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Ushio & Tora Anime's Return Previewed in Ad

Tokuma Shoten began streaming a 15-second commercial for the second season of the Ushio & Tora anime on its official YouTube channel on Thursday. The commercial previews the new season's opening theme song "Shūgawari no Kiseki no Shinwa" by Kinniku Shōjo Tai.

Tokuma Shoten also began streaming a trial listening video previewing six character songs on Thursday.

The video previews the following character songs:

• Ushio Aotsuki (voiced by Tasuku Hatanaka): "Itsu no Hi ka Tabi no Owari ni" (When Will This Journey Be Over)
• Hyō (Daisuke Namikawa) and Nagare Akiba (Yoshimasa Hosoya): "Waita Tamashii" (Thirsting Spirit)
• Asako Nakamura (Mikako Komatsu): "Okaeri" (Welcome Home)
• Mayuko Inoue (Kiyono Yasuno) and Tora (Rikiya Koyama): "Watashi no Knight/Night" (My Knight/Night)
• Kagari (Risa Shimizu): "Owarinai Michi" (Endless Road)
• Kirio (Megumi Han): "Ikiru Akashi" (Living Proof)

The album featuring the songs will go on sale on May 18 for 2,200 yen (about US$20).

Ushio & Tora premiered last July, but its 39-episode run was split into two seasons. The first season reached the 26th episode last December, and the second season began with the 27th episode on Friday. The anime's final episode will coincide with the manga's final battle.

Crunchyroll is streaming the second season as it airs in Japan.

Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series for home video in North America.

Ushio & Tora is based on Kazuhiro Fujita's supernatural battle manga. ADV Films released the 1992 original video anime project, and it describes the story:

Ushio thinks that his father's talk of an ancient ancestor impaling a demon on a temple altar stone with the legendary Beast Spear is nuts, but when he finds the monster in his own basement, Ushio has to take another look at the family legend! To save his friends and family from the invading spirits, Ushio is forced to release Tora from his captivity. But will the creature prove to be worse than the curse?

Satoshi Nishimura (Trigun, Hajime no Ippo) is directing the anime at MAPPA (Rage of Bahamut Genesis) and a relatively new company, Studio VOLN. Toshiki Inoue (Chaos;HEAd, Death Note, Ranma ½) and Fujita himself are in charge of the series scripts, and Tomoko Mori (guest character designer on Garo: Honoo no Kokuin, Juden Chan) is designing the characters.