Why ‘Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia’ Could Be 2026’s Most Fascinating Historical Anime
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- TV Asahi will premiere "Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia" on July 4 in Japan, with no North American streaming date announced
- Science SARU produced the series, with Naoko Yamada ("The Colors Within") as chief director and Abel Góngora directing the first episode
- The anime adapts Tomato Soup's manga "A Witch's Life in Mongol" and follows Sitara, a young girl sold into slavery by scholars in 13th-century Persia, who plots vengeance after the Mongol invasion
- Cultural advisors guided both Persian and Mongol portrayals and language, with two Mongolian sumo wrestlers cast in roles and Japanese actors performing lines in Mongol so the audience identifies with Sitara, who cannot understand her conquerors
- The team deliberately broke certain historical rules, including not depicting characters smoking, to honor modern cultural cues — Yamada cited contemporary Iranian shisha culture as the reason
- Góngora incorporated 1990s Disney Renaissance-style cartoony character animation on top of historically accurate production design, citing Osamu Tezuka's manga designs as a bridge between Tezuka's Tezuka-Disney lineage and the new look
- The series competed in the TV competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival
Why it matters: The July 4 premiere on TV Asahi comes before any North American streaming deal has been announced, leaving international viewers dependent on festival exposure. Science SARU's investment in Mongol-language dialogue and dual Persian-Mongol cultural advisors — including two Mongolian sumo wrestlers — marks a production-first approach for a niche historical fantasy, with no backup streamer already in place.
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