New insights into the anime special for Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin

A new trailer for the upcoming anime television special Tensui no Sakuna Hime: Kokorowa Inasaku Nisshi (Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin: Kokorowa Rice Cultivation Diary) offers the first moving scenes. The special focuses on the goddess Kokorowa and her efforts to cultivate rice on a remote island.

The released clip shows Kokorowahime, a close friend of the main character Sakuna, in her attempts to farm successfully. The images illustrate how the charismatic and inventive character struggles with the challenges of rice cultivation, apparently encountering typical adversities. In the original game, Kokorowa is known as a high-ranking goddess in charge of wheels and inventions, who supports humans with her mechanical creations.

The special introduces a new character: Uketamahime. This role is voiced by the experienced voice actress Asami Imai.

Imai, known for roles such as Kurisu Makise in Steins;Gate and Chihaya Kisaragi in The Idolmaster, commented on her involvement. She described a personal connection to the subject, having grown up in a rice-growing region and helped with the harvest herself as a child. She called it an honor to be involved in a work about rice and described Uketamahime as a character who is more knowledgeable in literary matters than in agriculture.

The production is a two-part special, conceived as a direct continuation of the television anime for Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin that aired in July 2024. Director Masayuki Yoshihara and the animation studio P.A. Works continue their work from the previous series. The plot is based on a spin-off novel that tells Kokorowa's story. In it, the inventive goddess and writer must live together with Sakuna on Hinoe Island after a certain incident and learns rice cultivation there.

The underlying video game Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin was released in November 2020 and combines side-scrolling action with detailed rice cultivation simulation elements. It has been quite successful with over 1.5 million copies sold worldwide.

In summary, the new trailer offers a first look at the humorous and thematically fitting special, which expands the world of the successful game with a new character and the popular voice actress Asami Imai.