Sentai Filmworks Adds Fantasy Game Anime Log Horizon

North American anime licensing company Sentai Filmworks announced on Wednesday that it has licensed the Log Horizon television anime series. The company plans to release the series on home video in 2014. Crunchyroll is currently streaming the series in various countries outside of Japan as it airs.

The adaptation of Mamare Touno's novel begins when 30,000 Japanese gamers are trapped in the fantasy online game world Elder Tale. What was once a "sword-and-sorcery world" is now the "real world." Shiroe, Naotsugu, and Akasuki join together to survive.

The anime studio Satelight is producing the planned 25-episode series for airing on the public broadcaster NHK's E-Tele channel. Shinji Ishihira is directing the anime, and Toshizo Nemoto is charge of the series scripts. The series stars Takuma Terashima as Shiroe, Emiri Katō as Akatsuki, and Tomoaki Maeno as Naotsugu. The series also stars Jouji Nakata as Nyanta, Daiki Yamashita as Tōya, Nao Tamura as Minori, Tetsuya Kakihara as Lundellhaus, and Eriko Matsui as Isuzu.

Touno debuted his novel on the user-generated content site Shōsetsuka ni Narō in 2010. Motoya Matsu then launched his Log Horizon Gaiden Honey Moon Logs manga adaptation in ASCII Media Works' Monthly Comic Deneaki Daioh magazine last year. Kazuhiro Hara began serializing the main manga adaptation on Enterbrain's Famitsu Comic Clear website last year, and Koyuki began drawing another manga called Log Horizon ~Nishikaze no Ryodan~ in Fujimi Shobo's Age Premium website last year.

The series premiered in Japan on October 5.