News
Yoshitaka Amano's ZAN Anime Project Rebooted as Series
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Los Angeles-based digital distributor SOZO Comics announced on Thursday that it is producing ZAN, an anime series based on Yoshitaka Amano's DEVA ZAN art.
Jaymen Tokyo and Good Win will produce the project.
SOZO Comics describes the story of ZAN:
It is near the end of Japan's Edo era, a time when the samurai system is rapidly fading away. Zan is one of those samurai, spending his days in endless warfare. One day, Zan hears the voice of a strange girl who guides him to another world beyond space and time. So begins his cross-dimensional battle against an assortment of new enemies-and along the way, he learns that he was once part of the "Twelve Generals." But who is he, really? Who are the enemies he's fighting, and the comrades he fights with? In an alternate world of light and dark, war threatens to engulf the entire land in darkness. What does fate hold for Zan in this realm...?
The anime is part of a larger ZAN project, which includes a P2E blockchain game and NFT art. Singaporean blockchain system development firm Trophee will contribute to these two projects.
SOZO Comics will reveal more details about the project at Anime Expo in July 2023, with a "tie-in" planned at the event.
The project was originally announced in 2010 as an anime film, with Amano making his directorial debut on the film. Amano had established his own production studio, Studio Deva Loka, to create the film. The project was originally slated to debut worldwide in 2012, but was never released. Amano had said in 2010 that he had created the concept for the film in 2000 and had been developing the project ever since.
Dark Horse Comics released the DEVA ZAN artbook in hardcover in January 2013.
Update on July 3, 2023: Yoshitaka Amano's panel at Anime Expo 2023 revealed the following producers on the project: Mariko Suzuki from M's Management Studio, film producer Hiroaki Ikegami, Kazuhiko Yusa (representative director of Jaymen Tokyo), and Shin Koyamada (CEO of N LITE Japan).
Source: Press release
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history