NHK announced on Friday that it will air a special anime based on Shigeru Mizuki‘s “Shiroi Hata” (White Flag) manga for its NHK Special documentary program on Sunday, August 16. The special is titled “Iwo Jima no Shiroi Hata” (The White Flag at Iwo Jima).

Mizuki’s original manga tells the story of an Imperial Japanese Army lieutenant in World War II named Nishiōeda. After fierce and brutal fighting between American and Japanese forces at the Battle of Iwo Jima, Nishiōeda raises the white flag of surrender in order to allow the the troops under his command to live. The surrender went against the army’s orders to fight to the death, and Nishiōeda was executed for treason.

Mizuki has said in an afterword to the story that the manga is based on a story he heard about a friend of his older brother, who was an Imperial Japanese Navy officer. The story has never been verified. Mizuki first used the character in his “Futari no Chūi” (Two Lieutenants) manga story, first published in Hinomaru Bunko’s Hinomaru magazine in 1964, before reworking the story into “Shiroi Hata,” which was published in Seirindō’s Garo magazine in 1968. Mizuki used the Nishiōeda character in three different manga stories. Kodansha has compiled four of Mizuki’s World War II manga stories, including “White Flag,” into a book also titled White Flag, which the publisher released in 2010.

The NHK documentary will show the anime based on Mizuki’s original story, as well as research on both American and Japanese reports of a raised white flag and a surrender.

The Battle of Iwo Jima was fought at the tail end of the Second World War, with American forces landing in February 1945. The island saw fierce fighting for about a month, and sporadic fighting with holdout forces for months afterward. For the first time since American forces conducted amphibious landings against Japanese forces in the Pacific campaign, American casualties outnumbered Japanese casualties, despite American forces vastly outnumbering Japanese defenses. Joe Rosenthal took his iconic “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima” photograph of six U.S. marines raising the U.S. flag to claim victory on the island’s Mount Suribachi. American forces eventually built an airfield on the island, which hosted bombers that would later go on to bomb military and civilian targets on the Japanese home islands for months before the war’s ultimate end.

Mizuki was born in Osaka in 1922, and he grew up in Tottori Prefecture. He was drafted into the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, where he injured — and later lost — his left arm. He penned multiple manga based on his experiences in World War II, such as Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths and Watashi no Hibi.

Mizuki was famous for his manga about yōkai — Japanese supernatural creatures. His manga and research into yōkai is largely responsible for the popularity that yōkai stories have today.

Mizuki died on November 30, 2015.

Sources: NHK, Comic Natalie

Ueda voices Militaria Remote, Inada voices Dark Dragon in show’s 8th episode next week

The staff of the television anime of Koneko Hoshitsuki‘s The Villager of Level 999 (Level 999 no Murabito) light novel series revealed two new cast members for the anime on Friday. The new cast members will play characters who will both appear in the anime’s eighth episode next Thursday.

Yōji Ueda as Militaria Remote

Tetsu Inada as Dark Dragon

The anime debuted on TV Tokyo on July 1 at 24:00 JST (effectively July 2 at 12:00 a.m. JST), then on BS Fuji on July 2 at 24:30 JST (effectively July 3 at 12:30 a.m. JST). The anime is also streaming exclusively on the ABEMA and DMM TV streaming services in Japan. Crunchyroll is streaming the anime as it airs in Japan.

The anime stars:

Yoshinobu Kasai (180-Byō de Kimi no Mimi o Shiawase ni Dekiru ka?, Aru Asa Dummy Head Mike ni Natteita Ore-kun no Jinsei) is directing the anime at Brains Base. Shinzō Fujita (The World Is Still Beautiful, To Your Eternity) is in charge of series composition. Kentarō Matsumoto (D-Frag!, Grimms Notes the Animation, In/Spectre) is designing the characters. Hiroshi Nakamura is composing the music.

The story is set in a world of swords and sorcery called Earthqualia, where everyone is born with a designated “class” or role. The story centers on Koji Kagami, born into the weakest “villager” class, but is level 999 despite that. Koji has a chance meeting with Alice, the daughter of the demon lord, and together, they seek to find a way for humans and demons to co-exist.

Hoshitsuki serialized the original story on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website from July to December 2018, along with a side story in 2019. Kadokawa published the first print volume of the story with illustrations by fuumi in May 2016. The eighth and final novel volume shipped in January 2019.

Kenichi Iwamoto launched a manga adaptation of the novels in Kadokawa‘s Comp Ace magazine in May 2017. Kadokawa published the manga’s 21st compiled book volume on July 23.

Sources: Press release, The Villager of Level 999 anime’s website, Comic Natalie

The official website for the television anime of writer Hamuo and illustrator Mo‘s Hell Mode – The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing (Hell Mode – Yarikomi Suki no Gamer wa Hai Settei no Isekai de Musō Suru) light novel series unveiled more cast members for the second season on Friday. The new cast members include (Note: Character name romanizations are not official):

Yuuki Sanpei as Sigur, the supreme general of Rosenheim

Yasuyuki Kase as Lukidral, a general of Rosenheim

Kō Bonkobara as Gatoruga, the spirit summoner of Rosenheim

Satoshi Tsuruoka as Graster, a high-rank demon

Takaaki Torashima as Neftira, a long-range demon

Shinya Takahashi as Yagof, a demon with hyena-like vision

The cast members for the second season include:

Masato Tamagawa (Saint Seiya: Saintia Shō, The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt, The Great Cleric) returns to direct the new saeson at Yokohama Animation Lab. Daishiro Tanimura (Magical Destroyers) is also back in charge of the series scripts. Kei Tsushima (The Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These) is designing the characters again. Misaki Tsuchida, Junko Nakajima, Reiko Abe, Moyu Kanazaki, Kaho Sawada, Kanade Sakuma, BeauDamian, and Tsugumi Tanaka are all composing the music again, alongside Shūichirō Fukuhiro, Mayo Kurihara, and Shin Miki. 

Romanha Marshmallow performs the new opening theme song “○✕△□”. 

The series debuted on the Tokyo MX channel on July 3 at 25:00 (effectively, July 4 at 1:00 a.m.), and it is also running on MBS, BS NTV, and AT-X. HIDIVE is streaming the anime as it airs in Japan.

The anime’s first season debuted on television on January 9 at 25:05 (effectively January 10 at 1:05 a.m.), before airing later that night on MBS. The anime then aired on BS NTV on January 11 at 12:00 a.m.). The anime debuted on ABEMA and d Anime Store on January 9 at 25:35 (effectively January 10 at 1:35 a.m.). The anime then debuted streaming on U-NEXT and Anime Hōdai on January 12. HIDIVE streamed the anime as it aired, and it is also streaming an English dub.

Hamuo launched the story on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website in November 2019, and the story is ongoing. Earth Star Entertainment began publishing the series in print in July 2020.

Tetta launched the ongoing manga on Comic Earth Star in October 2020.

Sources: Hell Mode anime’s website, Comic Natalie