While watching a gigantic robot swing a tanker ship like a baseball bat at a massive kaiju in 2013’s Pacific Rim, chances are that you thought to yourself, “Wow, this is like an anime came to life!” Well now the creative cycle of ouroboros is complete as Netflix announced five new anime series on Thursday, including series based Pacific Rim and Netflix’s cyberpunk mystery Altered Carbon. Here’s a look at everything that Netflix revealed:
Pacific RimÂ
Image: Universal/Legendary
Remember when we meet Cailee Spaeny’s character Amara in Pacific Rim: Uprising? She is living in a warehouse in Los Angeles, pillaging the remains of fallen Jaegers and scrapyards for parts. It’s a hard-scrabble existence experienced not only by Amara, but by thousands more living in the aftermath of the Battle of the Breach. We’ll see more of what living in this world is like outside of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps in Netflix’s new anime series from Craig Kyle (Thor: Ragnarok) and Greg Johnson (X-Men: Evolution). The series follows two siblings, “an idealistic teenage boy and his naive younger sister,” as they pilot an abandoned Jaeger through an unforgiving world in a last-ditch effort to find their missing parents.
Altered Carbon
Image: Netflix
While the second season of Netflix’s hard-boiled cyberpunk sci-fi saga is in production, this anime series will expand the world’s mythology. That news alone should be exciting to anyone experiencing a deep-seated sense of impatience while we wait for Cyberpunk 2077 to come out, but what makes this one of my most anticipated new anime series is that it’s being written by Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo alum Dai Sato as well as Tsukasa Kondo.
Cagaster of an Insect Cage
Image: Blue Gender via Funiation
There’s something about body horror and anime that go together like peanut butter and terrifying chocolate. In Cagaster of an Insect Cage, humanity lives in a post-apocalyptic world where a disease known as “Cagaster” transforms people into “giant murderous insects.” So imagine anime Gregor Samsa but waaaay deadlier. Plus it’s being animated by Gonzo, the studio behind classic vampire anime Hellsing, so you know it’s going to be as gnarly as the premise sounds.
Yasuke
Image: Koei Tecmo
Continuing their grand tradition of talented musicians making unexpected anime series, Netflix is turning to electronic music producer Flying Lotus, Atlanta‘s Lakeith Stanfield, and The Boondocks‘ LeSean Thomas for the alt-history series Yasuke. Set in a world full of mechs and magic, Yasuke is a series based loosely on a famous African samurai who fought alongside Oda Nobunaga, one of Japan’s most famous military leaders during the Sengoku (or Warring States) period of Japanese history. Yasuke will be voiced by Stanfield, Flying Lotus will compose the music, and the animation will come courtesy of Yuri!!! on Ice studio MAPPA. In other words, this is gonna be a must-watch.
Trese
Image:Â Alamat Comics/Visual Print Enterprises
Based on Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldissimo’s graphic novel of the same name, Trese takes place in a world where the myths and monsters of Philippine folklore are real, a young woman finds herself caught up in the secretive, underground world of organized crime full of villains supernatural creatures. Considering how little of Philippine folklore I have seen on the big screen, I can’t wait to see how this translates to anime.Which of these new anime series are you most excited to see? Let me know in the comments below.
