It’s been mostly quiet since we got word that Ushio & Tora was getting an anime adaptation (again), but now the official site got a touch of a refresh with a big, beautiful key visual that you can see below (click it for a larger version, as well as some casting news. The anime adaptation is planned for a summer 2015 debut and is going to be directed by Satoshi Nishimura with animation done by MAPPA and studio Voln. They’ll be working off of scripts by Toshiki Inoue and character designs by Tomoko Mori. The cast now includes:
Tasuku Hatanaka as Ushio
Rikiya Koyama as Tora
Mikako Komatsu as Asako
Kiyono Yasuno as Mayuko
Also announced but not connected to any roles yet are Ayahi Takagaki, Ai Kayano, Aki Toyosaki,Keiji Fujiwara, Yui Makino, Maaya Sakamoto, Yuuka Nanri, Kana Hanazawa and Nana Mizuki.
Ushio & Tora comes from the manga by Kazuhiro Fujita, which had an anime OVA adaptation was done back in the early 90′s that ADV Films licensed and released years ago on VHS and DVD. The manga originally ran for 33 volumes between 1990 and 1996 and Fujita has done a couple of little things with it since there, largely for charity.
Plot concept: Ushio thinks that his father’s talk of an ancient ancestor impaling a demon on a temple altar stone with the legendary Beast Spear is nuts, but when he finds the monster in his own basement, Ushio has to take another look at the family legend! To save his friends and family from the invading spirits, Ushio is forced to release Tora from his captivity. But will the creature prove to be worse than the curse?
