Heroes of Light: A Story about Magic

Heroes of Light: A Story about Magic is a Japanese-American-Canadian anime television series commissioned by Seikunime and primarily animated by Studio Aura, Ω+ Animation, and New Xebec (the latter, New Xebec, left the production after the tenth episode). The anime began production after Seikunime reported a financial loss for Nano Invaders II. The anime would air on TV Surge Nippon sometime in February-March 2020.

in early January, it was announced that the anime will air on February 1st in Japan. The second season premiered in April of 2021 in Japan, and will air worldwide with local dubs starting in June of 2021.

In 2022, it was announced that the series would end after four seasons, the latter two of which would be split into two cours of 11 episodes each.

Plot
When teenagers with magical talents turn 14, they are invited to the magical academies, such as Menore in England, Pitsorths in America, and Bipora in Asia.

Six teenagers will arrive at Menore, as they take on the magical world of Variara.

Characters

 * Joseph Ford (USA)
 * English voice: Greg Abbey
 * Rachel Price (CAN)
 * English voice: Laura Bailey
 * Danièle Beauregard (FRA)
 * English voice: Kira Buckland
 * Nashio Katsumoto (JPN)
 * English voice: Johnny Yong Bosch
 * Machi Jun (JPN)
 * English voice: Benjamin Diskin (Season One) / Aleks Le (Season Two)
 * Caitlin Chambers (ENG)
 * English voice: Carrie Keranen
 * Nishiyama Reiko (JPN)
 * English voice: Kari Wahlgren

Development
On October 30th, 2019, Seikunime reported that Nano Invaders II made a financial loss of $6,790,500 USD and that once it ended its broadcast on American TV, it would be written-off. In response, Heroes of Light: A Story about Magic was ordered by Seikunime and Aura Television Productions, with production starting right away. Firebasket Asian Animation assisted with producing the in-between frames and Silver Arts Animation assisted with animating the key animation for the anime.

Production
Production was moved to a new episode every other week due to the coronavirus, replacing it on days it doesn't air will be Sentai Five.

Following the first month, the ratings were solid, however, the production team would wait until the summer for an official Season 2 announcement.

On May 1, 2020, Venga Seikunime announced that Season 1 will end after 22 episodes, with the remaining thirteen episodes being repurposed as the first half of the second season for Spring 2021.

In May of 2021, it was announced a third season will air in the summer of 2022, to run until the winter.

English language version
On March 30, 2020, it was announced that the first five episodes were dubbed, with episodes six through eight's dub were being finalized. Dubbing will be delayed until mid-June 2020 due to the coronavirus. Two versions were produced, an edited dub and an uncut dub. The edited dub toned down the violence and language. NYAV Post will produce both dubs.

Foreign language versions
Firebasket International Productions holds the non-English dubbing rights for Heroes of Light. These dubs are produced in house and at Voice and Script International. France aired the first international dub in March 2020, then South Korea in June of 2020. Delays furthered non-English dubs until 2021, where Italy's dub was complete and broadcast rights were purchased by AnimeCore Italy in February of 2021 to air in April of 2021.

Japan
TV Surge Nippon would begin airing the anime in Japan sometime in February-March 2020, with rebroadcasts on TV Akihabara and SurgeAnime Japan to follow at a later date.

SurgeAnime started airing the anime on March 15, 2020, with TV Akihabara following suit on April 5th, 2020.

Following the shutdown of TV Surge Nippon on June 30th, 2022, the Japanese broadcasts of the third season onward would be moved exclusively to AnimeCore Japan and TV Akihabara.

Canada
YTV 2 would be the primary broadcaster of the edited version in Canada and will air the edited dub as part of their daytime schedule. However, YTV 2 wouldn't debut the edited version until April 4th, 2022. YTV will be the primary broadcaster of the uncut version in Canada, with the show being on the Bionix block.

United States
Nickelodeon Family premiered the edited version in the United States on April 11th, 2020, replacing a Jewelpet rerun. New episodes aired throughout April and May, before temporarily being replaced with reruns of the first eight episodes throughout June and July due to dubbing issues. New episodes of the edited dub resumed in August 2020. Beta Cartoon acquired the broadcast rights to the uncut version. The edited version has also been re-broadcast on NFGo!, Nickelodeon Family's afternoon action-adventure block, and AnimeCore Extra since 2021. Aura later announced that NFCartoons would add reruns of the edited dub to its schedule at launch.

France
Game One will broadcast the series uncut, dubbed in French by Firebasket International. The series will start on March 23, 2020. The series ran for three weeks before dubbing was delayed, the next airdate is sometime in June.

South Korea
Tooniverse will broadcast the series edited, dubbed in Korean by Firebasket International. The series will start in early April. However, by late March, it was announced that they will delay airing until June 2020 due to delays in dubbing.

United Kingdom and Ireland
On March 15th, 2020, it was announced that both Disney XD in Wales and SurgeAnime UK/Ireland were jointly bidding for the rights to the edited version in the UK and Ireland. However, in August 2020, it was reported that Disney XD Wales have dropped out of the bid due to their impending sale.

Italy
In February 2021, it was announced that AnimeCore had bought the Italian broadcast rights to the series and will air it as a launch series. Upon splitting from AnimeCore in 2023, Beta Cartoon's Italian feed also acquired broadcast rights to the edited version for the area.

Simulcast
Bantaview, Crunchyroll, HIDIVE, Hulu, FunimationNow, VRV, Tubi, Vudu, and Amazon Prime Video have shared streaming rights in the United States. Season 2 will be simulcast on Flare+, Crunchyroll, Bantaview, Paramount+, HIDIVE, Hulu, FunimationNow, VRV (via Crunchyroll), Tubi, Vudu, and Prime Video. Despite the announcement that Funimation would move its content to Crunchyroll before the premiere of season three, they would continue to simulcast future seasons as a result of Heroes of Light being a continuing series.

Crunchyroll and Prime Video will share global streaming rights.

Dubbed version
Dubbed uncut episodes will be available on Bantaview and Crunchyroll two months after it airs on Beta Cartoon.

For Season Two, dubbed uncut episodes will be available on Flare+ and Crunchyroll days after it airs on Beta Cartoon.

Animated spin off
A comedic spin off was announced in 2021, Mystical Misadventures. To be produced by Venga Seikunime, Nelvana, and Titmouse, it will be a short form animated fantasy sitcom produced for Flare+. The show's first season premeired on February 1, 2023, comprising of 26 quarter hour episodes, to a decent success prompting Venga Seikunime and Nelvana to order a second season.

Manga spin off
A manga spin off focused on hundreds of years into the future titled CyberMystics was announced for spring 2022, to be circulated in Shōnen Jump+/Manga Plus.

Video game
In 2021, Square Enix announced Heroes of Light: Mystic Warriors, a video game developed by Cryptic Studios, Square Enix Studio 4, and Eidos-Montréal, to be published in house. The game will be released in June of 2022, during the third season.

At a Heroes of Light event in January 2022, it was announced that Mystic Warriors would be delayed until November 2022. Square Enix Studio 4 would drop out of the project, being replaced by Crystal Dynamics and Piranha Games.

Trivia

 * Similar to Nano Invaders II, as a project commissioned by a third-party AuraAnime Licensing does not have the master license to the anime.
 * The fourth and final season would be the final project Bionix Animation would reportedly work on, due to the division's namesake shutting down.