Atsumi Tanezaki is voicing Frieren in the USJ attraction and Gali in the upcoming The Cat and the Dragon anime, which premieres in July 2026.
Atsumi Tanezaki attended the opening ceremony for the Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Story Walk ~Journey of Memories~ attraction at Universal Studios Japan on May 29, 2026. She voiced Frieren in the anime and spoke at the event alongside Nobuhiko Okamoto, who voiced Himmel. Tanezaki said the walkthrough experience made her feel like she was in the same space as the characters and that she almost cried during scenes revisiting Frieren's journey. The attraction is the first collaboration between USJ and the Frieren anime and uses a new format called Universal Story Walk. It runs through January 11, 2027.
Earlier in May, Tanezaki was announced as part of the cast for the television adaptation of The Cat and the Dragon. She will play the character Gali. The series is scheduled to premiere in July 2026, with Studio OLM handling animation production. The second promotional video and a key visual were released on May 14, 2026, alongside the casting news. The light novel series has sold over one million copies across nine volumes.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the cited Yomimono stories below, each itself
sourced, then editorially reviewed. Every
fact links the story it came from.
May 29
Universal Studios Japan held an opening ceremony on May 29 for its new limited-time attraction, "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Story Walk ~Journey of Memories~," which opens to the public on May 30. Voice actors Atsumi Tanezaki (Frieren) and Nobuhiko Okamoto (Himmel) attended the ceremony and spoke about their experience previewing the walkthrough attraction. Tanezaki said the attraction made her feel like she was in the same space as the characters and that she almost cried during scenes revisiting Frieren's journey. Okamoto praised the realism of the townscapes and the statue of Himmel, saying the experience left him speechless. The attraction is the first collaboration between USJ and the Frieren anime and uses a new format called Universal Story Walk, combining giant screens, projection mapping, lighting, sound, and sets. The event runs through January 11, 2027. USJ is also offering a themed restaurant, "Frieren ~Restaurant of Memories~," and a story ride, "Frieren × Story Ride ~Journey with the Bird Monster and Carriage."
May 16
The television adaptation of Amara and Mai Okuma's light novel series The Cat and the Dragon revealed a second promotional video, a key visual, and three additional voice actors on May 14. Atsumi Tanezaki will play Gali, Chika Anzai will play Annerossa, and Junya Enoki will play Stan. The characters appear in the new trailer alongside the previously announced cast, which includes Takehito Koyasu as the cat-raised dragon Nekoryu and Kikuko Inoue as Mamanyan. The series is scheduled to premiere in July 2026. Studio OLM is handling animation production, with Jin-Koo Oh directing and Mitsutaka Hirota writing the series composition. Rie Nishino and Chiaki Kurakazu are the character designers, and Takahiro Obata is composing the music. The story began as a short story on the web platform Shosetsuka ni Naro in 2013. Takarajimasha later picked it up for a print release under its Bunko label. The light novels have sold over one million copies across nine volumes. A manga adaptation by Izumi Sasaki runs on the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Web platform.