It’s not every day we get a new anime themed specifically around fighting games, especially those where they actually play the games besides High Score Girl until now.
After almost a year and a half of waiting, the Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games (Tai Ari Deshita: Ojоu-sama wa Kakutоu Gēmu Nante Shinai) anime finally has a release window following a delay.
The adaptation of the manga was originally announced in 2024 and was scheduled to get its first episodes sometime in 2025, but obviously that didn’t happen.
Now, studio Diomedéa has confirmed that the anime centered around girls who are secretly super into fighting games is going to begin airing in July though we don’t have an exact date yet.
The story follows Aya Mitsuki after joining the Kuromi Girls Academy trying to fit in, as she’s not as privileged as her other classmates.
She discovers her classmate Shirayui is a hardcore fighting game player, which truly sets the action in motion.
Although the original manga centered around the fictional Iron Senpai 4, this anime will actually feature Street Fighter 6 with FAV Gaming being involved in the production interestingly.
So there’s a good chance we’ll see some sort of Street Fighter 6 collaboration in the game when the anime arrives.
Back in 2023, a live action adaptation was released where they played Street Fighter 5, and some Japanese pro competitors made cameo appearances.
The official website for Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games features a character select screen for the bios of five of the girls with seven more being left as question marks for now plus more information on the cast and production.
They even reveal which fighters each character mains with Aya playing Cammy, Mio maining Ryu, Yu on Ken, and Tamaki playing Juri, so it’ll be interesting to see what the matches look like in the anime.
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You can find the first teaser trailer for the upcoming fighting game anime below.