Tatsunoko Production announced on Sunday that it will produce a television anime adaptation of Chie Shinohara‘s Red River (Sora wa Akai Kawa no Hotori) shōjo manga. The anime will debut this summer.
Image via Red River anime’s X/Twitter account
© 篠原千絵／小学館／アニメ「天は赤い河のほとり」製作委員会
Shinohara drew an illustration to commemorate the announcement.
Image via Red River anime’s website
©篠原千絵／小学館
Kōsuke Kobayashi (Waccha PriMagi!, Alice or Alice) is directing the anime at Tatsunoko Production. Yoriko Tomita (The Elusive Samurai, My Dress-Up Darling) is overseeing the series scripts, and Kenji Fujisaki (YU-NO: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world., Blood Lad) is designing the characters.
Historical researchers include Kimiyoshi Matsumura and Daisuke Yoshida, who are members of the Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology as part of the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan.
Image via Amazon
© Chie Shinohara, Shogakukan, Viz Media
Viz Media started releasing the manga in English in 2004, and released all 28 volumes between 2004 to 2010. The company then started re-releasing the manga in 3-in-1 omnibus editions in October 2024, and will release the seventh omnibus volume on April 21.
Viz Media describes the manga’s first volume:
Yuri, a pretty Japanese girl, is ecstatic after passing her college entrance exam and having her first kiss with her childhood friend-turned boyfriend. However, her luck soon changes. She starts to notice that water becomes agitated whenever she goes near it. One night, hands appear out of a puddle on the street and drag her into the water! Transported to an ancient village in the Middle East, she is then captured by armed troops and taken to the Queen’s palace for a human sacrifice.
Shinohara originally serialized the manga from 1995 to 2002 in Shogakukan‘s Shōjo Comic (Sho-Comi) magazine.
The manga inspired a stage play by the famed all-female Takarazuka Revue troupe in 2018.
Sources: Red River anime’s website, Comic Natalie