Kill Blue Anime Coming in 2026 With Shunsuke Takeuchi as Lead

The official website for the Kill Blue television anime has opened and confirmed the series will debut in 2026. Shunsuke Takeuchi has been cast as the adult version of the protagonist, Juzo Ogami.

Hiro Kaburagi, whose previous credits include Great Pretender, is directing the anime at CUE. Miho Daidōji, known for her animation direction work on the Kuroko’s Basketball anime series and its Last Game film, is handling character design. CUE is a relatively new studio established by DMM in 2023, with Rui Kuroki, a former executive at Production I.G, serving as president.

Kill Blue is based on the manga by Tadatoshi Fujimaki, which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from April 2023 to September 2025 and wrapped up at 13 volumes. The 12th volume ships on November 4 and the 13th and final volume arrives December 4, alongside a novel adaptation titled Kill Blue Secret Report by Kiyoko Hoshi. Viz Media publishes the manga in English in both print and digital editions, with the third volume out on October 14.

The series stars Juzo Ogami, a feared professional who suddenly wakes up back in a teenage body. To understand what happened to him, he has to go back to the one place he hoped he had left behind for good: school. Fujimaki is also known for Kuroko’s Basketball, which ran from 2008 to 2014 and inspired three anime seasons, multiple films, a sequel manga, and stage plays.

My take: Kill Blue has a wonderfully absurd premise and Fujimaki brings a lot of kinetic energy to his action storytelling. Having a brand new studio like CUE take on a project like this is an interesting gamble, and I am curious to see what they bring to it.