Crunchyroll released a trailer for its upcoming anime Sekiro on Monday ahead of the show’s panel at the SXSW festival in Austin.
Based on From Software’s acclaimed 2019 action-adventure game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the TV series follows the adventures of Wolf, a ninja warrior who rescues his master during Japan’s Warring States period, and is a hand-drawn anime directed by Kenichi Kutsuna and Studio Qzil.la. In the new Sekiro: No Defeat trailer, which readers can watch in the video above, the animated version of Wolf begins this journey.
The director of Sekiro: No Defeat told Variety in an exclusive interview that the goal of the project was to “incorporate as many elements as possible from the foundational works of the game” and “not deviate too much from what the fans expect,” but that “it would be impossible and very difficult to use every single element.”
“In games, of course, you’re playing from the character’s POV, the player’s POV, so there’s one point of view, but that doesn’t really work in anime. So we tried to adapt it as much as possible as an audiovisual type of medium,” Kutsuna said. “While there is great respect for the original game, some liberties have been taken in the sense of combining perspectives and imagery rather than being placed in the world from a first-person perspective.”
Interest has been high since the Sekiro anime was first announced at Gamescom last year, but so too were fan concerns about how the video game would be translated into TV series format. Mr. Kutsuna said he is aware of this feedback and takes it very seriously.
“FromSoftware provides a very high quality gaming experience and has established this community and fandom around the world,” Kutsuna said. “So we understand that the audience that might be watching what we’re making with this anime is going to put this under the microscope. And it’s going to be very tough. I don’t want to say tough or harsh, but you might say that the audience is watching it. Of course, I’m nervous about being able to respond to that level of resolution that they’re probably asking for. But I think we’ve done everything we can as a production side in terms of maintaining a level of quality that doesn’t hurt the From Software and Sekiro brands. And when we released the teaser, I think there was a strange reaction like, “Oh, they’re using AI?” And then it became a little thing, but it was all dissipated and quelled. I think there are a lot of unforeseen elements that you can’t really plan for when developing this kind of project, but I think we still feel confident that we’ve done everything we can to do what this series deserves. ”
Kutsuna says that one of the aspects he wanted to make sure to emulate with this IP was the ability for Wolf to choose from multiple different paths (through the player), some of which had much better results than others.
“I think one of the core pillars of the video game experience is that it’s not a very player-friendly game,” Kutsuna said. “And I think it opens up a lot of interpretation on the player’s part as well in terms of how they want the game to go. And people who have played it know that kind of experience. So when we took that and translated it into audiovisuals, we wanted to make it open to interpretation in the same way that the game presents itself to the player.”
Kutsuna is scheduled to talk about the making of “Sekiro: No Defeat” during a panel discussion at the SXSW festival on Monday, where he and series creator Shuta Hasunuma will also be screening the first episode exclusively indoors.
“I think the role of music and sound design changes quite a bit when you translate the game medium into an audiovisual medium, and I kept that in the back of my mind when scoring,” Hasunuma told Variety. “It’s important for the music to accurately represent the atmosphere of that historical drama, that time period, and that’s reflected in the emotions of the characters. I think the role of music in an audiovisual environment is to have more resolution in terms of how it guides the audience or viewer through that experience. Interaction There’s a lot more nuance that can be expressed in a linear format than in a creative format. So there’s a lot of very intense moments, a lot of very private, more subtle, dramatic moments.” There’s a huge range of what you’re trying to get right in the music. ”
Kutsuna said the script and storyboarding process for the anime “SEKIRO” was done “very closely” between him and game developer FromSoftware. “The game has three main branches, and we’re leaning toward one of the anime storylines,” Kutsuna said, adding that From Software “will check and approve everything and make sure it’s consistent with the established world setting.”
During this project, which marks the first time From Software has developed its own IP into another on-screen medium, Kutsuna said: “They took a lot of our advice and relied on us when it came to making certain decisions and interpreting the best way to express it in animation, but we also look to them for the essence of the game that we might have missed.”
Watch the new Sekiro: No Defeat trailer in the video above.
