The official website for the television anime adaptation of Aito Aoyagi‘s Akazukin, Tabi no Tochuu de Shitai to Deau. (Red Riding Hood: A Detective Story) novel revealed additional cast, staff, first key visual (pictured), and first promotional video on Monday. The anime is scheduled to premiere in January 2027 on Tokyo MX, BS-NTV, and Yomiuri TV.

Cast

Jill: Takuya Satou (Super no Ura de Yani Suu Futari)

Antonio: Atsushi Tamaru (Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru)

Rodrigo: Motoko Kumai (Cardcaptor Sakura)

Paolo: Koutarou Nishiyama (Tougen Anki)

Oyayubi-hime: Sakiko Uran (Toriko)

Narrator: Ryouko Shiraishi (Fumetsu no Anata e)

Staff

Main Animator: Ryouta Tamura (Oroka na Tenshi wa Akuma to Odoru), Satoru Kiyomaru (Dead Mount Death Play chief animation director), Shunsuke Masuda (Babanbabanban Vampire chief animation director), Yasuhiro Iwabuchi (Reincarnation no Kaben animation director)

Prop Design: Jazzline Monteron (Reincarnation no Kaben animation director)

Karakuri Design: Yoshinori Iwanaga (Hyouken no Majutsushi ga Sekai wo Suberu creature design)

Art: Totonyan

Art Director: Izumi Hoki (Mao), Hiroshi Katou (Kidou Senshi Gundam: GQuuuuuuX)

Art Design: Hiroshi Katou, Yuichi Asami (Rock wa Lady no Tashinami deshite)

Color Design: Chie Yoshimura (Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight)

Assistant Color Designer: Yumi Toriyama (Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu color setting)

Special Effects: Tomomi Ishihara (Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou)

Director of Photography: Rieko Koike (Chanto Suenai Kyuuketsuki-chan)

Editor: Daisuke Hiraki (Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi)

Sound Director: Itsurou Kawasaki (Kumichou Musume to Sewagakari)

Music: Jun Ichikawa (Danjo no Yuujou wa Seiritsu suru? (Iya, Shinai!!))

Music Production: Pony Canyon

Itsurou Kawasaki is directing the anime as well as penning the script at BENTEN Film. Manami Minakata (Babanbabanban Vampire sub-character design) and Yuuko Yahiro (Aharen-san wa Hakarenai) are designing the characters.

Aoyagi published the comedy mystery novel through Futabasha in August 2020. The fourth volume went on sale in July 2025.

Kanoka Tana drew a manga adaptation from January 2023 to May 2025. It was first serialized in Monthly Action magazine before being transferred to Web Action. The fourth and final volume was published by Futabasha in June 2025.

PV

Source: Oricon News

The staff for the television anime of Aito Aoyagi‘s Akazukin, Tabi no Tochū de Shitai to Deau (Red Riding Hood: A Detective Story, or literally Little Red Riding Hood Encounters a Dead Body During Her Journey.) novel revealed on Monday the anime’s first trailer, first key visual, additional cast and staff members, and January 2027 debut. 

The newly announced cast members are (image above from top left to bottom right):

Additional staff members include:

The anime will debut in January 2027 on the Tokyo MX, BS NTV, and Yomiuri TV channels. Crunchyroll also confirmed that it will stream the anime worldwide excluding Asia.

The anime will have its world premiere at New York Comic Con on October 9.

Pony Canyon describes the story:

On the outskirts of town lived a girl called “Red Riding Hood.”
One day, she found herself forced to embark on a journey for a certain purpose.
Strangely enough, however, she kept getting swept up in incident after incident along the way.
Using her innate curiosity and clever mind, Red Riding Hood set about solving each mystery.

“Why is your criminal plan so sloppy?”

This is the world of a fairy tale everyone knows—.

The anime will star Yume Miyamoto as Red Riding Hood, and Akira Sekine as Pinocchio.

Itsurō Kawasaki (Baban Baban Ban Vampire, Cardfight!! Vanguard, Lady Jewelpet) is directing the anime at Benten Film, and is also writing the script. Manami Minakata (Baban Baban Ban Vampire sub-character designer, Grendizer U episode animation director) and Yūko Yahiro (Aharen-san wa Hakarenai, Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 2) are designing the characters. Izumi Hoki (Detective Conan: Zero’s Tea Time, MAO) and Hiroshi Katō (2003 Astro Boy, Barakamon) are the art directors, Tomoe Yoshimura (The Heike Story, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt) is in charge of color setting, Rieko Koike (Baban Baban Ban Vampire, Diabolik Lovers) is the compositing director of photography, and Daisuke Hiraki (Backflip!!, Bocchi the Rock!) is the editor.

Futabasha published Aoyagi’s novel in August 2020.

Tanakanoka launched the novel’s manga adaptation in Futabasha‘s Monthly Action magazine in January 2023, where it serialized until the magazine ceased publication in February 2024. The manga then moved to Futabasha‘s Web Action manga website in April 2024. The manga ended with its fourth compiled book volume, which shipped in June 2025.

The novel also inspired a live-action movie adaptation that streamed worldwide on Netflix in 2023. Kanna Hashimoto starred in the movie as Little Red Riding Hood.  

Sources: Red Riding Hood: A Detective Story anime’s website, Comic Natalie

I was excited to see where Rosemyne’s predicament in the previous episode of Ascendance of a Bookworm might lead her, what with a finale seeming poised to punctuate it. And the show delivers, with a technically dense finish that at first seems abrupt in its resolution—only to reveal that there’s more still to happen…then more…then actually more than could be shown in a typical time frame. Bookworm is playing with its previous schedules for events and the montage-based accelerating over elements in earlier parts of this season. The result is a very technically interesting finale that pays off what it sets up and how, even as I think it lacks a bit of breathing room to let the audience really take in the emotional toll of the time spent.

The immediate occurrence carries on right after last week’s episode. Grandpa’s still not done after punching people out of existence, so he readily yeets himself out of a nearby window and speeds to Rosemyne’s rescue right after she’s been knocked out by poison. This is his big moment after his standoffish nature and uncertain disposition were teased around Rosemyne before. Though now I get the impression the reason he was really told to keep his distance from her was that…Grandpa’s kind of a lummox. He’s brutally efficient at chasing bad guys down and slinging spells to take them out, but a bit of an oaf when it comes to the delicate task of freeing Rosemyne from the captivity of a burlap bag. Swinging her around to send her soaring through the air with his overt strength is funny, but also mildly concerning. Please stop praying for my grandpa; you’re making him too strong, etc.

Thankfully Ferdinand is there to catch Rosemyne and take it from there. Around here is where I felt the whole action-packed kidnapping escapade might be covered too briskly, but the writing quickly made it clear they weren’t out of the woods just yet. Having the knight guards round up the perpetrators was one thing, but it also turns out the poison Rosemyne ingested wasn’t simply some crazy purple knockout gas—it was actual poison taking rapid effect, necessitating Ferdinand to make his own snap decisions. It didn’t take long before some of the other set-up subplots converged, and I figured out that Rosemyne’s ingesting of the jureve and the necessary long nap would be the result to carry this series into its next phase.

It’s a smart way of using the often clinical manner of Bookworm‘s explanations to catch the audience off guard. Not only is Rosemyne taking the jureve not happening on her own planned schedule, but the complications of the poison and her own manifold mana mean that she winds up sleeping for way longer than the previously prescribed amount of mere weeks. First it’s a year, then it goes on for over two years. And the abruptness of the setup factors into the feelings it’s supposed to elicit. The audience barely has time to grasp the situation, and it’s by comparison that those in the various layers of Rosemyne’s orbit are similarly blindsided.

It creates the opportunity for a very unique take on the old storytelling mechanic of the timeskip: the two years pass to take Rosemyne to this new section of story and status quo, but while the viewers don’t get all the information in between, they’re not totally knocked out into the dark like she is. Rosemyne is spending time renovating her mind-palace in an adorable visual metaphor, keeping her in view while reminding us of how isolated she is from the rest of the plot now. Time is seen passing, with glimpses of characters going about their daily lives while she’s out, all while Ferdinand dutifully watches over her, impatiently grumbling about how long she’s taking to come to, while clearly concerned enough to regularly return to her side. Right, those into the taboo gaps precluding a potential Ferdinand/Rosemyne coupling will be feasting on all the concerned carrying and caring this episode. For those who see it as an adoptive pseudo-parental role, it’s still a very sweet depiction of the meaningful connection.

Part of the fun of timeskips is catching up with all the characters after the interim. While there are a few updates for Rosemyne (Damuel and Brigitte didn’t get together after all, man!), it’s positively skimmed over in favor of prepping her for her trip to magical prep school! That is abrupt, and knowingly undercuts a lot of the emotional payoff this setup could have been leading to. The anime even shows her previous Myne-era family rejoicing at the news of her reawakening (look how big Kamil has gotten!) before immediately noting that the magic school plot means they won’t get to see her for a while. Never mind the way it shortchanges the sense of plotting that was built up before this. I have to give the series the benefit of the doubt that the finer details will be filled out later, but as-is it really makes it feel like nothing much happened while Rosemyne was indisposed. Really, there were no other attempts at power plays or political undermining from other factions while she was out? Nothing? I’m not sure how hard this vibe with everyone is pushed in the original novels, but here in the anime, it unfortunately feels in line with the accelerationist pacing that defined this phase of the adaptation.

Granted, that’s a brisk undercut that can be covered for in the forthcoming next-part adaptation. Starting a fresh story arc is a great place to also spend space catching Rosemyne and the viewers up with everything else she missed. In the moment, this is a cleverly constructed finale that uses its status as a finale in this specific show smartly. I love little details like the stack of new books that grows in number next to Rosemyne’s sleeping body while waiting for her to wake up. And the emotional investment from characters like her grandfather and especially the concern of Ferdinand was there. It’s just that, as with so many stories in Ascendance of a Bookworm and especially the finales I’ve covered, it felt a bit overstuffed. Still, it means there’s plenty to look forward to catching up to with that next season.

Rating:

Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.

Chris is back to hit the books. You can see him posting about anime, transforming robots, and other quality reading material over on his BlueSky.