The new visual for Naoko Yamada’s The Heike Story captures a moment of peace in what is already the most stunning anime of the year.
Animated at the legendary director Masaaki Yuasa’s studio Science SARU, Yamada brought her long-time collaborators, scriptwriter Reiko Yoshida and composer Kensuke Ushio, together to create an adaptation of the historical epic The Tale of the Heike based on Japanese novelist Hideo Furukawa’s 2016 reimagining of the story.
The new visual shows off the series’ bold colors and characteristic art style, evocative of painted screens and scrolls from the historical era. The cast is framed within the hair of an elder Biwa, who frames the show by telling their stories in the future. The visual was released along with a second trailer (in Japanese) for the show, which will be broadcast on Japanese TV via Fuji TV’s +Ultra programming block beginning Jan. 12. You can watch the new trailer below.
The trailer features the opening theme “Hikaru Toki (When It Shines)” from Moeka Shiotsuka’s alt-rock trio Hitsujibungaku. Series composer Kensuke Ushio, under the name of his solo project agraph, teams up with hip-hop artist ANI for the show’s closing theme, “unified perspective.”
The Heike Story’s 11 episodes premiered in Japan from September through November via FUJI TV’s FOD streaming service. The series is available to stream subtitled in English-speaking countries on Funimation. The series’ English dub has also started releasing on the platform. Currently, only the first four episodes are available dubbed.