Souten Kouro Historical Manga Gets Anime

Well, what do you know: the classic Chinese historical novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is getting yet another anime adaptation. This time, however, we're dealing with a much more loyal (albeit less lolicious) interpretation of the story, than that new Koihime Musou TV series I just wrote about. And to get to the point, it's the Souten Kouro historical manga that's been revealed to get a TV anime series, starting in April 2009.



The news surfaced from the personal blog of Masatsugu Shinozaki - violinist, composer and producer, whose work can be heard in Haibane Renmei and Wolf's Rain. More staff names became known through a recruitment notice for key animators from the Japan Animation Creators Association, and if interested you can check them out on ANN. Suffice to say here that studio Madhouse is taking care of the animation, which will be airing on a late-night TV spot.

The manga was originally authored by Hagin Yi, but after his death in 1998, illustrator King Gonta continued the story - which, by the way, distinguishes itself from other Three Kingdoms manga / anime adaptations, by focusing on the antagonist Cao Cao, instead of the more traditional hero Liu Bei. After being serialized from 1994 to 2005, the manga was ultimately compiled into 36 volumes, and sold around 10 million copies. May the anime be just as impressive as that figure.