The official website for the Bless television anime, based on the manga by Yukino Sonoyama, unveiled its first full promotional video and a new key visual on Saturday. The video confirms the anime will premiere on January 8 and offers a preview of the ending theme song “New Page” performed by HIKKA.

Story

Bless is an inspirational fashion manga that poses sharp questions about what it truly means to be beautiful. Aia was told she was born to be a model, while Jun was bullied over her freckles. Together, the two reclaim the power to define themselves against a system that seems to value innate talent over hard work.

Cast

• Tomohiro Ōno as Aia Udagawa
• Chiyuki Miura as Jun Sumisaki
• Nobuhiko Okamoto as Ginga Yoyogi
• Yoshino Aoyama as Oroka Sumeragi
• Momoka Terasawa as Shitataka Sumeragi
• Kentarō Kumagai as MM
• Yoshiki Nakajima as Joe Osaki
• Kōki Uchiyama as Akiharu Nakano
• Tarusuke Shingaki as Hikaru Oya

Staff

The anime is produced at A-1 Pictures under the direction of Shōtarō Kitamura (Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!), with Takayuki Kikuchi (episode director on Solo Leveling and Kaguya-sama: Love is War) serving as assistant director. Fukurou Kamiza (Non Non Biyori Nonstop) is handling series composition, while Honoka Yokoyama (Oshi no Ko Season 2, Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence) serves as both character designer and chief animation director. Tetsuya Kawakami (A Certain Magical Index, Sword Art Online) and Reina Iwasaki (VTuber Legend) are also chief animation directors. Music is composed by Ryō Yoshimata (Somali and the Forest Spirit, After the Rain).

Additional Staff

• Costume Design: Akane Takeda (A-1 Pictures)
• Prop Design: Takayuki Kidou
• Main Animators: Yūichirō Iida, Marina Kobayashi, Mirai Harashima (A-1 Pictures)
• Hair and Makeup Supervisor: Katsuyoshi Kojima (tron)
• Graphic Illustration: Kashimaki
• Color Design: Mana Hokuto (A-1 Pictures)
• Art Director: Risa Wakabayashi (A-1 Pictures)
• Background Art: Kiya Hirayoshi (A-1 Pictures)
• CG Director: Yuki Kuribayashi
• Director of Photography: Hideki Eto (EXPLOSION)
• Editing: Kiyoshi Hirose
• Sound Director: Kōhei Yoshida
• Sound Effects: Takuya Hasegawa

Streaming and Manga Details

Crunchyroll will stream the series worldwide, excluding Japan and China, beginning with its January debut.

Sonoyama launched the manga in Kodansha’s Shonen Magazine Edge in 2022, and it currently runs in Monthly Shonen Sirius. The ninth volume was released on October 8, and the series has surpassed 1.25 million copies in circulation. Kodansha USA Publishing released the seventh English-language volume on February 10, and the manga is also available digitally via the K MANGA service.

A live-action adaptation is also in the works, with Amazon Prime Video set to stream it exclusively worldwide in spring 2027.