Director Toshinori Watanabe, known for his work on the iconic Naruto franchise, is returning to the world of shinobi this fall with Ninja Vs. Gokudo. The new anime promises to be an outrageous action series, officially described as a cross between JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Fist of the North Star.
Ninja Vs. Gokudo is set in a world defined by an age-old conflict: the war between ninjas and yakuza. The story follows members of these two warring tribes as they fill the gutters of modern Tokyo with blood, fighting to determine which elemental force will ultimately reign supreme. The anime will begin streaming worldwide exclusively on Prime Video starting Oct. 7. Per Comic Natalie, two new trailers for the anime have been released — a “Ninja Side” trailer previewing the opening song “Sweet Disaster” by MIYAVI, and a “Gokudo Side” trailer featuring the ending theme “Until You Die Out” by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Naruto Director Returns to Helm New Ninja Anime Streaming Internationally This October
Watanabe, thanks to his track record of working on Naruto, is no stranger to the way of the shinobi and seems to be a perfect fit to helm Ninja Vs. Gokudo. He served as a director for Naruto Shippuden from Episodes 489 through 493, which adapted the Shikamaru Hiden: A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darkness novel. He also storyboarded three of these episodes while also serving as an episode director. In addition to his work on Naruto, Watanabe has also honed his skills directing other major anime action titles like Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, Eden’s Zero Season 2 and Tokyo Ghoul:re.
Watanabe is not the only one familiar with the Naruto franchise working on the upcoming anime. He is joined by character designer Tokuyuki Matsutake, who boasts an equally impressive resume that includes working as key animator and animation director on the original Naruto TV series, Naruto Shippuden and its various films, and even contributing key animation to Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. In addition to these two, Keiichiro Ochi (Summer Pockets) will serve as the series composer for the anime, which is being animated by Studio Deen.
Ninja Vs. Gokudo also features a stellar voice cast, headlined by Chiaki Kobayashi as Shinoha Tanaka, Katsuyuki Konishi as Kiwami Kimura and Sumire Uesaka as Gamute. They are joined by a prominent supporting cast that includes Hiroki Yasumoto as Uryu Yagi, Hocho Otsuka as Kaiza Akiba, Kana Hanazawa as Shiki Yamada, Makoto Furukawa as Sako Hasegawa, Mamiko Noto as Maya Kohara, Taiten Kusunoki as Hanako Saito, Takehito Koyasu as Hiroki Yajima, Tomokazu Sugita as Anatomi Kurita, Yasuhiro Mamiya as Kosei Yuzawa, Yuka Iguchi as Tome Odaka and Yuma Uchida as Nodoka Matsumoto. Interestingly, the character Zanzo Kasai will be voiced by seven different voice actors: Hisako Kanemoto, Kensho Ono, Mariko Higashiuchi, Serina Machiyama, Toshiyuki Morikawa, Volcano Ota and Yuuki Sanpei.
The original Ninja Vs. Gokudo manga, created by Shinsuke Kondo, began serialization in Kodansha’s Comic Days in 2020 and will release its 16th collected volume on Oct. 8, coinciding with the anime’s debut. The information for the new ninja anime drops as fans of Naruto continue waiting for the four anniversary episodes that have been delayed indefinitely.