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LOS ANGELES, CA- Over at the JW Marriott, the Shonen Jump Anime KILL BLUE: Special Homeroom panel offered a surprisingly touching look at one of Spring 2026’s most unexpectedly delightful series. Hosted by Trash Taste’s Gigguk, the session moved easily between granular production details, behind-the-scenes stories and a genuine, infectious affection for the material.
For the uninitiated, KILL BLUE follows Juzo Ogami, a legendary 39-year-old assassin who is transformed back into a 13-year-old boy and forced to infiltrate a middle school. The premise gives the series plenty of room to balance lethal action with the mundane inconveniences of suddenly looking like a seventh-grader.
That peculiar combination was perfectly captured by one of the crowd-favorite moments discussed onstage: a cloud of classroom chalk dust concealing the exact instant Juzo fires at a panda-masked attacker. It’s ridiculous, stylish and strangely practical, which makes it a pretty effective encapsulation of KILL BLUE itself.
But some of the panel’s most memorable moments had little to do with assassination.
Creator Tadatoshi Fujimaki offered a rare and vulnerable glimpse into the pressures of the manga industry when he told the audience that KILL BLUE was the series that “saved” him. Following the enormous success of Kuroko’s Basketball, Fujimaki explained that the pressure to produce another blockbuster had begun to drain the joy from drawing.
KILL BLUE changed that.
Rather than continuing to chase results, Fujimaki found himself able to enjoy the goofy, action-packed creative process again. Hearing him describe that experience added another dimension to a series that, on its surface, is about a middle-aged assassin trapped in a teenager’s body. Beneath all the bullets, schoolwork and absurdity is a project that helped its creator rediscover why he enjoyed making manga in the first place.
That renewed sense of creative freedom also appeared to carry over into the anime adaptation, particularly during a fascinating discussion about the show’s opening sequence.
Set to “ATTITUDE” by global K-pop powerhouse aespa, the opening pairs the group’s polished sound with visuals from director Ryu Nakayama. The panel acknowledged how unusual it still is for a major Japanese anime production to tap a K-pop act for such a prominent role, and the discussion included the team’s experience attending one of aespa’s live performances.
Fujimaki admitted that despite loving aespa and being impressed by the group’s performance, he initially had reservations. The song and Nakayama’s visuals almost seemed too glamorous for his eccentric assassin comedy.
Ultimately, that disconnect became part of the appeal.
Rather than attempting to perfectly reproduce the tone of KILL BLUE, the opening gives the series another personality entirely: glossy, stylish and larger than life. The contrast between aespa’s high-polish presentation and a story about a 39-year-old hitman navigating middle school shouldn’t necessarily work. Somehow, it does.
The discussion made an interesting point about modern anime production in the process. An opening sequence doesn’t always need to function as a literal tonal summary of the show that follows it. Sometimes the tension between the two can make both more memorable.
And audiences will be seeing more of Juzo Ogami.
KILL BLUE has officially been renewed for Season 2, with production currently underway. Additional broadcast details, cast announcements and key visuals are expected to be revealed in the coming months.
For a panel centered on a comedy about a de-aged assassin, KILL BLUE: Special Homeroom ultimately became something considerably more personal. Between Fujimaki’s candid reflections on rediscovering his creative enthusiasm and the unlikely marriage of assassin comedy and high-gloss K-pop, the session offered a revealing look at what can happen when creators stop worrying quite so much about what a project is supposed to be and simply allow themselves to enjoy making it.
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