Anime debuts on April 9
Kadokawa’s stage presentation at the AnimeJapan 2026 event on Sunday revealed the “pre-broadcast promotional video” for the television anime of Noriaki Kotoba’s The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King (Hime Kishi wa Barbaroi no Yome) manga.
Image courtesy of Kadokawa
©コトバノリアキ・講談社/「姫騎士は蛮族の嫁」製作委員会
The show will debut on April 9 at 9:30 p.m. on AT-X, and will air later that evening on Tokyo MX, BS NTV, and Kansai TV. The series will also air on WOWOW starting on April 14. Crunchyroll will stream the anime as it airs worldwide excluding Japan and mainland China. The anime was originally slated to debut in October 2025 but was delayed to April 2026.
The anime will star (some name romanizations are not confirmed):
Takayuki Tanaka (Baldr Force EXE) is directing the anime at Jumondo. Miya Asakawa (Shonen Onmyouji) is in charge of series scripts. Masayoshi Kikuchi (The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist In Another World) is credited as the main character designer, while Mayumi Fujita and Hajime Hatakeyama are credited for character design, and Lo Ho Kim as sub-character designer. Kikuchi, Fujita, Hatakeyama, and Kim are also all credited as chief animation directors. Arisa Okehazama is composing the music. Mayu Maeshima performs the opening theme song “Beautiful” and sajou no hana performs the ending theme song “Shiru Beki Koto.”
Other staff members include:
Seven Seas Entertainment is releasing the manga in English under the title The Barbarian’s Bride, and it describes the story:
Serafina de Lavillant, the strongest female knight in the West, was sent to subjugate the barbaric tribes of the East. But when her mission fails spectacularly, she’s captured alive and imprisoned. Humiliated and dreading what horrific torture she’ll endure, she asks to be put to death. To her surprise, rather than tearing her limb from limb, the tribe leader asks for her hand…in marriage! Will Serafina face a cruel and abusive arranged marriage? Or will she discover that these tribes aren’t as barbaric as she was led to believe?
Kotoba launched the series in Kodansha’s Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in January 2021. Kodansha will ship the 11th compiled book volume on April 9. K MANGA is also releasing the manga in English digitally under the title The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King.
Sources: AnimeJapan 2026 stage presentation, Press release
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.
