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Netflix is announcing at Annecy an anime series adaptation of “Fool Night,” the critically acclaimed manga written by Kasumi Yasuda and currently serialized in Shogakukan Inc.’s Big Comic Superior.
Netflix will launch
the series in 2026. The announcement, which is being made at a Netflix Anime panel on Tuesday, marks the first-ever collaboration between two of Japan’s most prolific anime studios: Sunrise, known for the “Mobile Suit Gundam” franchise and works like “Cowboy Bebop,” and Shaft, renowned for the unique and vivid style of “Puella Magi Madoka Magica” and the “Monogatari” series.
The creative team for the series boast similarly impressive bonafides, such as director Atsushi Yukawa, a unit director on the ”Suzume” series, composition writer Jin Tanaka (“Oshi no Ko”), sound director Yota Tsuruoka (“A Silent Voice”), and composer Tatsuya Kato (“Dr. Stone”). The ongoing manga also comes with acclaim, ranking in 2023’s Kono Manga ga Sugoi! (an annual list of the best manga, chosen by industry professionals) as well as winning best suspense manga at the Japan Expo Awards (Daruma Awards) in 2023.
“Fool Night” is set in a dystopian future where the Earth is deprived of sunlight by thick clouds, leading to a permanent winter and eternal night. As a result, vegetation has died off, meaning a lack of oxygen. In an attempt to stabilize this depleting oxygen supply, the drastic measure of “transfloration” was created: a practice where humans are transformed into plants in order to balance out this oxygen shortage.
The story primarily follows a boy named Toshiro Kamiya, who lives in poverty and works hard to cover living expenses and buy medication for his mother. Kamiya voluntarily undergoes this “transfloration” procedure after his life falls apart, resulting in unexpected consequences.
The first images shared in exclusivity with Variety show a visual contrast: The density of plant life in one feels like a direct response to the neon tones in the other, the overwhelming artificial light necessary for a world enshrouded in permanent darkness. In the same sense, it will be interesting to see how the styles of Sunrise and Shaft themselves compliment each other when “Fool Night” releases in 2026.
