'SSS-Class Revival Hunter' Anime Premieres January 2027

A Copy Skill That Only Fires When You Die

A mysterious tower appears, stuffed with monsters, and the hunters inside play a game where losing means dying. Kim Gongja (金孔子) sits at the absolute bottom of that ecosystem as an F-rank hunter, killing time and quietly resenting the Flame Emperor, the man parked at number one in the hunter rankings.

Then Gongja gets his hands on an S+-rank copy skill with a nasty condition attached. It only activates when he dies. Every death rewinds him 24 hours and leaves him holding someone else's power. He picks up a partner in the process: the Sword Emperor, once celebrated as the strongest hunter alive, who sticks around as a spirit hovering over his shoulder. From there, the story is a bottom-rank nobody climbing the tower by dying over and over, with a dead legend coaching him through it.

That setup has been running on Piccoma in Japan since 2022, adapted from a Korean web novel by Shin Noah, with script by Neida and art by Bill K. English-language readers know it as SSS-Class Revival Hunter on Tapas, where it has run since the manhwa debuted in 2020.

Takeo Ōtsuka and Satoshi Hino Take the Leads

Takeo Ōtsuka (Aqua Hoshino in Oshi no Ko, Jinshi in The Apothecary Diaries) voices Gongja. Satoshi Hino (Kyojuro Rengoku in Demon Slayer, Ainz Ooal Gown in Overlord) plays the Sword Emperor. Both appear in the teaser trailer, which is the first time either character has been heard out loud.

In comments released with the announcement, Ōtsuka pointed to the speed of the story and the size of the supporting cast, described Gongja's climb from the bottom of the rankings, and said the recording sessions have serious momentum behind them. Hino called the Sword Emperor bold and easygoing, and said the back-and-forth between the two leads is as entertaining as the action scenes and the strategic sparring.

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On paper, the casting is straightforward: a lead actor known for guarded, calculating protagonists paired with a veteran who has spent years playing overwhelming authority figures. The teaser does not settle whether the anime plays the Sword Emperor for comedy or for weight.

STUDIO fu Handles the Animation

STUDIO fu, a newly formed studio, is producing the animation, with HAYATE credited on production. Hiroaki Sakurai, who directed The Demon Girl Next Door, is directing. Sayuri Ōba, who handled series composition on Romantic Killer and Me & Roboco, is writing the scripts, and Takahiro Yoshimatsu, whose credits include character design on A Place Further Than the Universe, is designing the characters.

Sakurai has said Yoshimatsu's involvement was what opened the path to an anime adaptation for him. It is an unusual combination of names for a tower-climbing action series, since Sakurai and Ōba both come out of comedy-heavy work. How that tone lands is an open question.

The teaser visual keeps things low-key. Gongja appears in a dark room looking thoroughly unremarkable, the Sword Emperor looming behind him and a glowing card floating overhead. The official teaser is up on Crunchyroll's YouTube channel, and Japanese entertainment news site Comic Natalie covered the announcement.

Looking Ahead

The series is scheduled to start broadcasting in Japan in January 2027, putting it in the Winter 2027 season. Crunchyroll holds streaming rights worldwide outside parts of Asia, covering North America, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, the CIS, the Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.

Readers who want to get ahead of the broadcast can find the manhwa in English on Tapas, in Korean on Kakao Page, and in Japanese on Piccoma. No cast beyond the two leads has been announced yet, and there is no word on an English dub, opening theme or exact premiere date.