The first trailer for the upcoming anime adaptation of Death Stranding has been released. The series will provide an alternative window into the apocalyptic world of the games, this time through the eyes of a young girl.
The trailer for Death Stranding Isolations gives only a brief glimpse of what awaits in the series, opening on a large crater with a single trailer home inside. There, a young girl sleeps, only to have her rest interrupted by a dream of BTs rising up through the ground. A shadowed figure comes near her before the trailer cuts. The unnamed girl is an entirely new character for the series, with the show taking the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners approach of focusing on an original story with all-new characters that takes place in the same universe. The tagline for the series is typically cryptic for a Kojima-adjacent joint: My mom became a crater.
That particular phrase seems to be catching the eyes of fans. “My brain is involuntarily reading this tagline in Ralph Wiggum’s voice” reads one comment that is unfortunately going to remain with me whenever I see the series. “My mom became a crater, that happens a lot,” is another response to the admittedly bizarre tagline they have given this new glimpse into the world of the franchise. Fans of the games will know, however, that in the world of Death Stranding, “voidouts” are massive explosions that happen under certain specific circumstances and can be powerful enough to leave a crater in their wake. In all likelihood, the body of the main character’s mother created the circumstances necessary to trigger one of these devastating explosions.
But beyond the jokes, there’s a lot to look forward to given the pedigree of the team assembled. The series, executive produced by Kojima, is directed by Takayuki Sano, best known for his work as animation director on Attack on Titan: The Final Season. This will be his first directorial lead, with character designs by prolific illustrator and designer Ilya Kuvshinov, who also worked on Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. The animation is being led by E&H Productions, a relatively new studio. Writing the script for the series is Tow Ubukata, known for his work sci-fi series like Psycho-Pass 2 and Ghost in the Shell Arise.
The series will air next year globally on Disney+ (via Hulu in the US), with more information to come at a later date. Perhaps we’ll get another glimpse at the Kojima Productions exhibition starting in Tokyo tomorrow?
