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Mashle: Magic and Muscles, Blue Exorcist Anime to Air on Toonami
posted on by Adriana Hazra
Aniplex of America announced during the New York Comic Con event on Friday that Adult Swim's Toonami block will begin airing the first season of the television anime of Hajime Kōmoto's Mashle: Magic and Muscles manga on November 9. Toonami will rebroadcast the first season of the Blue Exorcist television anime series from November 2.
Aniplex of America also announced that it will release the Blu-ray Disc of Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid, the second of two films in the sequel anime project for the Seishun Buta Yarō (Rascal Does Not Dream) light novel series, on December 10 and the Blu-ray Disc for the Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga anime on December 17.
The Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid release will feature package illustrations by original illustrator Keji Mizoguchi and character designer Satomi Tamura. The Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga release will have package illustrations by character designer and chief animation director Yurie Ōhigashi, as well as two original illustration mini shikishi by Kazue Katō.
A third season for the anime has been green-lit.
The overall anime project is listed as a "complete" anime adaptation.
Tomonari Tanaka (Engage Kiss, Visual Prison) directed the anime at A-1 Pictures. Yousuke Kuroda (My Hero Academia all six seasons, Mobile Suit Gundam 00) was in charge of the series scripts, and Hisashi Higashijima (key animation on Tada Never Falls in Love) designed the characters. Masaru Yokoyama (2019 Fruits Basket, Astra Lost in Space) composed the music.
Both Viz Media's Shonen Jump service and Shueisha's MANGA Plus service are publishing the manga digitally in English. Viz Media is also releasing the manga in print. Shueisha describes the manga:
This is a world of magic where magic is used for everything. But deep in the forest exists a young man who spends his time training and bulking up. He can't use magic, but he enjoys a peaceful life with his father. But one day, his life is put in danger! Will his muscular body protect him from the magic users who are out to get him? Powerfully trained muscles crush magic as this abnormal magical fantasy begins!
The series launched in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in Japan in January 2020, and ended in July 2023. Shueisha published the manga's 18th and final compiled book volume, as well as a fanbook, on October 2023. The franchise also includes several novels and a stage play adaptation.
The franchise's new anime titled Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow Saga (Ao no Exorcist: Yuki no Hate-hen) began airing on October 5, and the second cours (quarter of a year) Blue Exorcist: The Blue Night Saga will air in January 2025. Crunchyroll is streaming the anime as it airs. The anime is the sequel to the Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga anime, which premiered in Japan on January 6.
Kazue Katō launched the Blue Exorcist manga in Jump SQ. in 2009. The manga went on hiatus in July 2021, and resumed in May 2022. The manga has more than 25 million copies in circulation. The manga also inspired the Blue Exorcist: Kuro Runs Away From Home OAV in 2011. The Blue Exorcist movie then premiered in Japan in December 2012. The Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga television anime premiered in 2017 and aired for 12 episodes.
Aniplex of America released the complete 25-episode series plus the Blue Exorcist: Kuro Runs Away From Home OVA episode and the bonus anime short "Ura-Eku" in a Blu-ray Disc box set in June 2017.
Sources: Email correspondence, Aniplex of America panel at New York Comic Con (Marion Peña)
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