A Tanuki With a Recruiting Pitch
The premise of Omae, Tanuki ni Naranee ka? sounds like a therapy session wrapped in folklore. A shapeshifting tanuki named Koganemaru leaves the mountains for the city with one mission: convince struggling humans to become tanuki. His targets aren't random — they're people on the edge. A woman standing at a railway crossing, an office worker who can't remember the last time she slept, a kid navigating school bullying and a fractured home life. By temporarily living as tanuki, each of them finds a way back to what matters.
The manga, serialized on the pixiv-based platform comic POOL and published by Ichijinsha, has run for nine collected volumes so far, with volume 10 due May 25, 2026. It placed fifth in the Web Manga division of the Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Taisho (Next Big Manga Award) in 2023 — a strong signal for an iyashikei series built more on quiet emotional beats than spectacle.
ABEMA TIMES reported the anime adaptation alongside the release of a teaser visual and the project's first trailer.
The Staff Behind the Adaptation
Nippon Animation handles the production — a studio with deep roots in warm, character-driven storytelling going back to the World Masterpiece Theater era. It's a natural fit for material this gentle.
Directing is Jun Kamiya (Hikaru no Go, Kingdom Season 1), who brings experience across both shonen action and quieter slice-of-life work like Let's Make a Mug Too. Masaki Wachi, who previously worked with Kamiya on Kingdom's first two seasons, writes series composition. Cocoro Takemoto (武本心) handles character design, with Minako Seki on music — another Kingdom veteran.
The overlap between staff is notable. Kamiya, Wachi, and Seki all worked together on Kingdom at Pierrot before reuniting here at Nippon Animation. Whether that chemistry translates from ancient Chinese battlefields to a tanuki's quiet mountain life is an open question, but the creative shorthand between them should help.
About the Manga
Creator Tomo Nagawa (奈川トモ) originally posted the story on Twitter and pixiv in August 2020 before it was picked up for official serialization on comic POOL in April 2021. The series has built its following largely through word of mouth and social media sharing — the kind of grassroots trajectory that tends to produce passionate fanbases.
Nagawa noted that partnering with Nippon Animation holds personal significance, describing the studio's works as formative to her own childhood. That kind of creator-studio alignment doesn't guarantee a great adaptation, but it suggests the tone is being taken seriously from the top down.
Looking Ahead
No broadcast window has been announced, and voice casting remains unrevealed — so the production is likely still in its early stages. The official website and the project's X account (@omatanu_anime) are the places to watch for updates.
On the source material side, the manga is not currently available in English from any licensed publisher. Given Ichijinsha's catalog and the series' growing profile, a localization announcement wouldn't be surprising if the anime gains traction internationally — but nothing is confirmed. No international streaming partner has been named either.
For now, the teaser trailer offers a first look at the anime's visual tone, and fans of quieter, emotionally grounded supernatural stories have a new title to keep on their radar.