The Bugle Call — a manga with a concept all its own

An aspiring musician destined for war

Our protagonist is Luca, a boy raised in a mercenary company and used as a bugler on the battlefield.

Luca dreams of becoming a musician. He hates war.

But he has a gift: he can see his own music and make it visible to others.

When he plays, he can use that music to guide soldiers through battle. He is, quite literally, conducting an army as though it were an orchestra.

The talent Luca hopes will free him from war is precisely what makes him so valuable on the battlefield.

The original title captures that idea beautifully: 戦奏教室 — Sensō Kyōshitsu.

“War” is normally written 戦争 in Japanese. In the title, the second character becomes 奏, associated with playing or performing music. The wordplay brings the whole premise together: war + music.

Luca’s instrument is no arbitrary choice, either. Historically, military bugles were used to communicate orders to troops, including calls to attack and retreat. The National Park Service’s account of military signalling explains that role.

Luca isn’t the only one with a power

There are others like him: the Branch-Born, recognisable by the strange, antler-like branches growing from their heads. Each has a different ability.

• Zoe can “borrow” strength from her own future and concentrate it in the present. For a short time, she can become monstrously powerful… but there is a price to pay afterwards.
• Demi can see over enormous distances and share that vision with others. Think of her as human radar on the battlefield.
• Miura moves at such extraordinary speed that his own eyes cannot keep up with his body.
• Cora can transfer injuries and illnesses between people. She can save an ally… by passing their wound on to someone else.
• Oskar is effectively immortal, recovering from injuries that would kill anyone else.
• Zahid has the power of luck: probability itself seems to bend in his favour.

The official Jump SQ. page introduces the characters and their abilities. Luca’s power may not be the most destructive, but it can turn all these different abilities into a coordinated fighting force.

The Pontiff and the Spires: the plot thickens

The person bringing Luca and the other Branch-Born together is the Pontiff, the supreme religious and political authority of the Papal State.

He finds them, brings them under his control and assembles a military unit made up of people with supernatural powers.

His stated aim is to protect the Spire of Thermi and defeat rival powers, particularly the Empire and the terrifying Garland, a Branch-Born with the outrageous ability to bring meteorites crashing down from space.

The Spires are enormous structures connected to a civilisation of the past. They contain knowledge and technology that the present medieval world can no longer understand or reproduce.

Is the Pontiff really protecting his people… or is he expanding his own power by building the greatest weapon the world has ever seen? Who are the good guys here? And who are the villains?

And all of this is becoming an anime

At this point, you almost have to ask: how could a combination like this fail to work in animation?

Large-scale medieval battles, armies, Branch-Born with outlandish powers, politics, religion, Spires hiding lost technology…

The Bugle Call anime is coming in 2027. It will be the first title produced by CA Soa, a new studio within the CyberAgent group, as confirmed in the official announcement dated 30 June 2026.

In other words, this is the series they have chosen to introduce their new studio to the world.

The first teaser is already out: almost four minutes of battles, armies and powers, and above all an attempt to bring action and music together.

Shirogumi is handling the CG for the action and combat sequences, while Hitomi Koto’s score will make extensive use of live instruments. Shinya Watada is directing; the full team is listed on the official anime website.

And this is where The Bugle Call could take a real leap forward.

In the manga, Luca can see music.
In the anime, we’ll finally get to hear it.

If CA Soa can bring together the brutality of medieval warfare, music, strategy and the Branch-Born’s powers, this has all the ingredients of a show that arrives fairly quietly…

…then suddenly becomes the one everyone is talking about.

Two pieces to keep an eye on

If The Bugle Call truly breaks through with its anime, there are two physical pieces that make the most sense to me. They preserve two different beginnings of the same story.

Jump SQ., July 2022 — the first magazine appearance

Released on 3 June 2022, this is the issue in which The Bugle Call officially debuted. And it wasn’t a modest entrance: a 118-page first chapter with opening colour pages, reported at the time by Comic Natalie.

As happens with plenty of other series, The Bugle Call isn’t on the cover. The issue’s cover features Twin Star Exorcists / Sōsei no Onmyōji. Kinokuniya’s listing confirms both that cover and the new series’ opening colour feature.

The print issue also came with a physical bonus: a special set of four Twin Star Exorcists coasters, identified in Suruga-ya’s listing for the original supplement.

If you’re looking for a complete copy, don’t stop at the cover: check that the bonus is present too.

Volume 1 — first printing with obi

Three months later, on 2 September 2022, the first tankōbon arrived. At 256 pages, it is a substantial book — and the first collected volume devoted entirely to The Bugle Call. The date, format and page count are confirmed in Shueisha’s official listing.

For a collector’s copy, the target is a first printing with its original obi. The photos below show the front and back with obi, the book without its dust jacket, and the colophon. The latter records 7 September 2022, first printing: distinguish this from the 2 September retail release.