Kojima Productions has announced its Death Stranding anime series will be heading exclusively to Disney Plus.
Known for the time being as Death Stranding Isolations, the anime was officially announced by Hideo Kojima himself. An original story, the anime is set for a release in 2027, with Kojima serving as executive producer while Takayuki Sano will direct.
The team also shared some concept art for the Death Stranding anime by Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 character designer Ilya Kuvshinov (see below). The anime will be “told through a traditional, hand-drawn 2D animation style”, with “Japan’s top animation talent” working on the series.
As for what it is all about, here is the official Death Stranding anime synopsis as shared by Kojima Productions:
Once, there was an explosion…
Lonesome souls of the dead manifest in the physical world, reaching in search of the living. However, the connection they create triggers a massive explosion that eradicates anything of this world – a phenomenon referred to as the Death Stranding. These events wipe out nations as well as civilization itself. People who remain are now isolated, withdrawn, and without connections. As humanity stands at the brink a legendary porter set out to transport both cargo and wishes of its senders, reconnecting people in the hope that they might still be saved.
Based on the video game born out of the mind of legendary game creator, Hideo Kojima, comes a new animation series headed by Japan’s up-and-coming animation studio E&H production. Helmed by E&H’s Takayuki Sano, it follows in the footsteps of the original in spirit and ideas and depict the world of Death Stranding through a bold and yet subtle touch and top-class hand-drawn animation.
Somewhere in North America, just as Sam Bridges walks through the continent in order to save America, the someones are also trying to deal with their isolation in their own way. An old man trying to realise salvation through ways outside of the connection advocated by Bridges. A female warrior who tries to kickstart a world of constant fighting. A boy with a grudge against Bridges. A girl who embraces loneliness.
On the precipice of the end of humanity and the world, their fates and hopes converge, as another story of Death Stranding begins.
And now, comes another explosion…
Word of a Death Stranding anime first made the rounds in May of this year, when Kojima casually slipped it into conversation.
In addition, a film based on the Death Stranding is also in the works. Kojima announced his company was partnering with A24 in December 2023. A24 is the production and distribution company behind the likes of Everything Everywhere All At One and Hereditary, so it sounds like a good match for Kojima.
