Netflix has unveiled an initial preview for the upcoming anthology series Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, which will premiere on Netflix next year in January.
The visual Studio DEEN – previously responsible for shows such as KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! – is animating the series. Composer Yuki Hayashi will be in charge of the series’ music, while Hozumi Gōda will serve as the sound director.
Meanwhile, two key staff members will reprise their roles from Studio DEEN’s previous 2018 Ito adaptation, Junji Ito Collection. Shinobu Tagashira will return as series director and character designer, while Kaoru Sawada will return as a scriptwriter.
The video also previews the series’ opening theme song, the track ‘Paranoid’ by J-pop boy band MADKID.
Watch the trailer here:
Earlier in September in a Tudum Japan livestream, Netflix confirmed the premiere date for the original series for January 19. The livestream revealed a wide-ranging slate of voice actors for the anthology series, including Rie Suegara and Tomokazu Sugita as Tomie and Tachi in Tomie, Riho Sugiyama as Kazuko Morinaka in Hanging Blimp, and Hiro Shimono as Oshikiri in Intruder.
The series’ initial announcement revealed that the Netflix series would animate and compile 20 stories from Ito’s oeuvre “for the first time”. Though the full list of titles have not yet been revealed, the series’ initial announcement by the author detailed the adaptation of Soichi, Hanging Blimp and Ito’s debut work, Tomie.
Netflix’s subsequent cast announcements revealed a series of other titles to be adapted, including The Strange Hizukuri Siblings, The Room With 4 Walls, Tombtown and Ice Cream Truck.