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Zan is the upcoming new anime movie based on Yoshitaka Amano’s art collection, and it has a worldwide release window of 2026 or later. Jaymen Tokyo, in collaboration with US animation studio N LITE Media, announced the production of the new animated feature film at Anime Expo 2023. The movie is based on Amano’s Deva Zan artwork collection. [Thanks, Famitsu!]
The original Zan is a collection of over 300 original pieces of art created by Yoshitaka Amano. It released in 2010 as Deva Zan. The new anime will be produced by Japanese directors, scriptwriters, and creators, and it will be mainly created by Japanese studios.
However, US animation studio N LITE media will also participate in the production in some capacity. N LITE is a Black-owned film studio that creates, develops, and produces original animation and stories, with a focus on creating stories inspired by the African and Indigenous diaspora.
The original story of Zan follows a protagonist with the same name, a samurai that spends his days fighting near the end of the Edo period, during a period where the time of the samurai was coming to an end. After following a girl’s voice, Zan is transported to a different time and place, where he fights various enemies. Afterwards, he discovers that he is one of the Twelve Heavenly Generals of Buddhist myth.
The new Zan movie is an anime adaptation of Yoshitaka Amano’s artwork. It is currently in production and will release worldwide as soon as 2026.
