The dark fantasy series is adapted from Rocket Shokai’s light novels.
The upcoming dark fantasy action anime, Sentenced to Be a Hero was postponed from an October 2025 release to a January 2026 release a few weeks ago. In the latest update, three new characters and their voice cast members were announced by the social media accounts of the anime, along with a new key visual. Fans are getting excited for the gritty series.
Sentenced to Be a Hero new cast, staff, and other details
The three new cast members are:
- Norgalle Senridge voiced by Yoji Ueda (Eisen in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Drive Knight in One-Punch Man)
- Tatsuya voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Inosuke Hashibara in Demon Slayer, Jingo Raichi in Blue Lock)
- Tsav voiced by Jun Fukushima (Kazuma Sato in KonoSuba, Clothes from Undead Unluck)
Previously announced main and additional cast members of the series includes:
- Xylo Forbartz voiced by Yōhei Akazami
- Teoritta voiced by Mayu Iizuka
- Patausche Kivia voiced by Shizuka Ishigami
- Dotta Luzulas voiced by Shun Horie
- Venetim Leopool voiced by Shun’ichi Toki
Studio KAI is producing the anime series with Hiroyuki Takashima as the director. Yoshitake Nakakoji is the assistant director and creature designer while Kenta Ikara is in charge of series composition and scripts. Takeru Noda is designing the characters while Shunsuke Takizawa composes the music.
The anime is based on a light novel series titled Sentenced to Be a Hero: The Prison Records of Penal Hero Unit 9004, written by Rocket Shokai and illustrated by Mephisto. A manga adaptation of the work is also being published. Yen Press publishes the novel in English and describes the story as:
Heroism—a punishment for only the worst criminals. Those sentenced to the fate of a hero are forced to fight on the front lines against deadly centers of contagion that rot the land and turn its creatures into roving armies of violent beasts. And if a hero dies, their only reward is being brought back to life so they can continue the never-ending battle. But when Xylo Forbartz, a member of Penal Hero Unit 9004 and a convicted goddess killer, comes face-to-face with a new goddess, the pact they forge might just be enough to change the world…
