A complete promotional video for the television anime version of the mobile game Arknights: Prelude to Dawn started streaming on Saturday on the official Twitter account for the show. “Alive,” ReoNa’s opening theme tune, is revealed and previewed in the video.
The Twitter account also made a crucial image public.
On October 28, the anime will make its TV Tokyo debut. It will also run on TV Osaka, BS11, and Animax. Beginning on October 29, the anime will be streamed in Japan.
Ace, a character in the anime, will be portrayed by Takashi Matsuyama. In the game, the character is voiceless.
The other cast includes:
- Doctor: Yuki Kaida
- Amiya: Tomoyo Kurosawa
- Dobermann: Atsumi Tanezaki
- Nearl: Ayane Sakura
- Ch’en: Shizuka Ishigami
- Hoshiguma: Kiyono Yasuno
- Franka: Ai Kakuma
- Liskarm: Yui Ishikawa
- Exusiai: Manaka Iwami
- Texas: Azusa Tadokoro
- Meteorite: Risa Taneda
- Kal’tsit: Yōko Hikasa
At Yostar Pictures, the anime is being directed by Yuki Watanabe, with Masataka Nishikawa serving as assistant. Watanabe has contributed to various animated promotional video shorts for the smartphone game, and both had previously collaborated on the “Holy Knight Light” first anniversary anime short. The animation of the character designs is being done by Aya Takafuji (key animator for Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia, SSSS.Gridman).
When Yostar Pictures announced the show in October 2021, it was called “season one” of the anime.
The game was first released by the Chinese creators Studio Montagne and Hypergryph in China in May 2019, and subsequently by Yostar in January 2020 for international distribution. A nine-minute animated “Holy Knight Light” short will be released in December 2021 to commemorate the game’s first anniversary. The game has already served as inspiration for various animated promotional films since 2019.
The setting of the game is Terra, a fantastical universe with elements of contemporary science fiction. The majority of humans are compelled to live in itinerant cities due to Terra’s frequent yet severe Catastrophes. A rare mineral called Originium is also produced by catastrophes; it has a high energy output and is therefore a valuable resource, but as it expands it also eats everything in its path. Oripathy, a wasting illness, is readily acquired by those who have been exposed to Originium for a long time. The lives of those with Oripathy are at the heart of the narrative. The frequently shunned Infected can find assistance and a place to belong thanks to a mobile medical organization called Rhodes Island. The Reunion Movement, a terrorist group that engages in violent action against governments that mistreat the Infected, has forced Rhodes Island to frequently engage in ad hoc paramilitary operations against them.