The first full look at Aia Utagawa's world arrived on Saturday, as BLESS released its first trailer and set the exact day its television run will begin. The trailer also previews the ending theme song, giving the fashion drama a first sound to go with its first footage.
The update was posted on the official website of BLESS, which released the first promotional video on Saturday. The trailer sets the premiere for January 8, 2027, narrowing the January window that had been announced earlier this year.
In the trailer, the ending theme New Page by HIKKA plays over the first animated footage from the adaptation. The song will close each episode, and the official update notes that only part of the track can be heard in the video.
Watch the first trailer for BLESS anime here:
A new key visual also arrived alongside the trailer on Saturday. The visual joins the trailer as the second reveal in the update, with both released through the official website on the same day.
The previously announced cast is led by Tomohiro Ono as Aia Utagawa and Chiyuki Miura as Jun Sumisaki. Nobuhiko Okamoto, Koki Uchiyama and Yoshiki Nakajima also star, alongside Kentaro Kumagai, Yoshino Aoyama and Momoka Terasawa.
Tarusuke Shingaki rounds out the announced ensemble as Hikaru Oya, the famous model and makeup artist who has been watching Aia's potential closely. No new casting was announced with the trailer, and the update focused instead on the footage, the visual and the song.
Shotaro Kitamura directs the anime at A-1 Pictures, with Takayuki Kikuchi serving as assistant director. Fukuro Kamiza handles series composition, Honoka Yokoyama designs the characters and Ryo Yoshimata composes the music.
Kitamura's past work includes episode direction on Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. He also served as a key animator and assistant director on The First Slam Dunk.
What is BLESS anime about?
BLESS is a fashion and school drama manga written and illustrated by Yukino Sonoyama. It began in Kodansha's Shonen Magazine Edge in January 2022, then moved to Monthly Shonen Sirius in December 2023 after that magazine ended.
The manga has surpassed 1.25 million copies in circulation, with nine volumes released in Japan to date. Kodansha USA Publishing releases the manga in English, and Kodansha also offers the series digitally through its K MANGA service.
The story follows Aia, a student scouted as a model who secretly wants to become a makeup artist instead. His classmate Jun hides her own ambition behind her embarrassment over her freckles, until a school runway contest pairs the two of them as a team.
Kodansha USA Publishing describes the series as follows:
They said Aia was destined to be a model, and Jun was bullied for her freckles. Together, they will take back the power to define themselves in an inspirational fashion manga that asks cutting questions about what it really means to be beautiful—and what it takes to overcome an arbitrary system that seems to respect talent over hard work.
BLESS premieres on January 8, 2027, airing Fridays at 11:30 p.m. on Fuji TV's Noitamina block in Japan. Crunchyroll will stream the series as it airs worldwide, excluding Japan and China.
Source: official website of BLESS, Aniplex YouTube channel
