Draw This, Then Die! Anime Premieres July 3 on Nippon TV

A July 3 premiere on Nippon TV

The television anime of Draw This, Then Die! begins on Friday, July 3, 2026, the series' official account confirmed, airing on Nippon TV's Friday Anime Night (フラアニ) programming block and its affiliates. The opening episode, titled "The Magic Mansion," follows manga-obsessed high schooler Ai Yasumi as she learns that the reclusive creator behind her favorite series, Robota and Pokota, is preparing to unveil a new work. The premiere window, first announced in January, was reported at the time by Anime News Network and Crunchyroll News, and the official account's countdown to the first episode marks the start of the broadcast.

What the series is about

Set on the Tokyo island of Izu Oshima, the comedy centers on Ai Yasumi, a first-year high schooler whose single-minded love of reading manga pulls her into the orbit of the artists who make it. When she discovers that her long-idolized but reclusive favorite creator will make a rare appearance at a doujin event, Ai does not hesitate, and that single decision sets off a chain of encounters that shatter her assumptions about art, genius, and what it means to create. Among the figures she crosses paths with is aspiring artist Rei Teshima. Rather than an action or fantasy hook, the series mines its drama from the act of making manga itself, a slower, character-driven angle that set it apart in its original run.

From an award-winning manga

According to Anime News Network and Crunchyroll News, the anime adapts Minoru Toyoda's manga, serialized in Shogakukan's Monthly Shonen Sunday since 2021 and collected into nine volumes. The source work is unusually decorated for a series of its size, having won the 16th Manga Taisho in 2023 and the 70th Shogakukan Manga Award in 2025. That dual recognition, one a bookseller-driven prize and the other a long-running industry award, is part of why the adaptation has drawn attention well beyond the manga's core readership.

Staff and cast

The series is produced by Shin-Ei Animation and directed by Hiroaki Akagi, with series composition by Hiroko Fukuda, character designs by Takekazu Segawa, and music by Hiroaki Tsutsumi, per reporting from Anime News Network and Oricon. Akira Sekine voices Ai Yasumi and Saori Hayami voices Rei Teshima. Tatsuya Kitani performs the opening theme "Isho," while Regal Lily handles the ending theme "Conifer."