Daken's light novel series How I Became King by Eating Monsters will be adapted into a television anime in 2027, with WHITE FOX producing the animation. Animate Times reported the official announcement, which also unveiled a teaser visual, on October 9, 2026.
The teaser visual shows the protagonist, Prince Mars, eating monster meat in the dark. In the story, Mars of the kingdom of Farune lives in fear of assassination, and because poison is planted in his meals, he hunts monsters in the forest outside the castle and eats their meat to hold off hunger. One night a red-haired woman carrying a great sword appears before him and tells him to become her disciple, and a single misunderstanding about his strength leaves him on a throne he never wanted.
Shiba, who illustrates the novels, is credited with the anime's original character designs. Animate Times notes that WHITE FOX's past work includes Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World and STEINS;GATE 0.
The novels and manga have more than 250,000 copies in circulation combined across the series, according to the announcement. In a comment, Daken said he had not imagined this at all: the work was the first serialized novel he posted to Shōsetsuka ni Narō, it went almost entirely unread at the time, and a contest entry he submitted through the site failed to clear the first round of screening. Shiba and manga artist Karin Suzuragi each sent a comment and a commemorative illustration.
Micro Magazine publishes the novels under its GCN Bunko label, with the seventh volume due on October 20, 2026. Hakusensha publishes Suzuragi's manga adaptation under its Young Animal Comics imprint, and volume 3 is due on October 29, 2026 at ¥759 including tax. Cross Infinite World publishes the series in English as How I Became King by Eating Monsters.