A Stacked Roster of Rivals Joins the Court
Dodge Danko isn't messing around with its villain lineup. Studio CUE's adaptation has added six voice actors to play rival team captains and key opponents, and the roster reads like an anime all-star game.
Fairouz Ai (Jolyne Cujoh in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, Power in Chainsaw Man) voices Zoe, captain of the US Buffaloes — an American team trained at a "super-dodgeball player development center" whose signature move is the Touchdown Shot. Sumire Uesaka (Lum in Urusei Yatsura) plays Mikasa Hako, the tall but timid captain of the Tamakawa Dodgeball Club who can sense incoming shots without looking. Mariya Ise (Killua in Hunter x Hunter) rounds out the heaviest hitters as Midō Ran, the enigmatic captain of the Black Armors who was thrown into death-match dodgeball as a child and now harbors a deep hatred for the sport.
The remaining additions are Nakamura Kanna as Hiura Satsumi (Tamakawa's speed-focused vice-captain), Yuka Iguchi (Index in A Certain Magical Index) as Igarashi Jūri of the Sei Arrows team, and Satomi Akesaka as Sakamoto Ryūka, captain of the Tosa Attackers from Kōchi.
Momoiro Clover Z Brings the Heat
The opening theme is "Kaishin no Ichigeki" (roughly "A Stunning Play") by idol group Momoiro Clover Z — and the tie-in goes deeper than a standard anime song deal. According to Animate Times, original manga creator Koshita Tetsuhiro is a massive Momoclo fan and actually modeled Dodge Danko's characters after the group's members. The connection predates the anime: member Reni Takagi previously voiced Kobutsu Chinko in the manga's augmented-reality voice app.
Momoclo's Kanako Momota shared a message calling the tie-in "exciting and a little surreal," adding that she sang the OP "as if cheering Danko on and fighting alongside her."
The ending theme is "Welcome to Azatosa World" by i☆Ris, with both songs featured in the newly released main PV on avex pictures' YouTube channel.
What Is Dodge Danko?
For the uninitiated: Dodge Danko is the direct sequel to Honoo no Tōkyūji Dodge Danpei, a dodgeball manga that ran in Coro Coro Comic from 1989 to 1995 and spawned a TV anime. The new series stars Ichigeki Danko — daughter of protagonist Danpei — who inherits her father's fighting spirit and enters the world of "tōkyū," a hyperbolized combat dodgeball sport. The manga by Koshita Tetsuhiro currently runs on Shogakukan's web platform Weekly Coro Coro Comic.
The anime is directed by Hakushi Ikehata (Dark Gathering) with series composition by Ippo Hyōdō and character design by Naruto Sekigawa. The previously announced main cast includes Manaka Nakayama as Danko, Kaori Maeda as Kobutsu Chinko, and Noriko Hidaka pulling double duty as narrator and young Danpei.
Looking Ahead
Dodge Danko premieres Monday, July 6, 2026 on TOKYO MX, MBS, and BS11. The OP single and ED single both release July 15, with manga volumes 7 and 8 hitting shelves on July 6 to coincide with the broadcast launch.
No international streaming partner has been announced yet. Given avex pictures' involvement as distributor, Crunchyroll or another major platform picking up the series remains plausible but unconfirmed. The source manga has no English publication as of this writing.