A new Shonen Jump anime is gearing up to make its debut with Netflix later this month, and has set its English dub voice cast ahead of its big premiere. It’s been a great season for anime thus far as the Spring 2026 anime schedule has been on fire ever since many of the shows made their debuts back in April. There have been a few Shonen Jump franchises that have gotten their anime adaptations this Spring, but there has been one where fans have been waiting to see a much wider release for.
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That’s been the case for Yuki Suenaga and Takamasa Moue’s Akane-banashi. It was one of the more anticipated new anime releases of the Spring 2026 schedule, but has been under the radar the past few weeks because it’s only been available for watching on YouTube so far. But as it gets ready for its Netflix debut on May 17th, Akane-banashi has confirmed who is going to be bringing its English dub cast to life. You can get the breakdown below.
When Does Akane-banashi Stream on Netflix?
Akane-banashi will be making its premiere on Netflix on May 17th with its first two episodes. The English dub will feature Alex Von David as ADR Director and ADR Writer, and is lead by Abby Trott as Akane Osaki. The cast also includes Xander Mobus as Shinta Arakawa, Rebecca Wang as Masaki Osaki, Brook Chalmers as Shiguma Arakawa, Evan Michael Lee as Issho Arakawa, Rich Brown as Zensho Arakawa, Kirk Thornton as Ikken Arakawa/Yanagiya, Mona Marshall as Yoshino, Clifford Chapin as Kimihisa Kashio/Emcee, Dorah Fine as Mrs. Ozaki, Matt Shipman as Kaisei Arakawa, and Darius Marquis Johnson as Guriko Arakawa.
If you wanted to check out the series right now, you can find the Japanese release with the official Akane-banashi Global channel on YouTube if you’re in North America or Latin America territories. Ayumu Watanabe directs the anime for studio ZEXCS with Yu Harima serving as assistant director, Kii Tanaka providing character designs, Michihiro Tsuchiya overseeing the scripts, Kikuhiko Hayashiya supervising its Rakugo, and Akio Izutsu composing the music. And it’s a series that Shonen Jump fans have been curious to see how it makes the jump to anime.
What Is Akane-banashi?
Akane-banashi has quietly been one of the best manga series to make its debut with Shonen Jump in the last few years, and introduces fans to the art of Rakugo. Putting an action flavored twist on the performance art, the series stars Akane as she gets into the world of Rakugo in order to get revenge for her father, who failed to make a name for himself as a Rakugo artist before. It’s one that fans have been asking to see an anime for the last few years.
It’s not as explosive or wacky as some of the other Shonen Jump anime debuts that we’ll get to see over the course of the year, but you should check it out nonetheless. The English dub is going to have the arduous task of taking that Rakugo and translating it into an entirely different kind of performance, so fans are going to want to keep an eye out to see how this cast pulls it all off.
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