The production committee for the upcoming historical adventure anime The Elusive Samurai has just released a vibrant new visual of protagonist Tokiyuki Hojo doing what he does best — running. (see below)
The latest The Elusive Samurai visual was released on the anime’s official X channel with the reminder its first episode will premiere 11:30 pm on Saturday, July 6th in Japan.
Along with the date, we also got a caption that says “The story of young Tokiyuki Hojo begins with the fall of the Kamakura shogunate”.
The anime’s X account also reminded anime fans a second The Elusive Samurai trailer was also released earlier in the month showing of its gorgeous art style, and giving us an insight into how this epic adventure begins.
What is The Elusive Samurai?
The new shounen anime is based on the manga series by mangaka Yusei Matsui (Assassination Classroom).
The manga is being published in English by VIZ Media, who currently has 11 volumes out, and Volume 12 on pre-order and due out in August.
VIZ describes the manga’s plot in this way:
After the massacre of his family by the traitor Ashikaga Takauji, Tokiyuki flees with the help of a handful of loyal retainers who have also survived the purge.
One of them is Suwa Yorishige, an ally of the Hojo clan and lord of Suwa Province. The slightly odd Yorishige also claims to be clairvoyant and foretells that Tokiyuki will one day become the ruler of Japan. But for the moment, escaping from enemy territory is the priority!
The Elusive Samurai anime series (aka Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi) is being directed by Yuta Yamazaki (assistant director of Wonder Egg Priority), with Yoriko Tomita (My Dress-Up Darling) in charge of series composition and scripts, and Yasushi Nishiya (chief animation director for Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You and Secrets of the Jungle) designing the characters.
CloverWorks (Wind Breaker) is producing what looks like an utterly gorgeous anime.
Enjoy the new The Elusive Samurai visual of protagonist Tokiyuki Hojo, and mark your calendars for early in July as, with the release in Japan on the 5th, it’s likely we will get it on the 6th.
No word yet, of course, on which western streaming service has licensed it, but my guess is it will be Crunchyroll.