Anime based on classic 'Crime Reports in Edo' novels premieres in January

The staff of Onihei , the television anime adaptation of Shōtarō Ikenami's Onihei Crime Reports in Edo (Onihei Hankachō or Onihei, the Devilish Bureau Chief) novel series, revealed the anime's main cast and second key visual on Friday. The staff also announced that the series will premiere in January 2017.

Kenyuu Horiuchi (Joker Game's Lieutenant Colonel Yūki, Re:Zero's Wilhelm van Astrea) will play the protagonist Heizō Hasegawa. Romi Park (Fullmetal Alchemist's Edward Elric, Attack on Titan's Hanji) will play Omasa, a female spy who loves Heizō. Daisuke Namikawa (Lupin the Third's Goemon Ishikawa, Persona 4: The Animation' s Yū Narukami) will play Heizō's son Tatsuzō.

Shigeyuki Miya ( Buzzer Beater , Lupin the 3rd: Green vs Red , Blood Lad ) is directing the anime and also designing the characters. Studio M2, the new studio of Madhouse and MAPPA founder Masao Maruyama, is animating the project. Maruyama is producing, and TMS Entertainment is credited with production. Onihei will be the first Ikenami work adapted into anime.

The historical novel series depicts Heizō Hasegawa, who metes justice on wrongdoers and supervises the crackdown on arsonists and robbers in Japan's Edo period (1603-1868). Maruyama commented that the anime will not just follow the original novel's story, but will show the unique appeal of anime.

Ikenami serialized the story in Bungeishunju's Ōru Yomimono novel magazine from 1967 to 1989, and Bungeishunju published 19 volumes for the main story. Later paperback reprints divide the story into 24 volumes. The serialized novels inspired the first live-action television adaptation in 1969, as well as three subsequent series and a 1995 live-action film.