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AnimEigo to Release Hotori: Simply Wishing for Hope Anime Special With English Dub (Updated)
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The dub stars:
- Sky Santacruz as Suzu
- Mana T. Johnson as Hotori Shimizu
- Danielle Ferguson as Akira Usui
- Freddie Heinz as Kaname Shimizu
- Joseph DuVall as Tatsuki Shimizu
- Betty BAT as Mayu Ogura
- Hunter Peterson as Jun Ogura
Update: SkySet Entertainment reached out to ANN to note that the new voice actor for Akira Usui is Danielle Ferguson.
Hayden Davis is the ADR Director with assistant Phebe Fabacher. Davis is also handling the script adaptation.
AnimEigo posted a video preview for the dub on social media.
A preview for Hotori.
You might notice something different and perhaps unexpected in the preview...
Hotori is getting an English dub!
The clip is a bit shorter than the full preview, but it's what fits on BlueSky.
— AnimEigo (@animeigo.com) January 10, 2026 at 9:35 AM
[image or embed]
AnimEigo will release the anime for the first time on home video in North America in June. The release is the first physical release for the anime ever.
Takashi Anno directed the television special at Sunrise. The anime originally aired in August 2005 and won a 2005 Animax Award.
AnimEigo also outlined its other upcoming releases for the first half of 2026.
The company will release Prime Rose on January 20 with an English dub and with subtitles. The company will release the Big Boobs Buster live-action OVA based on Kōichirō Yasunaga's D-Cup Hunter manga on February 10, and will release The Whitest Kids U Know's Mars animated film on March 10.
AnimEigo will release The Dagger of Kamui on Blu-ray Disc on April 7, and will release Alien Nine in May.
Source: AnimEigo's Bluesky account
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