Witch on the Holy Night Anime Movie: Release Dates, Trailer and Cast

TYPE-MOON and ufotable's next film finally has dates for everyone. Witch on the Holy Night opens in Japan on Friday, November 20, 2026, and reaches cinemas worldwide from January 2027, with the US and Canada on January 29.

Crunchyroll released the official trailer on September 10, together with the full international rollout. Here is every date, the cast, what the trailer shows, and why fans of the 2012 game have waited this long.

Key Takeaways

• Japan: Friday, November 20, 2026, distributed by Toho and Aniplex.
• US and Canada: January 29, 2027, in Japanese with English subtitles and in an English dub.
• Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures open it in more than 30 territories between January 21 and February 5, 2027.
• Haruka Tomatsu, Kana Hanazawa and Yusuke Kobayashi return as Aoko, Alice and Soujyuro.
• ufotable animates, its latest TYPE-MOON film after Kara no Kyoukai and Heaven's Feel.

When Does the Witch on the Holy Night Movie Come Out?#

It opens in Japan first, on Friday, November 20, 2026. Toho and Aniplex distribute it there.

The rest of the world follows about two months later. Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment are handling a staggered theatrical rollout. It starts on January 21, 2027 and finishes on February 5.

Every International Release Date#

• January 21: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
• January 26: Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland
• January 27: France, Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland
• January 28: Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Central America, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Italian-speaking Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand
• January 29: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Poland, Sweden and India
• February 5: Spain and Kazakhstan

For readers in the US and Canada, that means Friday, January 29, 2027.

Subtitled, Dubbed or Both?#

Both, in North America. The film will screen in Japanese with English subtitles and in an English dub. The English cast has not been announced.

This is a theatrical release only for now. The trailer's own title reads "Only in Theatres," and no streaming date has been set.

The Witch on the Holy Night Official Trailer#

Crunchyroll published the official trailer on September 10, 2026. It runs 69 seconds and had already passed 5,000 views on its release day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0csZYaV-k0

The official copy keeps the premise simple. On the surface, Aoko Aozaki is an ordinary high school girl. In secret she is a Magician in the modern world, though still an apprentice. She shares a house with Alice Kuonji while she trains. Then, in the line the trailer is built around, the girl meets a boy.

The Japanese Release Date Video#

The Japanese date was announced on July 7, 2026, at an event held on Aoko's birthday. Aniplex's 90 second release date video premiered on stage there, closing on the November 20 date.

That video has since passed 984,000 views and 33,000 likes on Aniplex's channel. Its thumbnail shows Alice in profile under a black fur hat on a cold blue night. That is a very different mood from the Crunchyroll trailer.

Haruka Tomatsu, who plays Aoko, hosted the reveal. She described the film as grand in scale, with tension in every fight and no room to breathe until the end.

What Is Witch on the Holy Night About?#

The story is set in the late 1980s, in a Japanese town called Misaki. Magic still exists there, but it is hidden, and almost nobody in the modern world can use the real thing.

Aoko Aozaki is one of the few, barely. She lived an ordinary life until high school. Then she was named her grandfather's successor and inherited his legacy as a magus. At school she is also the student council president.

Alice Kuonji is the genuine article. She has lived in the world of magecraft her whole life. She left her home in England for reasons of her own, and attends an exclusive girls' academy. Aoko lives with her and studies under her.

Enter Soujyuro Sizuki#

Soujyuro is the boy the trailer promises. He has come down from the countryside and transfers into Aoko's high school, amazed by how much the city has to offer.

Kobayashi describes him as an ordinary high school boy who is surprised by everything around him. He has also asked fans to look forward to him, since very little about Soujyuro has been revealed so far.

A Pairing Built on Contrast#

Hanazawa has said her favourite part of the story is the back-and-forth between Aoko and Alice. What she likes is that their personalities are opposites. Aoko is fierce when angered. Alice is quiet and mysterious.

Asked what makes Aoko herself, Tomatsu pointed to the moments when she snaps. She described Aoko as beautiful but hard to approach, and said she worked to play that without making her unlikeable.

The Witch on the Holy Night Voice Cast#

• Haruka Tomatsu as Aoko Aozaki
• Kana Hanazawa as Alice Kuonji
• Yusuke Kobayashi as Soujyuro Sizuki

All three played the same roles in the 2022 remaster of the game. That was the first version of Witch on the Holy Night with full voice acting, and the film keeps the cast intact.

Names You Will Know#

Haruka Tomatsu is Asuna in Sword Art Online, Zero Two in Darling in the Franxx and Anaru in Anohana. Kana Hanazawa is Mayuri in Steins;Gate, Nadeko Sengoku in the Monogatari series and Akane Tsunemori in Psycho-Pass.

Yusuke Kobayashi is Subaru in Re:Zero and Senku in Dr. Stone. Tomatsu and Hanazawa also both appear in As a Reincarnated Aristocrat Season 3 this autumn.

Returning to Roles From 2022#

The cast has talked openly about the weight of these parts. Tomatsu said the pressure was huge because this was Mahoyo, even though her audition was a long time ago now.

Hanazawa said fans had spent years hearing the characters only in their heads, so voicing Alice felt like a serious responsibility. Kobayashi remembered recording the remaster after watching game footage with its music and backgrounds, which made the sessions feel like a stage reading.

For the film, Kobayashi said he kept elements of the game but also wanted to try things only a film can do. He added that he uses the main theme as his morning alarm.

What the Cast Wished For#

The July 7 event fell on Tanabata, so the cast and staff wrote wishes on paper strips. Tomatsu wished for the film to be a super mega hit. Hanazawa wished she could drink the tea Alice makes. Kobayashi wished for an enormous hit.

Kinoko Nasu wished that a good-hearted boy would somehow make it out alive. Hirokazu Koyama, the original character designer, wished that the universe would stay peaceful even though Aoko runs wild.

Who Is Making the Witch on the Holy Night Movie?#

• Original work: Kinoko Nasu and TYPE-MOON
• Director: Masashi Takeuchi
• Chief director: Hikaru Kondo
• Character design: Moe Tsuzuki
• Chief animation director: Masato Nagamori
• Script: ufotable
• Music: Hideyuki Fukasawa
• Theme song: "Yoru to Ao" (Night and Blue) by supercell
• Animation production: ufotable
• Distribution in Japan: Toho and Aniplex
• International distribution: Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment

The full staff list arrived with the final trailer on September 30, 2026. Hideyuki Fukasawa, who led the soundtrack of the 2012 game, returns to score the film. supercell is back too, with a new theme song sung by Nagi Yanagi. Watch it in our final trailer post.

TYPE-MOON and ufotable, Again#

This is the latest chapter of a long partnership. ufotable adapted TYPE-MOON's Kara no Kyoukai films in the 2000s. In the 2010s it made Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] and the Fate/stay night [Heaven's Feel] films. Outside TYPE-MOON, it is the studio behind Demon Slayer.

Few studios are trusted with Nasu's work the way ufotable is. For fans of the game, this pairing was the one they hoped for.

Two Key Visuals, Two Artists#

At Fate/Grand Order Fes. 2026 on August 1, the production revealed a double visual. One is ufotable's second key visual for the film. The other is a special illustration by Hirokazu Koyama, the game's original character designer.

Kobayashi singled out the way light falls inside the mansion in ufotable's art, and the worn, lived-in feel of the rooms.

The Visual Novel Behind the Film#

Witch on the Holy Night began as a novel Kinoko Nasu wrote in 1996, before Tsukihime. TYPE-MOON released it as a PC visual novel on April 12, 2012, with Nasu writing and Hirokazu Koyama handling the graphics.

A remastered version with full voice acting arrived on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on December 8, 2022. It was the first official English release, and it reached Steam on December 14, 2023.

A smartphone version of the game is also scheduled for November 20, 2026, the same day the film opens in Japan.

How It Connects to Tsukihime and Fate#

It is set in the same TYPE-MOON world. Aoko Aozaki is the same Aoko who later appears in Tsukihime as the mentor of its protagonist, Shiki Tohno. This film is her origin story.

It is not a Fate story, and you do not need to know Fate to follow it. The shared names and concepts are a bonus for longtime fans rather than a requirement.

Where to Play It in English#

The remaster is available in English on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Steam, and also supports Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.

The official English game site lists eleven characters, well beyond the three leads the film has cast so far.

Advance Tickets in Japan#

Japanese fans can already buy advance tickets. Mubichike cards featuring the second key visual went on sale on August 28 for 1,500 yen.

Buyers at cinemas receive a 16-page booklet called the Magus Apprentice Reader, limited to 50,000 copies nationwide. It carries comments on the film from Nasu, Koyama and Takashi Takeuchi, the original character concept artist.

What Has Not Been Announced Yet#

The staff and the theme song are now public, which leaves a short list of open questions.

• Runtime: not announced.
• English dub cast: not announced.
• Streaming: no date. It is theatrical only for now.

Is Witch on the Holy Night Worth Seeing in Theatres?#

If you know TYPE-MOON, this is the adaptation many fans have wanted since 2012. The game's reputation rests on atmosphere, and ufotable has built a career on exactly that kind of polish.

If you do not, it is still a sound entry point. It is a self-contained story about two young magicians and a boy from the countryside, and it asks for no homework.

Tomatsu's own advice was simple. See it on a big screen, and bring a cup of tea. For more films and upcoming titles, browse our movies section and the 2027 anime hub.

The official site and the official X account carry the latest news, and the Animanga Planet tracker follows the release. Our anime news feed will carry the English dub cast when it is announced.