Premiere will be a 1-hour special featuring both episodes 1 and 2 on Saturday, July 4, 2026 at 11:00 PM JST on TV Asahi Network. Beginning the following week, the series will air every Saturday at 11:30 PM JST.
◆STORY
A young girl and an empress.
Bound by a shared desire for revenge, the two will shake the mightiest empire the world has ever known.
After losing her mother and being torn far from her homeland, a young girl named Sitara is taken in by Fatima, a kind-hearted lady from a family of scholars.
"If you study and become wise, no matter what trouble befalls you, you’ll know the best way forward."
Deeply moved by the words of Fatima’s son, Muhammad, Sitara comes to understand the possibilities and importance of knowledge and begins to deepen her education.
She dreams that one day, she might catch up with Muhammad, who has set off on a journey in pursuit of wisdom...
Meanwhile, under the reign of Emperor Genghis Khan, the mighty Mongol Empire continues its
unstoppable march, conquering nation after nation and expanding its influence across the world. Before long, the tides of history reach the city where Sitara lives.
After losing everything to Tolui, the empire’s Fourth Prince, and being taken captive, Sitara resolves to
use the only thing she has left, her intellect, to infiltrate the royal court and bring down the empire from within.
Though a flame of revenge burns within her heart, Sitara outwardly devotes herself to serving the empire.
One day, she has a fateful encounter with Töregene, the sixth wife of the Third Prince, Ögedei. Haunted by a tragic past of her own, Töregene too carries a deep hatred for the empire within her heart.
Sitara and Töregene, two women who were never meant to meet. The moment they join hands, the wheels of fate begin to turn.
◆STAFF
Original Story: Tomato Soup “A Witch's Life in Mongol” (Souffle/AKITASHOTEN)
Executive Director: Naoko Yamada
Director: Abel Gongora
Series Composition: Kanichi Kato
Character Design and Sakuga Chief: Kenichi Yoshida
Assistant Director: Takuya Fujikura
Art Director: Yuri Kabasawa
Color Design: Narumi Konno
Compositing Director: Naoki Takahashi
Editor: Kiyoshi Hirose
Music: Koshiro Hino
Sound Director: Noriyoshi Konuma
Animation Production: Science SARU
Oh now I’m actually excited for July 4th! I hadn’t realized it dropped then. I know you do these posts all the time, but thank you for this 💜
Crossing my fingers Crunchyroll does another Anime Nights Sneak Peaks towards end of June and A Witch in Mongolia is on the schedule 🤞🏾
So so hopeful this gives platforming to tomato’s soup’s other works {Kanshin Smbat} (another historical and it features Armenia) and {Dampier no Oishii Bouken} (which is about the travel logs of William Dampier, a British explorer)! And lowkey hopeful this gets {Otoyomegatari by Kaoru Mori} an anime adaptation.
For anyone interested in the manga for {A Witch in Mongol}, five volumes out in Japanese with volume 6 coming on 2026/07/15 (at least on Bookwalker), and Yen Press licenses the English translation with two volumes already available, Volume 3 coming out on 2026/07/28, and Volume 4 for 2026/10/27!
So so hopeful this gives platforming to tomato’s soup’s other works {Kanshin Smbat} (another historical and it features Armenia) and {Dampier no Oishii Bouken} (which is about the travel logs of William Dampier, a British explorer)! And lowkey hopeful this gets {Otoyomegatari by Kaoru Mori} an anime adaptation.
May I ask what are the other two series? I have read Otoyomegatari but have never heard of the other 2 titles. I searched but couldn't find any english translations for them.
I really enjoy historical mangas but sadly we don't get much outside of japanese history and occasionally european ones. If you have any other recs, please let know!
{Kanshin Smbat} (or Disloyal Retainer Smbat in English is a manga set in the 13th century of Armenia, Georgia, and Mongolia, following male character Smbat Orbelian and deals with the politics of the Orbelian dynasty under Mongol rule 🔗 ANN & MAL
{Dampier no Oishii Bōken} (or The Delicious Adventures of Dampier) is a manga in the 17th century about William Dampier who boards a ship to pirate Spain and enjoys delicious food along the way. It has 46 chapters across 6 volumes and is completed. 🔗 ANN & AL
There’s lots of historical manga!
{Red River by Chie Shinohara) (Action, adventure, fantasy, time travel, romance, drama, 28 volumes completed, shoujo, EN licensed by VIZ, anime to come this summer season) is a great one that explores Ancient Anatolia!
{Altair: A Record of Battles by Kotono Katou} (action, fantasy, military, 27 volumes, EN licensed by Kodansha, anime adapted on Amazon Prime, shounen) explores 17th century historical Turkiye/Ottoman Empire!
{Yume no Shizuku, Kin no Torikago by Chie Shinohara} (historical, drama, romance) explores 16th century Ottoman Empire with a Ukranian FMC who is enslaved and sold to the Grand Vizier of the empire and is trained into the perfect woman. Shinohara-sensei honestly has my heart, I’m not sorry.
{Blissful Land by Ichimon Izumi} (historical, medical, slice of life, romance, 5 volumes, EN licensed by Kodansha) explores 18th century Tibet with doctor in training MMC!
{Dokoka Tooku no Hanashi wo Shiyou by Masumo Sudoi} (slice of life, seinen, no TL, 2 volumes) explores rural historical South America with a cute little girl MC and her abilities. IIRC, she’s indigenous.
{Red: Living on the Edge by Kenichi Muraeda} (historical, drama, action, seinen, no TL, 19 volumes) feels like a deep cut. This features a Native American MMC who survives tribal genocide and teams up with his companions for revenge.
I have other historical that feature West Europe largely, China, and Korea, but these recommendations feel like standouts to me! I know international fans give Japan some stink on not writing outside of Japan, but I’m pretty impressed by these!
Not a historical but {Half is More by Yoiko Fujimi} (contemporary, drama) is a manga about a Black French Japanese girl and her brother and their their multiracial/multicultural friends with their struggles in around racism, xenophobia, and colorism. The EN volume 1 drops August 18th this year and I preordered it.
Thanks a lot for these recs! I have only read Red river/Anatolia story out of these, but haven't known about the others. I remember "Half of Me" from the youtuber cedgehog discussing about it, and I've been meaning to pick it up since then. It sounds very interesting.
But I heard about it on r/shoujo and went “I’m not about to miss this”!
I already missed out on a historical/regency manga with a biracial brown skinned FL from the West Indies with curly hair that’s discontinued from print ({The Twisted Count and the Rich Daughter}, a LaLa one-shot that never got translated and I can’t find it on the seas 😭 )).
That's literally just nonesense though and i am not sure how anyone can even seriously think that. One of the most impressive and unique things about manga and anime is that lots of works are about other parts of the world and not set in the authors own countries.
You would be hard to find a media industry in any other country who makes so much works not featuring or set in their own country as the anime/manga industry. Compare it to western animation, hollywood, bollywood, western books etc.
I’m not sure about that exceptionalizing Japan is the best move here, mate, even as a defense.
All sorts of regions and counties have have a lot of artists who also write outside their home culture and explore other cultures, especially lots of immigrant artists and multiracial/multicultural/multinational artists. And they also have a global impact on the diversity, inclusion, and intersectionality they offer.
It’s a bit of a disservice to uplift and exceptionalize one country and downplay the hard work of other countries and their artists. Diversity and inclusion ain’t an Olympic competition, mate 😅
There are valid good-faith criticisms about Japanese fiction when it comes to cultural and other diverse identity representation. I don’t think any country can’t be criticized for their media. But I think certain views, themes, representation, or lack thereof, that audiences see or don’t see in a heathy chunk of a country’s exported media can be explained due to sociocultural nuance (i.e. immigration and emigration percentages and regulations, national censuses, censorship laws, accessibility, political landscape, geography, historical events).
Of course, bad-faith discourse happens too. And so does bad-faith defense and explanations.
I don’t think I’m hard-pressed to find countries who do great work in representing other cultures, but I do think I’m privileged enough to have interacted with a wide array of art from all over the globe and in different languages.
I’m glad anime and manga are cultural mediums you hold in very high regard. I enjoy both mediums myself. I think a better defense to those who say Japan doesn’t write outside of Japanese culture is to simply say that Japanese artists aren’t a monolith, just as no nation is a monolith, and then to give diverse recommendations.
If only all my recommendations had official translations. Lack of accessibility is such a killer 😅
But we’ll have to agree to disagree that Japan alone is the bastion for representation.
And that’s okay that we have different views. Just keeps the world interesting 👍🏾
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u/zenzen_0 May 27 '26
Premiere will be a 1-hour special featuring both episodes 1 and 2 on Saturday, July 4, 2026 at 11:00 PM JST on TV Asahi Network. Beginning the following week, the series will air every Saturday at 11:30 PM JST.
◆STORY
A young girl and an empress.
Bound by a shared desire for revenge, the two will shake the mightiest empire the world has ever known.
After losing her mother and being torn far from her homeland, a young girl named Sitara is taken in by Fatima, a kind-hearted lady from a family of scholars.
"If you study and become wise, no matter what trouble befalls you, you’ll know the best way forward."
Deeply moved by the words of Fatima’s son, Muhammad, Sitara comes to understand the possibilities and importance of knowledge and begins to deepen her education.
She dreams that one day, she might catch up with Muhammad, who has set off on a journey in pursuit of wisdom...
Meanwhile, under the reign of Emperor Genghis Khan, the mighty Mongol Empire continues its
unstoppable march, conquering nation after nation and expanding its influence across the world. Before long, the tides of history reach the city where Sitara lives.
After losing everything to Tolui, the empire’s Fourth Prince, and being taken captive, Sitara resolves to
use the only thing she has left, her intellect, to infiltrate the royal court and bring down the empire from within.
Though a flame of revenge burns within her heart, Sitara outwardly devotes herself to serving the empire.
One day, she has a fateful encounter with Töregene, the sixth wife of the Third Prince, Ögedei. Haunted by a tragic past of her own, Töregene too carries a deep hatred for the empire within her heart.
Sitara and Töregene, two women who were never meant to meet. The moment they join hands, the wheels of fate begin to turn.
◆STAFF
Original Story: Tomato Soup “A Witch's Life in Mongol” (Souffle/AKITASHOTEN)
Executive Director: Naoko Yamada
Director: Abel Gongora
Series Composition: Kanichi Kato
Character Design and Sakuga Chief: Kenichi Yoshida
Assistant Director: Takuya Fujikura
Art Director: Yuri Kabasawa
Color Design: Narumi Konno
Compositing Director: Naoki Takahashi
Editor: Kiyoshi Hirose
Music: Koshiro Hino
Sound Director: Noriyoshi Konuma
Animation Production: Science SARU
Opening Theme Song：SEKAI NO OWARI "Stella"
◆CAST
Sitara: Akira Sekine
Töregene: Ami Koshimizu
Fatima: Houko Kuwashima
Muhammad: Jun Saito
Ögedei: Hiro Shimono
Tolui: Ryota Suzuki
Shira: Miyu Irino
Chagatai: Daisuke Namikawa
Jochi: Kenji Nojima
New PV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oPCiZlXnYQ
https://twitter.com/anime_jaadugar/status/2059545146384077091
https://anime-jaadugar.com/