Some anime projects announce their trailer. Then there’s ZAN, which announced its existence in 2010, never materialized, reinvented itself in 2022, and now in 2026 finally has a real staff and a trailer debuting on July 3 at the Anime Expo in Los Angeles. Yes, fifteen years. But here we are.

The direction is handled by Masashi Ikeda and Toru Yoshida, but the name that will make classic mecha fans sit up is Ryosuke Takahashi, the creator and director of Armored Trooper Votoms, who is overseeing the scripts. Add to that Moriyasu Taniguchi as chief animation director and Kunio Okawara in mechanical design, another name among those who built the genre. It’s basically a reunion of the experts, convened by the man who gave Final Fantasy its face.

The project also changed format along the way: what started as a movie is now advancing as a limited animated series. Takahashi, Yoshida, and Taniguchi will be present at the Anime Expo when the first trailer drops, so if you plan to attend, you know which panel not to miss.

A detail worth mentioning: ZAN comes with a blockchain game play-to-earn and NFT art component, with the Singaporean company Trophee involved in that part. That may sound good or bad depending on who you ask, but the creative core of the project is clearly separate from that.

Yoshitaka Amano has been active in the industry since joining Tatsunoko Production at 15. If you’ve seen Vampire Hunter D, played any classic Final Fantasy, or read Sandman: The Dream Hunters with Neil Gaiman, you already know his work even if you didn’t know his name. ZAN is his most personal project: an animated series based on his own artwork DEVA ZAN, which he oversees from Yoshitaka Amano Inc., the company he recently founded in Los Angeles. The first version was announced as a movie in 2010, never materialized by 2012 as promised, was reinvented as a series in 2022, and now, with confirmed staff and ready trailer, it’s the most concrete version it’s had since its inception.

Do you think ZAN will finally make it to screens with this staff, or does the project’s history leave you skeptical until you see it?