Kadokawa has opened the books on Noa Is My Senior, and My Friend. The first key visual, the two leads and a 2027 premiere for the anime were revealed together on October 11.
Rina Kawaguchi voices Noa Saotome, and Tomoya Itou plays Rihito Ōtsuka. Kawaguchi has a Witch Watch credit, while Itou appeared in Sentai Red Isekai de Boukensha ni Naru. The casting fits the material, which is a low-key workplace comedy rather than a loud fantasy. There is no specific release date yet beyond the 2027 window.
The story
Rihito Ōtsuka works at a game company and lives by one rule: conserve energy. He is laid-back, unbothered and happy to coast. Noa Saotome is his senior and an art director, the kind of employee her superiors trust and her juniors admire.
Then Rihito stumbles onto a side of Noa that she keeps strictly hidden. What follows is not a romance so much as a “friends only” arrangement after work, built on a secret the two of them now share.
Staff and studio
Shinsuke Yanagi directs the anime at feel. Yanagi’s credits include Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki, Senpai is an Otokonoko and High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World, so he knows this register well.
Keiichirō Ōchi handles series scripts, with I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class, The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting and The Quintessential Quintuplets on his resume. Yumiko Yamamoto designs the characters after work on Seven Senses of the Re’Union, Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld and Yohane the Parhelion -SUNSHINE in the MIRROR.
The three of them cover the parts of a production that decide whether a small-scale story lands. Yanagi sets the pacing, Ōchi writes the back-and-forth, and Yamamoto keeps the two leads readable in close-up. That is a sensible lineup for a series that lives on dialogue.
The manga behind it
Enma Akiyama launched Noa-senpai wa Tomodachi in Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump in 2023, and the 12th collected volume ships on October 19. Akiyama previously ran Killer in Love (Kimi ni Koisuru Satsujinki) on Shogakukan’s Manga ONE and Ura Sunday services from January 2021 until it ended in 2022. Comikey publishes that earlier series in English.
Why it matters
Office rom-coms are crowded territory, and the ones that stick are usually the ones with a clear gimmick. Here the hook is a friendship with a stated limit. Rihito and Noa are not a couple and the premise does not pretend otherwise, which gives the writing room to build the relationship slowly instead of rushing a confession.
The staff list is the real signal. Yanagi and Ōchi have both worked on adaptations of fan-favorite manga with sharp dialogue, and feel has handled quiet, character-driven series before. The 2027 window is wide, so expect a specific date and a promotional video to follow.
For other 2027 titles already dated, see our coverage of My Tiny Senpai and Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki.
Source: Anime News Network
Featured image: Key visual for the Noa Is My Senior, and My Friend anime, via the anime’s official website / Anime News Network.
