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'Eiyū' Kaitai Fantasy Novel About Reintegrating Heroes Gets Anime

Kodansha Box's official website for the Kurage no Shokudō anime announced on Tuesday that work has begun on the upcoming anime adaptation of Kyōhei Koyama's "Eiyū" Kaitai ("Heroes" Dismissed) novel. The series has just finished serialization in Starchild and Kodansha Box's digital literary publication BOX-AiR, and it is the fourth anime under the BOX-AiR program.

The story centers on a boy named Uro Yamada, and a 17-year old girl named Karon. Both work as part of the "Hero Retirement and Return to Everyday Life Assistance Agency," which takes heroes from another world back to Earth and helps them reintegrate into everyday life. Karon, a former hero herself, works under Uro as they tackle cases, and also lives with him, with Uro constantly failing to rein in Karon's hero-like behavior even as he tries to ingrain the behavior of common people into her.

ZEXCS will be the animation studio for the production, and Koyama will work directly with the anime's production. The site did not specify whether the anime will adapt one of the novel's six chapters, or if it will be an original story.

The book won the "Kodansha BOX-AiR Newcomer of the Year Award" in 2014. Illustrator Kazeno draws the art for the serialized novels.

The Kodansha Box imprint and King Records' Starchild Records label run the BOX-AiR program, which "considers" adapting the winners of the magazine's award into anime. The "Kodansha BOX-AiR Newcomer of the Year Award" launched in 2011, and the organizers selected Aruvu Rezuru - Kikai Jikake no Yōsei-tachi out the first 11 award winners for BOX-AiR's first-ever anime. This anime eventually became part of the Anime Mirai 2013 lineup.

The Mitsuwano light novel won the program's 12th award in 2012, and it inspired a video anime adaptation that shipped in 2014. Miyako Aoyama's Kurage no Shokudō novel was adapted as the third project, and the original video anime's Blu-ray Disc and DVD release shipped on March 9.