During an Asia-Pacific content showcase held in Singapore this week (via The Hollywood Reporter), Disney announced that it would be expanding its partnership with Japanese publisher Kodansha and would be licensing exclusive anime titles in the future, starting with the upcoming Tokyo Revengers: Christmas Showdown.
The forthcoming anime, which is set to begin airing in Japan in January 2023, will stream exclusively on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar beginning in January in Asia. It’s unclear exactly what platforms the anime will arrive on in other countries, however, so fans will have to wait for more information as the release date gets closer. Alongside the announcement of licensing, Disney also confirmed that it would be co-producing anime originals with Kodansha to exclusively stream on Disney+.
The new Tokyo Revengers anime will focus on the “Christmas Showdown” arc of the manga and will pick up from where the first season of the series ended. The anime began airing in April 2021, with 24 episodes currently available.
“Watching the news, Takemichi Hanagaki learns that his girlfriend from way back in middle school, Hinata Tachibana, has died. The only girlfriend he ever had was just killed by a villainous group known as the Tokyo Manji Gang,” reads the official synopsis for the series. “He lives in a crappy apartment with thin walls, and his six-years-younger boss treats him like an idiot. Plus, he’s a complete and total virgin … At the height of his rock-bottom life, he suddenly time-leaps twelve years back to his middle school days! To save Hinata, and change the life he spent running away, hopeless part-timer Takemichi must aim for the top of Kanto’s most sinister delinquent gang!”
Tokyo Revengers debuted to rave reviews and ran for 24 episodes before concluding its first season. The manga the anime is based on is one of the most popular in Japan right now, having even won the 44th Kodansha Manga Awards in the ShĹŤnen category.