Raising a wild girl raised among supernatural creatures wasn’t in the priest’s handbook. The production team behind the animated adaptation of the popular Chinese manhua Shang Shan, created by Jiang Jia Meizi, delighted the community by revealing its first promotional video and officially confirming that the series, titled Shozen for its Japanese broadcast, will premiere next April 2027. Additionally, to celebrate the announcement, the first twenty chapters of the work were officially released in Japanese translation.

The story follows the peculiar steps of Dozen, a wandering Taoist priest who, during one of his journeys, encounters a mysterious girl raised by beasts and entities from another world. Instead of leaving, the monk decides to baptize her with the name Shozen and takes her under his tutelage as his unusual disciple. From that moment on, both embark on a long journey together where the hardest lessons won’t be about magic or combat techniques, but about teaching the girl what human feelings and the true meaning of love and empathy are.

The talent behind this adventure

The project is under the joint responsibility of the studios Dangan Pictures and Cannon Code. Itsuro Kawasaki takes on a heavy triple role, handling direction, scriptwriting, and sound direction. For her part, Eri Osada will adapt the character designs and serve as chief animation director, while the talented Takuro Iga will compose the soundtrack. Since it was first announced in March 2026, anticipation for seeing how this Chinese fantasy gem makes the leap to Japanese screens has only grown.

Voice Cast

Rina Kawaguchi as Shozen.

Hiroshi Kamiya as Dozen.

Daisuke Sakuma as Ryojin.

Aoi Yuki as Kensei.

Ayumu Murase as Chiro.

Seeing more stories from China making the leap to Japanese animation backed by casts full of great seiyuus, do you think this tender adventure between a priest and his apprentice will become one of the most pleasant surprises of the spring 2027 season?