよ万葉・三登いつき・ながと牡蠣／SQUARE ENIX・逃げ釣り製作委員会
Always a Catch! (Nogashita Sakana wa Okikatta ga Tsuriageta Sakana ga Okisugita ken) began as a short story written by Mayo Momoyo, which was published on Shosetsuka ni Naro in 2020. A sequel series followed the same year. The light novel series, illustrated by Itsuki Mito and published under Square Enix’s SQUEX Novel label, debuted in 2021 and will get its sixth volume on November 7, 2025 JST.
Always a Catch! also has a manga drawn by Kaki Nagato. Square Enix has it in English via MangaPlus and in volume form, with the first volume’s synopsis being:
Maria, the daughter of a duke, grew up believing she would one day inherit her father’s dukedom. Accordingly, she focused her attentions on honing her martial arts prowess, while thoughts of marriage fell by the wayside. But the arrival of a baby brother in her family means she’s losing her role as heir! Now that she’s decided it’s time to marry after all, she’s arrived a little late to the game! Are there even any eligible bachelors left?
Upon going to study abroad in a neighboring country where she might still stand a chance at getting hitched, she’s bewildered when the crown prince there declares before all that his engagement to her is null and void! Wait…what engagement?!
Apparently, he’s mistaken her for the wrong girl! But once that’s all cleared up and he catches sight of her knocking out a whole pack of bandits, it turns out that this prince may have a thing for ass-kicking young ladies after all…
Source: @nigetsuri_anime
