The official website for the Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 anthology anime series posted eight promotional videos on Wednesday. Each video previews one of the eight shorts in the project and the unique vision each short's director had.
The anthology series includes the following titles, cast, and staff:
Title: A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin' in the Schoolyard
Story: A tale of two survivors' bond in a post-apocalyptic world.
Cast:
- Kenshō Ono as Yūto
- Shion Sakurai as Ami
- Kazuki Ura as Yōhei
- Kimiko Saitō as Megumi Kaneda
- Mitsuo Iwata as Masatoshi Endō
Staff:
- Director and Screenplay: Seishirō Nagaya (Backflip!! series director, Chainsaw Man episode 10 key animator)
- Character Designer: Moaang (Garden of Remembrance film)
- Animation Production: ZEXCS
Title: Sasaki Stopped a Bullet
Story: A story that explores the intense emotions of adolescence.
Cast:
- Toshiki Kumagai as Sasaki
- Chika Anzai as Chieko Kawaguchi
- Yōichi Okano as Kuwano
Staff:
- Director: Nobukage Kimura (I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level)
- Screenplay: Teruko Utsumi (Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Chikyū Symphony film)
- Character Designer: Naho Kozono (Onna no Sono no Hoshi)
- Animation Production: Lapin Track
Title: Love is Blind
Story: A sci-fi romantic comedy about love on a cosmic scale.
Cast:
- Shun Horie as Ibuki
- Shion Wakayama as Yuri Kōnosu
- Toshiyuki Morikawa as Hayasaka-sensei
- Takahiro Yamamoto as Robber
- Junichi Suwabe as Alien
- Mamiko Noto as Alien Bride
Staff:
- Director: Nobuyuki Takeuchi (Fireworks, Should We See it from the Side or the Bottom? film)
- Screenplay: Teruko Utsumi (Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Chikyū Symphony film)
- Character Designer: Tomoko Mori (Ushio & Tora, two seasons)
- Animation Production: Lapin Track
Title: Shikaku
Story: A twisted love story of an unhinged assassin girl.
Cast:
- Kana Hanazawa as Shikaku
- Tomokazu Sugita as Yugeru
Staff:
- Director and Screenplay: Naoya Ando (Paradox Live The Animation)
- Character Designer: MYOUN (Bocchi the Rock! key animator, two episodes)
- Animation Production: GRAPH77
Title: Mermaid Rhapsody
Story: A touching romance between a boy and a mermaid centered around an underwater piano.
Cast:
- Chiaki Kikuta as Toshihide
- Eri Yukimura as Shiju
Staff:
- Director: Tetsuaki Watanabe (BLUELOCK)
- Screenplay: Tatsuo Kobayashi
- Character Designer: Nozomi Shimazaki
- Animation Production: 100Studio
Title: Woke-Up-as-a-Girl Syndrome
Story: A story about finding one's true self beyond gender norms.
Cast:
- Yuki Sakakihara as Toshihide
- Maki Kawase as Rie
- Seiichirō Yamashita as Akira
Staff:
- Director and Screenplay: Kazuaki Terasawa (The Ancient Magus' Bride season 2)
- Character Designer: Kōhei Tokuoka (The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity)
- Animation Production: Studio Kafka
Title: Nayuta of the Prophecy
Story: Depicts the journey of siblings bound by a harsh destiny.
Cast:
- Hitomi Sasaki as Nayuta
- Yōhei Matsuoka as Kenji
Staff:
- Director and Screenplay: Tetsuaki Watanabe (BLUELOCK)
- Character Designer: Hisashi Higashijima (Mashle: Magic and Muscles)
- Animation Production: 100Studio
Title: Sisters
Story: Depicts the rivalry, conflict, and growth between artistically inclined sisters.
Cast:
- Runa Nakashima as Akiko Ebara
- Tomo Nakai as Kyōko Ebara
- Tomohiko Imai as Teacher
Staff:
- Director: Osamu Honma
- Screenplay: Yōko Yonaiyama (COLORFUL STAGE! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing)
- Character Designer: Haruka Sagawa (Call of the Night)
- Animation Production: P.A.WORKS
The anime had its world premiere on October 5 during the Global Stage Hollywood Film Festival 2025 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatre in Hollywood. It had a limited two-week theater screening run in nine cinemas throughout Japan starting on October 17. The eight-episode anime screens in two four-episode parts. The first part will include the titles A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin' in the Schoolyard, Sasaki Stopped a Bullet, Love is Blind, and Shikaku. The second part will include the titles Mermaid Rhapsody, Woke-Up-as-a-Girl Syndrome, Nayuta of the Prophecy, and Sisters. There is also a two-week screening run in South Korea starting on Friday at MEGABOX theaters. Additionally, two titles from the series, A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin' in the Schoolyard and Shikaku, are nominated in the Short Film category of the Bucheon International Animation Festival. The nominated titles will screen during the festival on Saturday
Viz Media licensed both the Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man: 17-21 and Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man: 22-26 manga collections. The company released the former in January 2023 and the latter in April 2023. Shueisha published the first and second compiled book volumes in Japan in October and November 2021, respectively.
Tatsuki Fujimoto (Fire Punch) debuted the Chainsaw Man manga in Weekly Shonen Jump in December 2018 and ended its "first part," the "Kōan" (Public Safety) arc, in December 2020. The manga's second part, titled "Gakkō-hen" (School Arc), started on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ service in July 2022. The manga won the Best Manga award at The Harvey Awards for three consecutive years.
The manga inspired a television anime adaptation that premiered on TV Tokyo and five other affiliated channels, as well as on Amazon Prime Video in October 2022. Crunchyroll is streaming the anime in over 200 countries and territories around the world. The Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc opened in Japan on September 19. Sony Pictures Entertainment opened the film in theaters in the U.S. and Canada on Friday, several days prior to its originally scheduled October 29 release, with early screenings for Crunchyroll members on Wednesday.
The anime film adaptation of Fujimoto's "Look Back" one-shot manga opened in theaters in Japan in June 2024. GKIDS screened the film in October 2024 in North America. The film won the award for Best Animation of the Year at the 34th Annual Japan Movie Critics Award in April.
Sources: Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 anime's website, Comic Natalie