Ken Oh’s Army Grunts Anime Announces Its Voice Cast

The short anime based on Hiroshi Kurao’s Fist of the North Star: Elegy of Ken Oh’s Army Grunts revealed its voice cast on Friday through the project’s official X account. The series is a comedic spinoff of the classic franchise.

Leading the cast are Hiro Shimono as Nobu, Shinnosuke Ogami as Zaku, and Masaaki Yano as Buzz, with Shinya Takahashi providing narration.

The tone is set by a cheeky tagline that offers three meals a day, company housing, and no experience required. Set in the year 199X after the nuclear apocalypse, it follows Nobu, an ordinary grunt in Ken Oh’s army, as he tries to figure out how long anyone can survive in a workplace where the death toll outpaces the number of new recruits.

The original manga ran on Coamix’s Manga Hot app from November 2017 to February 2020, with its third and final volume arriving in March 2020. Fans also have more to look forward to, since Buronson and Tetsuo Hara’s landmark original Fist of the North Star is inspiring a new anime next year as well.

My take: Turning a brutal post apocalyptic world into a workplace comedy from the henchmen’s view is a delightfully silly idea. I am really curious to see how this short anime pulls it off.