Despite being a smash hit manga selling 20 million copies, Red River never quite got its dues as a series, fighting an increasingly uphill battle against a shōnen-saturated anime landscape. But with the confirmation that it’s finally getting an adaptation from the historic Tatsunoko Production studio, a massive shōjo classic is finally getting the anime it deserves.

Red River, written and illustrated by Chie Shinohara, is emblematic of the dramatic flexibility and beauty of the world of shōjo manga. An acclaimed time-traveling adventure of an ordinary high-school girl transported to the Hittite Empire, forced to fight for her life while trying to return home, its supernatural time-displacement plot gives a timeless high-stakes adventure anime fans can’t miss.

Red River’s Anime Is Coming in Summer 2026

For those who hadn’t seen the update from the Red River anime’s official website, Shinohara herself chimed in to celebrate the Red River’s anime adaptation on their official website. It’s a monumental occasion, a full 31 years after the manga started, with the anime set to land 24 years after the initial run’s end.

The series captures that classic ’90s shōjo aesthetic, down to the flowy hairstyles and big, expressive eyes, with its first key visual showcasing Yuri in her new garb alongside Prince Kail, her only ally in this strange land. Overlooking the Halys River, known now as the longest river running through Anatolia and modern-day Turkey, the serene scenery belies horrific discord.

Historical and Isekai Anime Fans Will Love Red River

Following Yuri Suzuki, freshly in love with a boy at school and even getting her first kiss, the series cruelly tears her away from her home, mysteriously sent to 14th Century BCE Hattusa of the Hittite Empire. Terrified at her sudden fate, Yuri is summoned by Queen Nakia as a blood sacrifice to curse the princes in the way of Nakia’s son to ascend the throne.

While not an isekai anime by any stretch, given it merely transports Yuri to a different time and place but very much the same world, the premise will certainly entertain isekai fans nonetheless. But the series smartly addresses Yuri’s understandable initial helplessness, as her conventional wisdom starts shining through.

“Thank you for making “Red River” into an anime! I’m so happy! It’s been

24 years since the serialization ended.

To think that there are people who remember it after all this time and are making an anime out of it!

And to be able to share it with everyone is such a blessing.

And what a joyous work it is. I hope

that fans from the original serialization will feel nostalgic and that their memories will be even more vivid… and

I sincerely hope that anime fans who are unfamiliar with the original work will enjoy it anew.

More than anything, I myself am really looking forward to it.

I can’t wait for it to air.”

-Chie Shinohara

Recognizing iron against a sea of Bronze Age weaponry, Yuri is able to outclass weapons of far more established fighters. Yuri doesn’t even realize at first where she is, let alone other conventions of her time she takes for granted. But upon hearing cues like mentions of rival kingdom Egypt and its ruler, Tutankhamun, Yuri grasps the reality at hand.

This, combined with her innate sense of right and wrong, and steadfast attempts to protect helpless servants like Tito, quickly earn Yuri the label of Ishtar’s incarnation, embodying love, war, and fertility. Red River is a pretty brilliant series, tying these notions together while Yuri attempts to perform the ritual that’ll send her home, anime fans potentially soon seeing it for the first time ever.