Kadokawa unveiled a new teaser trailer and visual on Sunday for The Eminence in Shadow – Lost Echoes (Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!: Zankyō-hen), the film based on the television anime of Daisuke Aizawa’s The Eminence in Shadow (Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!) light novel series. The teaser reveals the film’s returning cast, and it also reveals the film’s 2027 opening.
Image courtesy of Kadokawa
© 逢沢大介・KADOKAWA刊／シャドウガーデン
Yukari Tamura joins the film’s cast as the new character Yūka Asakura. The returning cast members include:
© 逢沢大介・KADOKAWA刊／シャドウガーデン
The first season of the anime premiered in October 2022, and it ended in February 2023. The second season premiered in October 2023. HIDIVE streamed the anime as it aired in Japan along with a same-day English dub. HIDIVE and Kadokawa held a world premiere screening of the second season at Anime Expo in July 2023.
The main staff returned for the second season at the studio Nexus.
Kazuya Nakanishi (chief animation director for Darwin’s Game) directed the anime at Nexus (Darwin’s Game, Granbelm). Makoto Iino (Suppose a Kid From the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, Demon Lord, Retry!) adapted Tōzai’s original character designs for animation. Kanichi Katou (Black Clover, Those Snow White Notes) oversaw the series scripts. Kenichiro Suehiro composed the music.
Yen Press licensed both the light novels and the manga adaptation.
Aizawa began serializing the story on the “Shōsetsuka ni Narō” (Let’s Become Novelists) website in May 2018, and Kadokawa began publishing the story in physical volumes with art by Tōzai, beginning with the first volume in November 2018. Anri Sakano launched the manga adaptation in Kadokawa’s Comp Ace magazine in December 2018. Seta U launched a spinoff manga titled Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! Shadow Gaiden (The Eminence in Shadow: Shadow Side Story) in Comp Ace in July 2019.
The Eminence in Shadow: Master of Garden game launched for iOS, Android, and PC in November 2022. Crunchyroll Games released the game in English.
Source: Press release, AnimeJapan 2026 stage
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
