gamescom 2025 saw the reveal of Sekiro: No Defeat, an anime adaptation of the popular action-adventure game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. It’s coming exclusively to Crunchyroll in 2026 (excluded regions include Japan, China, Korea, Russia, and Belarus), and the currently available trailer promises a visually satisfying experience.
Sekiro: No Defeat is directed by Kenichi Kutsuna, who has displayed formidable storyboarding and directing chops with past efforts like the opening animations for Magical Destroyers, Vlad Love (“Mitsugu” Version), and The Fire Hunter. Also part of the staff credits are:
• Scriptwriter: Takuya Sato (selector infected WIXOSS director, Fate/stay night series composer)
• Character Designer: Takahiro Kishida (Haikyu!!, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind)
• Deputy director: Shunsuke Fukui (Magical Destroyers opening animation production cooperation, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Episode 2 co-director)
• Chief animation director: Kaito Moki
• Action animation director: Takashi Mukoda (Run With the Wind co-main animator)
• Background art director: Yuji Kaneko (Tengoku Daimakyo)
• Color designer: Azusa Sasaki (Lycoris Recoil)
• Compositing director: Keisuke Nozawa (Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song-)
• Music composer: Shuta Hasunuma
The company credited with production (the non-animation production kind) is ARCH, whose field of work ranges from animation planning and IP management to “Research and development of VR, AR, AI and blockchain related technology.” Qzil.la (which also has an interest in things like AI, though it doesn’t mean that the Sekiro: No Defeat team is using that kind of technology) is the animation production studio.
As for the cast, Sekiro: No Defeat will feature Daisuke Namikawa as Wolf, Miyuki Sato as Kuro/The Divine Heir, and Kenjiro Tsuda as Genichiro Ashina.
©KA/SNDP
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was first released in March 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam, and in October 2020 for the now-defunct Stadia. Steam describes the game as:
Carve your own clever path to vengeance in the critically acclaimed adventure from developer FromSoftware, creators of the Dark Souls series.
In Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice you are the ‘one-armed wolf’, a disgraced and disfigured warrior rescued from the brink of death. Bound to protect a young lord who is the descendant of an ancient bloodline, you become the target of many vicious enemies, including the dangerous Ashina clan. When the young lord is captured, nothing will stop you on a perilous quest to regain your honor, not even death itself.
Explore late 1500s Sengoku Japan, a brutal period of constant life and death conflict, as you come face to face with larger than life foes in a dark and twisted world. Unleash an arsenal of deadly prosthetic tools and powerful ninja abilities while you blend stealth, vertical traversal, and visceral head to head combat in a bloody confrontation.
Take Revenge. Restore Your Honor. Kill Ingeniously.
Source: Press release
