HIDIVE confirmed earlier this week that Blade and Bastard, the highly anticipated new dark fantasy series, is officially joining the streaming service’s 2027 lineup. The show is adapted from Kumo Kagyu’s light novel series, which itself pulls from Wizardry, the legendary video game franchise that basically helped invent the modern role playing genre as we know it, meaning this anime has roleplaying royalty baked directly into its DNA.
Premiering sometime in 2027, the series will stream exclusively on HIDIVE for subscribers across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, so basically anywhere people enjoy suffering alongside fictional dungeon crawlers in the comfort of their own home.
The announcement arrived alongside the global release of the English subtitled teaser trailer, which dropped on HIDIVE’s YouTube channel for anyone who wants an early taste of what they are signing up for. HIDIVE President John Ledford expressed genuine excitement about bringing the series exclusively to the platform, calling it an action packed dark fantasy ride and promising fans plenty more updates as the premiere date approaches.
The premise alone is enough to hook anyone with a soft spot for grim, atmospheric storytelling. Deep within an unexplored dungeon, the corpse of a man named Iarumas turns up, and once he is resurrected he discovers his entire memory has been wiped clean. With nothing left to go on, he spends his days descending into the dungeon to retrieve the bodies of dead adventurers in exchange for a finder’s fee, earning grudging respect for his skill while being quietly shunned for his cold, transactional approach to a job most people would find horrifying.
Since the living keep their distance, Iarumas ends up spending most of his time among the dead, until he crosses paths with Garbage, a feral young swordswoman who happens to be the sole survivor of a massacred adventuring party. The two team up and head deeper into the dungeon together, chasing clues about Iarumas’s forgotten past while dodging monsters, traps, and the looming possibility of a permanent, fiery death courtesy of whatever deity is running this particular nightmare.
The source material itself has a serious pedigree behind it. The light novel series, written by Kumo Kagyu and illustrated by so bin, currently spans six volumes and launched back in December 2022 through Drecom Media’s DRE Novel imprint, drawing directly from the Wizardry franchise published by Drecom Co., Ltd. English readers can find the novels through Yen Press in print and J Novel Club digitally. A manga adaptation followed in June 2023, now sitting at eight volumes and also available in English through Yen Press.
Behind the scenes, the series is being directed by Tomoki Kobayashi, with series composition handled by Naruhisa Arakawa, character designs from Rina Iwamoto, monster design support from Jun Suemi, sound direction by Kisuke Koizumi, music composed by Hayato Matsuo, and animation production by xingfu. The voice cast includes Makoto Furukawa as Iarumas, Tomori Kusunoki as Garbage, Daiki Yamashita as Raraja, Saori Hayami as Ainikki, and Shion Wakayama as Berkanan.
And if all of that has you fully invested, you are in luck, because Anime Expo 2026 is about to deliver even more. Two separate panels at the L.A. Convention Center this weekend will dive into the series. On Saturday, July 4th at 11:30 am Pacific in Room 408AB, the Warner Bros. Japan Animation Production Industry Panel will share the latest updates along with giveaways for attendees. Then at 1:00 pm in Room 511ABC, the Drecom Industry Panel will host an exclusive Q&A session featuring series stars Makoto Furukawa and Daiki Yamashita.
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