WHITE FOX is adapting Daken’s How I Became King by Eating Monsters as a television anime. The studio announced the project on Friday and set a 2027 debut. No cast, staff, or narrower release window has been revealed yet.
The series is published in Japan as Monster no Niku wo Kutteitara Ōi ni Tsuita Ken. Original novel illustrator Shiba drew an illustration to mark the announcement, and manga artist Karin Suzuragi did the same.
What the story is about
Mars is the twelve-year-old first prince of the kingdom of Farune, and he expects to be assassinated. Poison sits in nearly every meal, so he slips out of the castle into a monster-filled forest to hunt and eat. One night a red-haired woman carrying a greatsword finds him there, tells him he has promise, and offers to take him on as an apprentice. What she knows, and he only discovers later, is that eating the monsters makes him stronger.
Cross Infinite World, which publishes the novels in English, describes the plot as starting with a boy trying to survive dinner and growing into a continent-spanning web of wars and conspiracies.
Where the series stands
Daken first posted the story on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website in January 2022, and the last update there came in January 2023. Micro Magazine’s GCN Bunko label began releasing compiled volumes in September 2023 with art by Shiba, and the seventh volume ships on October 20.
Cross Infinite World released the sixth English volume digitally on September 30. A manga adaptation by Karin Suzuragi (Danganronpa 2: Chiaki Nanami’s Goodbye Despair Quest, Isekai Cheat Magician) has run in Hakusensha’s Young Animal Zero since January 2024, with the third volume due on October 29.
Why it matters
WHITE FOX has been one of the busier production houses of the past few years, and picking up a light novel this early in its run says the studio and its partners see a long-lived property rather than a single season. The hook, a prince who gets stronger by eating monsters, is the kind of premise that tends to travel well outside Japan.
Daken is also having a moment. A second light novel series, Tsuihō Sareta Shōnin wa Kin no Chikara de Sekai wo Sukū, is slated for its own anime adaptation. Seven Seas Entertainment is releasing The Suspects of Necromancy and The Wicked Princess and Her Twelve Eyes in English, and Yen Press has Who Killed the Hero?.
For another light novel series that just landed a TV anime, see our report on My Sweet Marriage to My Ex-Nemesis.
Source: Anime News Network
Featured image: Announcement illustration for the How I Became King by Eating Monsters anime, via WHITE FOX / Anime News Network.
