The acclaimed artist Yoshitaka Amano has an original anime officially in production. Zan is a limited anime series based on Amano’s existing dark fantasy art project Deva Zan, which was compiled into an official artbook in 2013. The anime’s trailer will debut at Anime Expo in Los Angeles on July 3. Here is the first teaser image for the series:
The project has a long history. In 2010, Amano founded a film production company, Studio Devaloka, which announced it would produce a 3D anime movie titled Zan. After several years of silence, the film was eventually rebooted into a series in 2022. Last week’s press release for the Zan limited anime described it as follows:
Blending original and newly created artwork by Amano with expressive hand-drawn animation, ‘ZAN’ is a dark fantasy epic that crosses time and space through dynamic action, sword battles, and visually striking heroes. The series unites veteran anime creators under Amano’s artistic vision to deliver a premium animated work for worldwide audiences.
The series is being developed by Yoshitaka Amano Inc. As for the staff, Masashi Ikeda (Inuyasha, Gundam Wing) and Toru Toshida (Armored Trooper VOTOMS, Gundam Seed) will be its animation directors. Moriyasu Taniguchi (Samurai Champloo, Vinland Saga) will be the principal animator. Series composition will be handled by Ryosuke Takahashi (Armored Trooper VOTOMS, The Fable), and Yuya Takashima (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, The Fable) will also write for the project. Kunio Ogawa (Time Bokan, Mobile Suit Gundam) and Minoru Nishida (Kill Bill, Doraemon: Nobita’s Dinosaur) are the art directors.
Amano is best known for his illustration work on the Final Fantasy series, the Vampire Hunter D novels, and Sandman: The Dream Hunters, but he has a long history working with the anime industry as well. He was a character designer for numerous shows, including Casshan, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, and more. He’s also the co-creator of the cult classic 1985 film Angel’s Egg, which showcases his dreamlike aesthetic across a hallucinatory 71 minutes. We’ll see how well Amano’s next animated project translates his art style next week.