The Boxer finally has its anime team: breccia and Studio JEMI animate, with Koki Uchiyama as Yu and Tomokazu Seki as trainer K
Three and a half years after it was first announced, the TV anime of JH's Korean boxing webtoon revealed its cast, directors and studios at Crunchyroll's New York Comic Con showcase.
When an anime of The Boxer was first announced in April 2023, it came with almost nothing attached. That changed during Crunchyroll's showcase at this year's New York Comic Con, where a special announcement trailer arrived together with the four lead voices, the directors and the studios behind the TV series.
Koki Uchiyama (Blue Lock) plays Yu, a 17-year-old so worn down by bullying that he can slip any punch yet lets the blows land, seeing no point in protecting himself. Tomokazu Seki (Jujutsu Kaisen) is K, an aging coach with several champions to his name who spots in Yu the "final disciple" he has been hunting for. Kensho Ono (Vinland Saga) voices Ryu Baeksan, a gifted fighter who becomes Yu's first opponent, and Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Bungo Stray Dogs) is J, a retired great of the sport. Crunchyroll's logline sums up the tension at the heart of it: "A talent bestowed upon a monster. Is it a blessing—or a curse?"
Two studios, two countries
Animation is shared between breccia, the company Muneki Ogasawara set up after helping start Kinema Citrus, and STUDIO JEMI from Korea, while HAYATE oversees production. Directing duties are split by Takehiro Kubota (My Happy Marriage) and Won Yeong Kang, who previously handled main animation on Cardfight!! Vanguard overDress. Toshiya Ono (The Promised Neverland) is writing, and Made in Abyss veteran Masahiro Suwa is on character designs. Crunchyroll, Naver Webtoon and XTORM are among the co-producers.
It is one of the first projects to come out of a deal in which HAYATE, Crunchyroll and LINE Digital Frontier plan to turn around 15 WEBTOON titles into anime; The Remarried Empress is another.
From Naver to the ring
JH (Jeong Ji-hoon) serialized the webtoon on Naver Webtoon from December 2019 until 2022, and it has drawn more than 1.06 billion views worldwide. English readers followed it on Webtoon from May 2020, and Yen Press announced a print license at Anime Expo 2022. In Japan it ran on LINE Manga and has been reformatted into Shueisha Jump Comics volumes.
Crunchyroll will stream the series, but no premiere season has been given yet. AniList currently lists the show at 12 episodes.
