Amuse Creative Studio announced on Wednesday the main cast and a January 2026 debut for “Oedo Fire Slayer -The Legend of Phoenix-,” the television anime adaptation of Hikuidori (Fire Eater), the first volume of Shōgo Imamura’s Ushūboro Tobigumi historical novel series. The studio also revealed a new visual for the upcoming historical action drama.
Key Cast Members Revealed for “Boro Tobi Gumi”
The voice actors bringing the members of the “Boro Tobi Gumi” to life have been confirmed. The cast includes:
- Yūichirō Umehara as Gengo Matsunaga, a resigned fire brigade personnel who endeavors to rebuild his team by becoming the president of Boro Tobi Gumi.
- Shūichirō Umeda as Shinnosuke Torigoe, the mood-making vice-president of Boro Tobi Gumi.
- Subaru Kimura as Torajiro, a kind-hearted former sumo wrestler.
- Nobunaga Shimazaki as Hikoya, a light artisan highly popular among women in Edo.
- Kenshō Ono as Kaji Seijuro, described as a firebrand military strategist proficient in astronomy and psychology.
The Fiery Premise: Saving Edo from “Foxfires”
The anime’s narrative centers on Matsunaga Gengo, once renowned as the “Fire-eating Bird” and considered the best fire-fighting samurai in Edo. Despite having resigned from the fire brigade, Gengo receives an invitation to serve the Shinjo clan, whose fire-fighting team is struggling with a lack of funds and personnel and is looked down upon by others.
With the encouragement of his wife, Miyuki, Gengo decides to undertake the daunting task of rebuilding the collapsed fire-fighting clan as its chairman. Alongside a unique group of friends, each with their own eccentricities, Gengo strives to “save any life,” even as they are mocked as “ragged steeplejacks” (the “Boro Tobi Gumi”). The series promises an engaging action drama as the firefighters contend with a mysterious string of suspicious fires known as “foxfires” that plague Edo, racing against time to save the city from approaching disaster.
Adaptation from Acclaimed Historical Novels
“Oedo Fire Slayer -The Legend of Phoenix-” is based on the Hikuidori novel, which is the first volume in Shōgo Imamura’s Ushūboro Tobigumi historical novel series. Shodensha has published 12 volumes of the novel series, in addition to a volume of spinoff short stories released in 2022. The novel was recognized with the sixth Yoshikawa Eiji Bunko Award in 2021.
In addition to the anime, a manga adaptation of the Hikuidori novel, also titled “Oedo Fire Slayer -The Legend of Phoenix-,” began serialization in Akita Shoten’s Weekly Shōnen Champion on April 24. This manga adaptation is slated for a digital English release in North America this summer. SynergySP is the animation production studio for the TV anime.
