After Studio Kai has brought audiences hit sports series titles such as Prince of Tennis, Captain Tsubasaand Uma Musume, now the studio is bringing a refreshing, frosty new postapocalyptic action-adventure sci-fi mecha set to debut in 2026 — Snowball Earth! While there can be a spectrum of postapocalyptic anime, such as Touring After the Apocalypse being on one sunny side of the spectrum, and then Girls’ Last Tour scouting a land that’s a bit more chilly and bleak, Snowball Earth plans to recon a totally frozen, sci-fi world.
While it may sound like a cute conceptual title, “Snowball Earth” is actually a genuine geohistorical hypothesis. It proposes that the planet’s surface basically became entirely frozen, the atmosphere devoid of any liquid water on the surface, during one or more “icehouse climate” periods (frigid opposite of the hot greenhouse periods). The term itself was coined by American geologist Joseph Kirschvink in 1992. So, with some interesting scientific background to the concept, Snowball Earth is sure to have a lot more to it than just any run-of-the-mill postapocalyptic series.
Get Ready for a Chilly New Postapocalyptic Narrative
Although Yukio perished in battle, Tetsuo managed to survive. Having escaped via a pod shot into space, unbeknownst to him, Tetsuo’s 8-year slumber is just as frigid as what had happened to his home planet. When the escape pod finally returns to Earth, the planet is far from the heated conflict it was left in as Tetsuo awakens to the postapocalyptic world in icy ruins with snow covering the entire surface — a Snowball Earth, if you will. With the world so different from how Tetsuo left it, he will have to unravel the mysteries of how the world froze, what happened to humanity, and whether he will be able to keep his promise to Yukio.
Currently comprised of eight volumes, Yujiro Tsujitsugu’s ongoing sci-fi monster mecha adventure manga of the same name has been serialized in Shogakukan’s seinen manga magazine Monthly Big Comic Spirits since January 2021. Animated by Studio Kai, the adaptation will be directed by Munehisa Sakai (One Piece) Alongside assistant Director Takeshi Iwata, Series Composer Shigeru Murakoshi (Apocalypse Hotel), and character designer/chief animation director Toshiya Kono (Freeze: beyond journey’s end, Sword Art Online). In celebration of the upcoming anime adaptation of Snowball Earth premiering next year, the original author has even created a commemorative illustration released on the anime’s official account.
Are you hyped for this new postapocalyptic series? Let us know in the comments if you think it’ll be a frigid flop or a stone-cold hit!
