Science SARU’s Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia is adding more voices to its already intriguing historical drama setup, with three new cast members joining from the anime’s sixth episode.
According to the series staff, Akira Ishida, Inori Minase, and Shōya Chiba are joining the TV anime cast, with their characters appearing in episode 6 on Saturday. Chiba is listed as playing Kurtogan, though the romanisation of the character name has not been confirmed.
The anime is based on Tomato Soup’s manga A Witch’s Life in Mongol — known in Japanese as Tenmaku no Jādūgar — and the premise is honestly one of the more distinct setups in the current anime space. Instead of another school battle series or isekai grind, this one drops us into the 13th century, during the era of the Yeke Mongol Ulus, the massive Mongol Empire.
At the centre is Fatima, a woman from Persia with deep medical and scientific knowledge. She arrives at the Mongol palace looking for a place where her skills can matter, and becomes connected to Töregene, the sixth wife of Ögedei, the second Great Khan. From there, the story leans into palace politics, power, knowledge, and how two women could influence the direction of an empire.
The wider cast and production already had some eye-catching names attached. Akira Sekine plays Shitara — also written as Sitara — while Mongolian sumo wrestler Ichirō Tamawashi appears as Genghis Khan, and Mongolian sumo wrestler Manpei Tamashōhō plays a Mongol soldier.
Behind the scenes, the anime has serious pedigree. Naoko Yamada — known for A Silent Voice, The Heike Story, and The Colors Within — is chief director. Abel Góngora, whose credits include DAN DA DAN season 2, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, and Star Wars: Visions short “TO-B1,” directs at Science SARU.
The core staff also includes Kenichi Yoshida on character design and as animation chief, Kanichi Katō handling series scripts, and Kōshirō Hino composing the music. SEKAI NO OWARI performs the opening theme “Stella,” while Queen Bee handles the ending theme “Hoshi” (“Star”).
The anime premiered on July 4 in TV Asahi’s IMAnimation W block, launching with its first two episodes as a one-hour special. Crunchyroll streams the anime as it airs, and its English dub began streaming on July 18.
Before the TV run, Jaadugar had already made the festival and event rounds. Its first three episodes had a world premiere screening on June 13 at United Cinemas Aqua City Odaiba. The series also screened in competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in the TV Films category, while Anime Expo hosted its U.S. premiere on July 3.
The manga itself has been building a strong reputation. Tomato Soup launched it on Akita Shoten’s Souffle website in September 2021, with the sixth compiled volume released on July 15. It also began simultaneous publication in Mystery Bonita in March 2025, after previously going on hiatus due to Tomato Soup’s maternity leave before returning on March 25.
Awards-wise, this is not some random hidden title with no track record. The manga topped Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2023 for female readers, ranked #11 in the 2024 list for female readers, earned multiple Manga Taisho Awards nominations, was nominated in the Best New Manga category at the second American Manga Awards, and recently won the grand prize in the Comic division of the 55th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards.
Analysis / why it matters for Malaysia and SEA readers: historical anime with strong female leads, serious political drama, and Science SARU’s animation identity is still relatively rare compared with the usual seasonal fantasy flood. For SEA anime fans who follow prestige titles, festival picks, or manga award winners, Jaadugar is one to keep on the radar — especially if episode 6 is where the wider cast starts expanding the scale of the story.