Tatsuki Fujimoto fans are already getting one treat this year in the form of Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arcbut some of the mangaka’s other acclaimed works are now being compiled into a brand new anime, and it drops way sooner than you’d expect. Most anime fans only know Tatsuki Fujimoto as the creator of the insanely popular Shonen Jump series, Chainsaw Man. 2024’s Look Back showed more casual anime fans a new side to the author. Now, the brand-new anime is delving deeper into the short stories that came years before Chainsaw Manand its release is right around the corner.
The official YouTube channel for Avex Pictures recently dropped the trailer for Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26. The new anime series compiles eight short stories that Tatsuki Fujimoto wrote between the ages of 17 to 26 (if the title didn’t already give that away). VIZ Media publishes the short stories in English, under the titles Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man: 17-21 and Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man: 22-26. As well as the breathtaking animation in the new trailer, Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 also has a release date. The series will premiere exclusively on Prime Video on November 8th.
Which Short Stories Appear in Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26?
Tatsuki Fujimoto has already partnered with MAPPA and Studio Durian for Chainsaw Man and Look Backrespectively. Now it’s time for six new studios to step in for the anthology of short stories. 100studio and Lapin Track will both handle two episodes, with ZEXCS, GRAPH77, Studio Kafka, and P.A. WORKS animating the other four short stories.
The titles of the short stories adapted in Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 can be found below:
- A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin’ in the Schoolyard (ZEXCS)
- Sasaki Stopped a Bullet (Lapin Track)
- Love is Blind (Lapin Track)
- Shikaku (GRAPH77)
- Mermaid Rhapsody (100studio)
- Woke-Up-as-a-Girl Syndrome (Studio Store)
- Nayuta of the Prophecy (100studio)
- Sisters (P.A. WORKS)
Following the release of the trailer, Tatsuki Fujimoto commented on having his early works adapted into a new anime series. “Having my works from my student years being adapted into anime made me anxious, wondering if this was really okay, and if these works might have relied too heavily on others’ inspiration,” Fujimoto said in a press release (via ANN). “However, although I haven’t seen them yet, I believe that through the work of talented directors, they have become proper, well-crafted pieces.”
Fans love Tatsuki Fujimoto for his uncanny ability to blend surreal elements with real human emotions, and Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 will likely be no different. The series will give fans an insight into the mind behind Chainsaw Man and Look Backyears before those stories were conceived. The stories in the anthology range from grounded tales of high school romance to devastating alien invasions, bloody vampires, mermaids, and little sisters with devil horns. It’s going to be a weird one, alright.
H/T: ANN
