Wistoria: Wand and Sword is the one anime that every Black Clover fan should watch this season and there’s a particular reason why—Tatsuya Yoshihara, the former director of Black Clover. The upcoming series wasn’t near the top 10 in Anime Corner’s “Most Anticipated Anime of Summer 2024” poll, but Wistoria might catch on as time passes and it all could be in thanks to Yoshihara being the series director.
Yoshihara, Wistoria Info
Yoshihara will not only be directing Wistoria, but he is also handling the script and series composition. The anime will mark his return to series directing since Black Clover ended and it will be his first time handling the series composition for a TV anime in his career, giving the well-known director a lot of control over Wistoria. We’re already starting to see some influence pulled from Black Clover (see picture below).
Black Clover fans followed Yoshihara after the series ended as he became the action director for the hit anime Chainsaw Man, for which he also directed and storyboarded two episodes (4, 11). Now back directing another action-fantasy series with a very familiar storyline, Yoshihara has the opportunity to show everyone what he’s truly capable of with Wistoria when given better scheduling, something he struggled mightily with when directing Black Clover that Director Ayataka Tanemura talked about after he took over the role for the series.
While Yoshihara has worked on other projects in not-so-small roles such as a unit director for the Black Clover movie, key animation in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, and episode direction for Chainsaw Man, it seems that Wistoria itself is a special project of his with the production values from the trailers proven to be rather worthwhile.
Wistoria: Wand and Sword is co-animated by studios Actas and Bandai Namco Pictures. The series is about Will Serfort (CV: Kohei Amasaki) who enrolls at a magic academy with no magic looking to make a name for himself while facing incredible odds. The only way he’ll be able to prove everyone wrong is through his sword prowess and an unbreakable determination to reach the top in a magic-dominated world after making a special promise to someone close to him… Sound familiar, Black Clover fans?
Wistoria: Wand and Sword releases on July 7, 2024, and the episode 1 preview is available. Crunchyroll will be streaming the anime with English subtitles in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, and CIS (country availability may vary). Penguin Research is performing the opening theme “Fire and Fear” while TRUE is performing the ending theme “Frozen.”
The anime is based on the manga written by Fujino Omori and illustrated by Toshi Aoi. The series began publication in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine on December 9, 2020, and has since published 10 volumes, seven in English under Kodansha USA. The Wistoria: Wand and Sword manga has over 800,000 copies in circulation as of July 2024. Omori is also the creator of the widely popular light novel series DanMachi (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon), whose anime will enter its fifth season this fall.
Wistoria: Wand and Sword Staff Info
Another big name in the Wistoria staff list is one that many anime fans from all over are familiar with—music composer Yuki Hayashi, who is famously known for creating the renowned soundtracks for My Hero Academia and Haikyu! Editor Masato Yoshitake is also joining the staff. His previous editing works include Attack on Titan, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, Chainsaw Man, and Mashle: Magic and Muscles.
Yuki Maeda will be working as the art director for Wistoria. She worked with Yashihara in the same role for both the Black Clover movie and series. Maeda works for Studio Easter, which handled the backgrounds for the entirety of Black Clover, Cowboy Bebop, Fate/Zero, and the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie.
Sayaka Ono is handling the character designs for Wistoria while also working as the chief animation director. Her most recent work came in the remake of Heavy Metal Dark Fantasy (2022-2023), where she was in charge of the series character designs and the animation direction of the first opening and ending of Season 2.
Morihito Abe will be working as the CG director. His most recent works include 3D layouts for WIT Studio’s The Grimm Variations (2024), in-between animation for episode 11 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (2023), CG direction for the Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan`s Island movie (2022), and his CG directing debut in 2021 for the Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway movies.
Ayako Otsuki is the director of photography for Wistoria. She worked on the staff of Cucuruz Doan’s Island as well as Abe in the same role and has many big-name titles to her name, including films such as maboroshi (2023) and Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (2022), the latter of which received high praise for its art and photography.
Well-known industry veteran Naomi Nakano is joining the staff as the color designer. She’s worked in the industry for over two decades, with some of her recent work being for Chainsaw Man, Solo Leveling, A Sign of Affection, Buddy Daddies, Uma Musume: Pretty Derby Season 3, and Sword Art Online the Movie: Progressive – Aria of a Starless Night. Wistoria will mark her seventh project of 2024 alone as a color designer.
Sound Director Hiroto Morishita is in his element with Wistoria as he’s worked in the same role for numerous action-fantasy anime, including Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles, The Faraway Paladin, and I’m Quitting Heroing. More recent works of his include Tomodachi Game and 7th Time Loop.
The monster designs will be handled by Raita Sunaga, Ryo Akizuki, and Yoshiro Harada. Sunaga’s most recent work was monster designs for Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy and Hortensia Saga. Akizuki, who is also handling prop design, recently worked in a similar role for Classroom for Heroes while Harada will be returning to work for the first known time since Pikaia!! in 2017, where he worked on design assistance.
Wistoria: Wand and Sword Anime Voice Cast
The stacked voice cast list for the Wistoria: Wand and Sword anime is as follows:
- Elfaria Alvis Serfort – Akira Sekine (Charlotte – Princess Principal)
- Will Serfort – Amasaki (Otto – Re: Zero)
- Julius Rainburg – Tetsuya Kakihara (Natsu – Fairy Tale)
- Liana Owenzaus – Lynn (Hibana – Fire Force)
- Zion Alster – Masaaki Mizunaka (Baji – Tokyo Revengers)
- Ignor Lindor – Kengo Kawanishi (Tokito – Demon Slayer)
- Lunais Areito – Shinya Takahashi (Tetsuhiro – Demon Slayer)
- Cariot Instia Wiseman – Jun Fukuyama (Finral – Black Clover)
- Elnor Ljos Alf – Sora Amamiya (Akame – Akame Ga Kill!)
- Logwell – Akio Ootsuka (Rider – Fate/Zero)
- Workner Norgram – Tomokazu Seki (Gilgamesh – Fate/Zero)
- Aron Masterias Old King – Houchuu Ohtsuka (Jiraiya – Naruto)
- Kiki – Aoi Inase (Yodo – Boruto)
- Jorua Moraine – Atsushi Tamaru (Eugene – 86 Eighty-Six)
- Gordon Valley – Kazuki Ura (Isagi – Blue Lock)
- Edward Serfence – Kouji Yusa (Ichimaru – Bleach)
- Iris X. Stella Maris – Rumi Okubo (Nona – Death Parade)
- Colette Loire – Satomi Amano (Yutori – Tomadachi Game)
- Liliel Mars – Tomohiro Ono (Makoto – Tomadachi Game)
- Cauldron – Reiko Suzuki (Megabaa – Dennou Coil)
©Fujino Omori, Toshi Aoi, Kodansha/Wistoria: Wand and Sword Production Committee.
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