Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia Anime Adds Mongolian Sumo Stars Tamawashi & Tamashoho, Sets July 4 Premiere

We love it when anime casting takes a left turn at full speed. This time, Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia does exactly that by bringing two active Mongolian sumo wrestlers into the voice booth. Imagine the recording studio as a tiny dohyo: quiet, tense, and someone is about to deliver a very dramatic line without spilling the tea.

Sumo meets anime: the casting that nobody had on their bingo card

Tamawashi and Tamashoho (full names Ichirō Tamawashi and Manpei Tamashōhō) have joined the cast of the TV anime adaptation of Tomato Soup’s manga A Witch’s Life in Mongol (Tenmaku no Jādūgar). Both wrestlers are active professionals, both are from Mongolia, and both belong to the Kataonami stable.

The roles are not small cameos either. Tamawashi will voice Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire. Tamashoho will play a resilient Mongol soldier. On top of that, we’re told they’ll also voice other characters in the series. Multiple roles. Multiple rounds. No salt-throwing required—though it might improve mic technique.

There’s also an English-subtitled video out featuring the two wrestlers talking about their voice acting debut. It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes clip we recommend watching twice: once for the novelty, and once to spot the exact moment the booth realizes it’s hosting a pair of human freight trains with surprisingly careful diction.

Why this matters (beyond the fun of it)

Sumo is not a niche hobby in Japan. It’s a national sport with six official honbasho tournaments every year. Adding real wrestlers to an anime set in the Mongol world is a neat alignment of cultural weight and historical subject matter. It’s also a reminder that anime casting is a toolbox, not a rulebook. And sometimes the toolbox contains a 180-kilo wrench.

Release schedule: premieres, specials, and festival buzz

Now we mark calendars. The TV anime premieres on July 4 at 11:00 p.m. JST in TV Asahi’s IMAnimation W programming block, airing across TV Asahi and 23 affiliated channels, plus BS Asahi. The launch comes with a little extra horsepower: the series will debut with the first two episodes as a one-hour special. We like that. It’s the anime equivalent of being served two slices when we only ordered one.

Before broadcast, the show is doing a proper tour:

• June 13: world premiere screening of the first three episodes at United Cinemas Aqua City Odaiba.

• Annecy International Animation Film Festival (France): selected to screen in competition in the TV Films category.

• July 3:U.S. premiere screening at Anime Expo, with Naoko Yamada and Abel Góngora attending.

Festival competition matters. Annecy isn’t a casual stop; it’s one of the industry’s major stages. Getting into competition is like being invited to the main table—no guarantees of a trophy, but everyone sees what you brought to dinner.

Call to action: If you’re heading to Anime Expo, put the July 3 screening on your schedule early. Rooms fill fast, and regret is a classic convention souvenir.

The creative team and what the story is aiming for

Science SARU is producing, with a leadership combo that turns heads. Naoko Yamada (The Heike Story, A Silent Voice, The Colors Within) serves as chief director, while Abel Góngora (DAN DA DAN season 2, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Star Wars: Visions “TO-B1”) directs. Character designs and animation supervision come from Kenichi Yoshida (Eureka Seven, Gundam: Reconguista in G). Series scripts are overseen by Kanichi Katō (Black Clover, The Eminence in Shadow). Music is composed by Kōshirō Hino.

The opening theme is “Stella” performed by SEKAI NO OWARI. It’s a title that suggests wonder, direction, and the sort of glow you chase across a dark steppe—very on brand for a story that mixes palace politics with big historical currents.

As for the premise, we’re in the 13th century, in Yeke Mongol Ulus, an empire portrayed as vast and unstoppable. At the center is Fatima, a woman from Persia driven by medicine and scientific knowledge, looking for a place where her skills can actually matter. Her path leads to the Mongol palace and into the orbit of Töregene, the sixth wife of Ögedei, the second Great Khan—a powerful figure with complicated feelings about where the empire is heading. The story frames these two women as an axis: politics turns, the palace shifts, and the outside world feels it.

The manga’s track record: awards, rankings, and momentum

The manga launched on Akita Shoten’s Souffle website in September 2021. A sixth compiled volume is set for July 15. It also began simultaneous publication in Mystery Bonita in March 2025, alongside its Souffle run.

Publishing pace has had real-life beats too. The series was bimonthly until last summer, then went on hiatus due to Tomato Soup’s maternity leave, and returned on March 25.

On the recognition side, it has the kind of résumé that makes adaptations feel inevitable rather than surprising:

• Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2023:#1 in the female readers ranking

• Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2024:#11 in the female readers ranking

• Manga Taisho Awards: nominated in 2023 and again in 2024

• American Manga Awards: nominated for Best New Manga (second edition)

• Japan Cartoonists Association Awards: won the grand prize in the Comic division (55th edition)

Call to action: We should keep an eye on the July 4 premiere and the early screenings. If the anime lands its tone—history, science, power, and character drama—this could be one of those shows we reference for years, the way we still bring up the series that changed the room when they first aired. And yes, we’ll also be watching to see how a real-life sumo voice sounds when it has to command an empire.