New cast members as well as two new key visuals were unveiled Sunday on the official website for the Strike the Blood vampire franchise. The new cast members are:

· Saya Aizawa as Shizuri Castiella Kasugaya

· Ayaka Asai as Yuno Amase

· Seiichiro Yamashita as Rui Miyazumi

· Soma Saito as The Blood

The two new key visuals each feature Kojo Akatsuki with two different girls: (the OG) Yukina Himeragi, and a new character named Shizuri Castiella Kasugaya.

The website also announced that the first two-episode Strike the Blood IV home video release has been delayed from March 25 to April 8, 2020. The other releases are set to follow the previously-announced schedules: June 24, September 30, December 23, March 24, 2021, and June 30, 2021.

In addition to Strike the Blood IV news, the official website also unveiled a new promotional video for the upcoming special Strike the Blood Kieta Seisou-hen (Disappearing Holy Lance Arc). Set for a January 29 release, this is the first OVA in the franchise that features an original story not featured in the Strike the Blood’s original light novel series. Check out the PV here!

Both projects will be handled by the same staff, which includes Hideyo Yamamoto directing for studio CONNECT. Yamamoto directed previous seasons of Strike the Blood. Also onboard is Hiroyuki Yoshino who will be writing the scripts, as well as Assumed Sounds for music composition. The opening theme song will be performed by Kishida Kyodan & the Akeboshi Rockets, while the ED theme will be performed by Risa Taneda.

Strike the Blood is a light novel series written by Gakuto Mikumo with illustrations by Manyako. It was first published in 2011 and eventually received a manga adaptation in 2012. In 2013, Silver Link and CONNECT adapted the series into a 24-episode TV anime that aired from October 2013 to March 2014. Two OVA seasons followed in 2015 and 2016, and the third OVA season shipped in five installments starting December 2018.

Anime News Network describes the series’ story as such:

“The school action fantasy story of Strike The Blood begins with Kojō Akatsuki, a boy deemed the “fourth progenitor” — the world’s most powerful vampire, once thought to only exist in legend and lore. In the Itogamijima special zone for demons, a girl named Yukina Himeragi is entrusted with watching over the vampire and if needed, hunting him down.”

Source: Anime News Network