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Macross Creator Shoji Kawamori, Satelight Unveil New TV Anime For Global Launch

Anime News Network's Anime Expo 2016 news coverage sponsored by Yen Press.

Anime director Shōji Kawamori and anime studio Satelight announced during Anime Expo that Kawamori is working on a new television anime series with an as-yet unrevealed title. The show is planned for 26 30-minute episodes during the 2017-2018 timeframe.

The staff describes the anime:

The new series is set in a near-future world where the boundary between human being and AI is vague. A rapid biological evolution, similar to "Cambrian Explosion," is caused by one incident. This incident turns into the genesis of a new jostle for supremacy, and the influence of the evolution goes beyond biological framework and spreads to various kinds of materials and technologies. The era of massive evolution involving diverse existences, such as human, machines and biotechnologies, is coming. Characters fight an existential war in such a world.

The anime is targeting a worldwide audience, and will be launched globally. Xiamen Skyloong Media is part of the anime's production.

Kawamori is attending Anime Expo as a Guest of Honor, and he will host a panel that will provide more information on the new anime on Saturday, July 2.

Kawamori is perhaps most famous for being part of the creative planning for The Super Dimension Fortress Macross anime series. He designed most of the franchise's iconic transforming "variable fighter" mecha, and oversaw most of the main installments in the franchise, including the latest, the currently airing Macross Delta.

Kawamori has also created the Aquarion, AKB0048, and Arjuna series, and has contributed mechanical design work to Patlabor: The Movie, Patlabor 2: The Movie, Eureka Seven, Outlaw Star, Ghost in the Shell, and more. He is credited as the original creator of The Vision of Escaflowne, Basquash!, and Nobunaga The Fool. He has worked in anime production as a director, screenwriter, mechanical designer, and storyboarder. Outside anime, he designed one of Sony's Aibo robot dog variants and contributed to the designs of Takara's Diaclone Car Robot toys, which eventually became Optimus Prime, Prowl, Ironhide, and other toys in Hasbro's Transformers line.