Crunchyroll is working with Pony Canyon in simulcasting another series with the planned streaming of Lance N’ Masques coming up for the fall season. While Crunchyroll announced the acquisition at Anime Weekend Atlanta, they’re not yet able to provide any details on the simulcast such as the date, time and regional availability. They even mentioned they don’t have any official art to share for it yet either as it’s so recently acquired.
The series is scheduled to debut on October 1st, 2015 in Japan. Pony Canyon announced in the spring of 2014 that Studio Gokumi was taking on a new project, adapting the light novel series Lance N’Masques by Hideaki Koyasu. Pony Canyon USA announced in early April 2015 that they would be bringing the series over as well for localization.
This series marked the first light novel from the Pony Can imprint to get an anime adaptation and that means higher expectations are likely.
The announced cast includes Daiki Yamashita as Yōtarō Hanafusa, Ari Ozawa as Makio Kidōin, Manami Numakura as Yoriko Sudo, Suzuko Mimori as Alice Cleveland, Aimi Tanaka as Liu Yuyan, Ayana Taketatsu as He Yufeng, Lynn as Silvia Marlowe and Yumi Uchiyama as Nori Hizuki.
Kyohei Ishiguro is set to direct the series for Studio Gokumi with original writer Hideaki Koyasu handling the series composition and scripts for the show. Koyasu is no stranger to head writer duties for an anime as he served in that role for Akikan!, GJ Club and Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan.
The light novel series is a recent one with the first volume having landed in December of 2013 and the fourth volume being released earlier this year.
Plot concept: The battle action novel series revolves around Youtarou Hanafusa, a young man who is part of the last remaining order of knights in the 21st century, “Knights of the World.” As he fights as the mysterious Knight Lancer, he must hide his identity behind a mask.