Requiem of the Rose King Anime's Video Reveals More Cast, Opening Song

The official website for the television anime of Aya Kanno's Requiem of the Rose King (Bara-Ō no Sōretsu) manga began streaming a new promotional video for the anime on Friday. The video reveals two new cast members, and also previews the anime's opening theme song "Ware, Bara ni Insu" (I'm Obssessed With Roses) by Makoto Furukawa. The site also unveiled a new visual for the anime.

The new cast members include:

Riho Sugiyama as Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham (Sugiyama will only voice the character in the anime's first half, with a different unannounced voice actor for the second half)

Aoi Yūki as Joan of Arc, the Witch of France that appears as a spirit to Richard

The anime will premiere on Tokyo MX, Sun TV, and KBS Kyoto on January 9, and on BS11 on January 11. (Tokyo MX will air it first at 10:30 p.m. in Japan or 8:30 a.m. ET.)

The anime will air for two consecutive cours (quarters of a year), for a half-year continuous run. The anime was previously slated to premiere this fall, but the production committee announced a delay in July.

The anime stars:

• Mitsuki Saiga as Richard
• Hikaru Midorikawa as Henry
• Sho Hayami as Richard, Duke of York
• Kousuke Toriumi as Edward
• Yasuaki Takumi as George, Duke of Clarence
• Satoshi Mikami as the Earl of Warwick
• Satoshi Hino as William Catesby
• Sayaka Ohara as Queen Margaret
• Kōhei Amasaki as Edward of Westminster
• Sayumi Suzushiro as Lady Anne Neville
• Ayumi Mano as Lady Isabel Neville
• Shizuka Itou as Queen Elizabeth
• Aya Hisakawa as Cecily Neville
• Houchu Ohtsuka as Narrator

Kentarō Suzuki (Angels of Death, Kud Wafter) is directing the anime at J.C. Staff, and Hiroki Uchida (Days of Urashimasakatasen, Gamers!, Merc Storia: The Apathetic Boy and the Girl in a Bottle) is supervising and writing the series scripts. Chikara Hashizume is designing the characters. Additional staff members include Kentaro Izumi (A Certain Scientific Railgun T) as the art director, Mayumi Tanahashi as the color designer, Akihiro Takahashi as director of photography, Yoshikazu Iwanami as the audio director, Kou Otani as the music composer, and Lantis as the music producer.

Voice actor Makoto Furukawa will perform the opening theme song "Ware, Bara ni Insu." Arika Takarano from Ali Project is writing the song. ZAQ will perform the ending theme song "Akumu."

The manga's dark fantasy story adapts Shakespeare's Richard III. Viz Media licensed the manga, and it describes the story:

Richard's father, the patriarch of the House of York, is poised to become king of medieval England during the bloody Wars of the Roses. But just as success is imminent, he is abruptly cut down. Plunged into despair, Richard acts out in revenge and must face a powerful and beautiful new enemy.

Kanno (Otomen) launched Requiem of the Rose King in Akita Shoten's Monthly Princess magazine in October 2013, and the series is slated to end in three chapters. A novel adaptation by Yō Makusu will ship on December 15.

Kineko Abekawa launched a spinoff manga titled King of Idol Bara-Ō no Gakuen (King of Idol Rose King Academy) in Monthly Princess on January 4.

Sources: Requiem of the Rose King anime's website, Comic Natalie