The official Twitter/X and website of the currently airing Oedo Fire Slayer -The Legend of Phoenix- TV anime series announced the casting of Chiaki Horan as Onatsu. The character will appear in the show’s third episode on January 25, 2026. The anime premiered in Japan on January 11, 2026.
©今村翔吾／祥伝社／ぼろ鳶組一同
Horan joins an anime voice cast that stars:
- • Yuichiro Umehara as Gengo Matsunaga
- • Shuichiro Umeda as Shinnosuke Torigoe
- • Subaru Kimura as Torajiro
- • Nobunaga Shimazaki as Hikoya
- • Kensho Ono as Seijuro Kaji
Hiroshi Yasumi is directing the anime series, with Hajime Kamegaki (The World is Still Beautiful, Lupin III vs. Detective Conan The Movie) as chief director, Ryusuke Mori (the upcoming Magic Repo Man anime adaptation) as series composer and co-scriptwriter, Takeshi Sanada (Record of Grancrest War) as CG director, and Yasuharu Takanashi (Kinnikuman: Perfect Origin Arc, Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest) as music composer. SynergySP is handling the animation production.
The anime is based on Hikuidori, the 2017 first volume of Naoki Prize winning author Shogo Imamura‘s Ushuboro Tobigumi novel series. Twelve volumes have been published by Shodensha in Japan as of 2022, as well as a short story collection. The novels have also inspired an audio drama.
A manga adaptation by Shinobu Seguchi was announced in February 2025 and began serialization in Akita Shoten’s Weekly Shonen Champion on April 24, 2025. The manga is available to read digitally in English on emaqi.
© 今村翔吾／祥伝社／ぼろ鳶組一同
Crunchyroll is streaming the Oedo Fire Slayer -The Legend of Phoenix- anime in select countries and territories. It describes the main premise as:
Gengo Matsunaga, once known as Phoenix, was the greatest samurai fire-slayer in all of Edo. After leaving fire-slaying, Gengo is approached with an offer from the Shinjo Domain. Encouraged by his wife, Miyuki, he sets out to rebuild a fallen firefighting brigade. Gengo gathers a group of misfits, the Ragged Fire-Slayers, as they investigate mysterious fires started by the arsonist Kitsunebi.
Sources: Oedo Fire Slayer Official Twitter, Official Anime Website, Anime News Network
