The TV anime adaptation of Umihoshi Nanai's manga Wound & Bandage (Kizuguchi to Hotai) has revealed its main cast and premiere date. The official site and X account posted the first theme visual and teaser PV yesterday (October 16th), and confirmed that Hisako Kanemoto will play Riyo Washizu and Chikahiro Kobayashi will play Go Kiritani. The anime debuts in Japan in January (January 9th), with J.C.Staff handling the animation.
The teaser is the first in a set the staff is calling the "Love" edition. It pieces together memorable scenes from the manga, built around the relationship between Kiritani, "the one who is wounded," and Riyo, "the one who wraps the wound." It also includes Riyo cheerfully telling Kiritani to relax because she is going to wipe down his body. Check it out below:
This is only the start of the rollout. The official site says the anime will reveal a new theme visual, a new PV, and more cast every week for four weeks in a row, starting with this one.
A Yakuza Romcom With A Very Specific Fetish
The story takes place inside the Washizu Family, a yakuza syndicate that controls the entire Kanto region. Kiritani is the young head of the Kurotori Society, one of the Washizu Family's direct affiliates, and he gets ordered to look after the boss's daughter, Riyo. He assumes she is just a quiet kid and that the job will be easy.
Riyo turns out to have a special fetish. She gets excited by seeing strong people when they are weak, a preference she has named "Yowaraa" herself. The official site bills the series as a forbidden, special fetish romantic comedy between a young lady and a young yakuza captain, and one that asks every viewer what their own fetish is.
The theme visual for the "Love" edition is a new illustration of the two leads, with Kiritani in a dark shirt and glasses standing beside Riyo in her school uniform.
Cast Comments
Kanemoto is well known for roles like the title character in Squid Girl, Erina Nakiri in Food Wars!, and Ami Mizuno in Sailor Moon Crystal. In her comment, she said the characters' expressions were one of her favorite things about the series. "I approached the role hoping to convey their cute faces, their perfectly awkward faces, and their colorful inner lives through my voice," she said. She also said the characters' clumsy sides become even more endearing as the series bounces back and forth between love, comedy, and fetishes, and she ended by asking fans, "Do you have a fetish?"
Kobayashi, who voices Sugimoto in Golden Kamuy and Legoshi in Beastars, had a lighter take. "It's finally here!" he said. He explained that the show is recorded in the morning and that, maybe thanks to all the shouting, he feels energetic for the rest of the day. "I'm sure everyone who watches it will feel energized for the day too. (Although for a Yowaraa, it might have the opposite effect, lol)."
Staff, Broadcast, And Streaming
Miyuki Ishida is directing the anime at J.C.Staff, and it is her first time directing a TV series. She has worked on a long list of J.C.Staff productions, including episode direction on One Punch Man and the role of assistant director on Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive?, the series where Kanemoto voices Sakura Natsume. Susumu Yamakawa is writing the scripts, and Natsuki Oyama, the character designer on Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive?, is designing the characters. J.C.Staff is no stranger to yakuza comedy either, since the studio also made The Way of the Househusband.
The anime airs on ABC TV and TV Asahi's nationwide ANiMAZiNG!!! block every Saturday at 26:00, which is effectively 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, starting January 9th. AT-X gets an early broadcast that same night at 11:00 p.m., and ABEMA has the first stream every Saturday at 26:30. The anime also opened an official TikTok account with the announcement. No international streaming partner has been announced yet.
The two ABC Animation producers behind the project shared their excitement when the anime was first announced back in July. They said their first reaction to the manga was "This is so good!" and "We found an incredible manga!", and that they promised each other right then that they would be the ones to adapt it. They also teased that they have "prepared all kinds of tricks" for the anime.
About The Manga
Wound & Bandage began as a one-shot that spread across social media. Nanai then launched it as a series on Kodansha's Monthly Magazine Base label on the Comic Days app in August 2024, where it updates every other week. Kodansha released the fifth volume back in July (July 16th). In a comment for the anime announcement, Nanai said they drew the original one-shot with one goal in mind: "Let's launch one big, weirdly shaped firework and call it done." Nanai added that their past self would have assumed news of an anime was a lie.
Does a yakuza romcom built around Riyo's Yowaraa fetish sound like your next favorite comedy, or is this one a little too strange for your watchlist?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.