NHK has released preview images of the upcoming anime Cocoon, an adaptation of the manga by Machiko Kyou.
The still-in-production anime will have an early broadcast in late March on BS. Its main broadcast will begin in August.
It was also revealed that Cocoon‘s director is animator Ina Yukimitsu and that Kensuke Ushio (The Colors Within, Dan Da Dan) is composing the music. Additionally, the main voice actors are Hikari Mitsushima as Mayu and Marika Ito as San.
In Cocoon, San, a schoolgirl who attends the top school on her island, and her classmates are drafted into the student corps as World War II worsens. The manga was serialized in Akita Shoten’s Elegance Eve and is collected into a single volume, which was published in 2010.
The anime was announced in June 2023. NHK stated that it is meant to serve as a thought-provoking work about war and noted that 2025 will mark the 80th year since end of the Second World War.
The passing of animation knowledge and techniques was also mentioned as an aim of the production. Cocoon‘s animation production company is Sasayuri, which was originally a cafe founded by the anime’s animation producer Hitomi Tateno (The Wind Rises and Ponyo on the Cliff in-between animation inspector) in 2014. The company was established in 2017 and includes animation-related training among its functions.
Sasayuri Cafe has been indefinitely closed since late 2020. It hosted a large number of art exhibitions, including the Jin-Roh Hiroyuki Okiura Exhibition, the Cyberconnect2 Art Works Exhibition, and Anime Style 20 Anniversary Exhibition Part 2 #Yoh Yoshinari Doodles.
Source: @nhk_animeworld
