Upcoming manga-themed TV anime Draw This, Then Die! has gotten its first main trailer, which shows off the members of the Manga Research Club and previews the newly announced opening song “Isho” by Tatsuya Kitani. A July 3 broadcast start date was also revealed.
Draw This, Then Die!, an adaptation of the manga by Minoru Toyoda, sees a manga fan becoming an aspiring creator after unexpected events. Hiroaki Akagi (The Dangers in My Heart) is directing the show at Shin-Ei Animation, with the cast including Akira Sekine as Ai Yasumi, Saori Hayami as Rei Teshima, and Saya Hitomi as Kokoro Fujimori.
Seven Seas Entertainment describes the manga’s synopsis as such:
To be an artist is to sacrifice everything for your craft! One wannabe manga artist is about to experience the reality of being a creator when she decides to jump into the world of manga. The award-winning manga series about the ups and downs of creating manga and being an artist—soon to be an anime!
Yasumi Ai, a first-year high schooler living on the remote island of Izu Ōshima, has one obsession: manga. When she discovers that her long-idolized but reclusive favorite manga creator, Hoshino-sensei, will make a rare appearance at Comitia, Ai doesn’t hesitate—she has to meet her hero. But that single decision sets off a chain of encounters that will shatter her assumptions about art, genius, and what it truly means to create.
Winner of the 16th Manga Taisho Award and the 70th Shogakukan Manga Award—now an anime in the making!
The manga began in 2021 and has eight volumes as of 2025. It is serialized in Shogakukan’s shonen magazine Gessan (Gekkan Sunday).
Production credits
• Director: Hiroaki Akagi (The Dangers in My Heart)
• Series composer: Hiroko Fukuda (You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story)
• Character designer Kenji Sagawa (UniteUp! sub-character designer)
• Animation production: Shin-Ei Animation
Cast
• Akira Sekine as Ai Yasumi
• Saori Hayami as Rei Teshima
• Saya Hitomi as Kokoro Fujimori
• Kanon Fujimura as Sachi Akafuku
• Inori Minase as Hikaru Sekiryu