A third sinister trailer for the humans vs. dragons anime showdown Ragna Crimson was released today, timed with the news that the dark fantasy series will premiere with a one-hour special Saturday, September 30 on Japan’s Tokyo MX, BS11 and MBS. A special premiere screening event will be held Sept. 2 at the Shinjuku Piccadilly theater in Tokyo.
Along with the promo and a new key visual, actors Junichi Suwabe, Fairouz Ai, Mamiko Noto and Hiroki Touchi were announced as additional cast members. Fans also got to hear the show’s opening theme for the first time — the tune, “ROAR,” is performed by the four-piece rock band ulma sound junction.
Ragna Crimson, created as a manga by Daiki Kobayashi (serialized on Square Enix’s Monthly Gangan JOKER magazine), follows the journey of a boy named Ragna, a young dragon hunter who wields a silver sword. His tale unfolds as an ultra-tough, action-packed isekai battle.
Synopsis: “Dragon Hunters” use their silver swords to hunt dragons to make a living. Ragna, a starting out hunter buddies with Leonica, a genius dragon hunter with a tremendous score, to battle dragons every day. Ragna has only one wish — “I wouldn’t complain if can’t become strong. I just want to be with Leo.” But his small wish is brutally shattered by an attack of a “superior dragon,” a being much stronger than any dragon they had fought with.
Seeing the strong enemy in front of him, Ragna remembers a bad dream he had been suffering from for the past few days. In his dreams, Ragna was stronger than anyone else, but living in a devastating future life in solitude, with nothing to save and protect. What is his future trying to tell him? What path should he take now? Ragna takes one step forward to avert his devastating future with a new buddy called Crimson, who is a bag of mysteries.
The newly released key visual shows the protagonists Ragna and Crimson in front with powerful rivals Ultimatia and Woltekamui looming in the back. Woltekamui, one of the stronger enemies (voiced by Suwabe), and other dragons are shown more in detail in the new trailer, along with the slime voiced by Ai.
“Woltekamui is very, very strong. He will appear later in the show as an extraordinarily strong enemy that confronts Ragna and his friends. I look forward to see how the fierce battle scenes in the manga will be shown in the anime,” said Suwabe. “Oh, just in case — this ‘strong enemy’ never becomes a comrade. He’s a real bad guy!”
At the Tokyo premiere screening, the full one-hour launch episode will be shown, followed by a panel including voice stars Chiaki Kobayashi (Ragna) and Ayumu Murase (Crimson). Pre-orders have opened via Lawson Ticket.
Produced by studio Silver Link, the Ragna Crimson series is directed by Ken Takahashi and written by Deko Akao, featuring character design by Shimpei Aoki, art direction by Asuka Komiyama (Cosmo Project) and music by Koji Fujimoto (Sus4 Inc.) and Osamu Sasaki.
The voice cast includes Chiaki Kobayashi (Ragna), Ayumu Murase (Crimson), Inori Minase (Leonica), Fairouz Ai (Slime), Mamiko Noto (Chimera), Hiroki Touchi (Golem), Reina Ueda (Ultimatia), Junichi Suwabe (Woltekamui), Takehito Koyasu (Grymwelte), Shunsuke Takeuchi (Disas Trois), Kozo Shioya (Temruogtaf) and Nobutoshi Canna (Future Ragna).
“This title has extremely unique characters, starting with Crimson, but the Slime is one of the strange characters,” said Ai. “The story is pretty serious, with Ragna going through a lot of agony and having his precious things taken away. But the Slime brightens up the scene with its non-conforming character. I believe its charm is where he just keeps his own pace, and I tried to express that!”
