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Yoh Yoshinari Shares Info about Upcoming BNA: Brand New Animal Anime in Latest Newtype

BNA: Brand New Animal director Yoh Yoshinari (Little Witch Academia) discussed the upcoming anime in his latest interview with Newtype. He said that his core idea for the anime was "transformation," and that his original proposal was "something like Osamu Tezuka's Marvelous Melmo," which is a story about a girl who is capable of transforming into an adult. However, when it comes to Tezuka's work regarding a transformation theme, Yoshinari personally prefers The Vampires, saying that violence and dark stories "tend to do well overseas as well."

Yoshinari also touched on screenwriter Kazuki Nakashima (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill)'s involvement in the series. He said that Nakashima first became involved in the series midway through the development of the pitch and created the general flow of the story. Nakashima was inspired by the non-fiction book Rupo Kawasaki (Reportage Kawasaki) to include what is happening in modern-day Japan within the world of the story. Yoshinari says that this is how the anime became a story about animal-humans who live in a town called Anima City. Nakashima also assisted Yoshinari with the story beats, for example regarding how certain conflicts are resolved. Yoshinari told fans to look forward to seeing Nakashima's logic at work.

As for the art direction, Yoshinari decided on Genice Chan, a Chinese-Canadian artist based in Vancouver, to draw the conceptual art because Anima City was a unifying symbol of many cultures, and he wanted someone with a strong sense of style and impact. Yoshinari also said that besides the young staff at Trigger, Yusuke Yoshigaki (Space Patrol Luluco, Ninja Slayer From Animation) is returning from Little Witch Academia to design the characters. He is also thinking of bringing in Hiroyuki Imaishi now that he has finished work on Promare. Sushio (Kill la Kill) will also be active on BNA: Brand New Animal.

In the anime's story, in the 21st century, the existence of animal-humans came to light after being hidden in the darkness of history. Michiru lived life as a normal human, until one day she suddenly turns into a tanuki-human. She runs away and takes refuge in a special city area called "Anima City" that was set up 10 years ago for animal-humans to be able to live as themselves. There Michiru meets Shirou, a wolf-human who hates humans. Through Shirou, Michiru starts to learn about the worries, lifestyle, and joys of the animal-humans. As Michiru and Shirou try to learn why Michiru suddenly turned into an animal-human, they unexpectedly get wrapped up in a large incident.

The anime will premire in April on Fuji TV's "+Ultra" programming block. It will also run on BS Fuji and other channels, and stream exclusively on Netflix in Japan.

Source: Newtype February 2020 Issue