After Kaiju No 8 anime, Toho Animation announces The Darwin Incident TV adaptation

Other details, including the release date and cast, of The Darwin Incident anime have yet to be announced.

As one of the leading Japanese productions catering to the heartful desires of anime fans, Toho Animation is indeed on a roll! Over a month after launching its most recent TV anime premiere, Kaiju No. 8, on April 13, the renowned studio announced on May 22 (JST) that an anime adaptation of the award-winning manga series The Darwin Incident is officially in the works.

Main poster for The Darwin Incident anime.(TOHO Animation)

Teasing the upcoming new anime title, Toho Animation also revealed the leading teaser visual of the series, raising a significant question to ponder, "Why are only humans special?" Touted as "The Human & Non-Human Drama" series, the production banner confirmed that the future release of Shun Umezawa's sci-fi social thriller will air on TV.

The Darwin Incident anime announcement post

However, the specifics of the show's release window and the cast and crew involved in its making weren't outed. A day before the official news of the anime came out, the media sources shouted out that a new Toho Animation anime announcement would drop on May 22 at 12 am JST. 

Once the countdown ran out of time, a teaser featuring the manga's main characters, Charlie and Lucy, was revealed. Alongside the picture teaser, a special commemorative illustration by the illustrious mangaka was also rolled out.

About The Darwin Incident manga

As the prestigious winner of the 15th Manga Taisho and the Excellence Awards at the Japan Media Arts Festival, Shun Umezawa's manga series was first serialised in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon in 2020. Some of the other congratulatory accolades under the manga's belt are its top-scoring position at No. 10 on Kono Manga ga Sugoi's male reader ranking chart and France's Asie de la Critique award.

A commemorative illustration was released by Shun Umezawa upon the anime's announcement.

Kodansha USA handles its official English translations and describes the storyline as:

“The Animal Liberation Alliance, an eco-terrorist organization, rescues a pregnant chimpanzee from an animal testing lab-only for it to give birth to a half-human, half-chimpanzee “humanzee” named Charlie! Fifteen years later, Charlie’s human foster parents are finally ready to send him to a normal high school, where he makes his first friend: a human girl named Lucy. In the meantime, however, the ALA’s stance has become ever more extreme, and now they’re here to drag Charlie into their terrorist plot…”