Kadokawa announced on Monday a preliminary premiere date in 2025 for the animated adaptation of Rocket Shokai’s light novel series Yuusha-kei ni Shosu: Choubatsu Yuusha 9004-tai Keimu Kiroku (“Sentenced to Be a Hero: The Prison Records of Penal Hero Unit 9004”), previously announced in July 16 during the Dengeki Bunko 30th anniversary event.
[https://twitter.com/yushakei_PJ/status/1680576769697677312]
Shokai published the original series on Kakuyomu on October 28, 2020. It was later acquired by ASCII Media Works and put to print with illustrations by Mephisto, reaching five volumes as of August 2023. A manga adaptation by Tensei Kizoku Kantei Skill de Nariagaru artist Inoue Natsumi was also serialized on ASCII Media Works‘ Dengeki Comic Regulus starting on March 25, 2022, with only one tankoubon volume printed so far.
In this world, the harshest punishment contemplated by the law is the so-called “hero sentence”: criminals are sent to the frontlines against the ever-encroaching demon army, and there is no pardon until their lord is slain. Even in death, there is no escape, as the corpses are recovered, resurrected and thrown back into the fray. Silo Forberts, an ex-knight who is rumoured to have killed a goddess, and Doter Ruzlas, an unrepentant kleptomaniac with over a thousand charges, are currently fighting in the rearguard to keep the ongoing battle from turning into a one-sided slaughter. Doter’s habits get the better of him when he pilfers an ornate coffin and, to their surprise, out of it comes a goddess called Teoritta, who designates Silo as her knight and offers him a contract to lend him her power and turn the tides of the battles… demanding head pats and praises as her tithe.
