Several special projects have been announced to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Zoids anime franchise, which began with Zoids: Chaotic Century that premiered in Japan on September 4, 1999.
A main visual for the 25th anniversary project has been released, drawn by character designer Tadashi Sakazaki, who was involved with Chaotic Century.
© ShoPro ZOIDS
An announcement video details some events and upcoming collaborations to celebrate the first anime’s 25th anniversary.
One of them is a talk show event that is scheduled to take place in Japan on September 14, 2024. Guests will include some members of the anime’s voice cast that include Daisuke Kishio (Van Flyheight), Makiko Ohmoto (Fiona Elisi Linette), and Mitsuki Saiga (Raven). Chaotic Century director Takao Kato and Sakazaki will be present as well. Tickets for this event will become available on September 1, 2024.
In addition, a pop-up tour store will run in Ikebukuro from August 29, 2024 to September 18, 2024. Exclusive goods such as acrylic stands and keychains will be available for purchase. Fans that purchase over 5,500 yen (US$35.72) worth of items will also receive a commemoration card that features a collaboration between Zoids and the Wixoss card game franchise, which is also celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Additionally, Wendy’s First Kitchen will feature a Zoids collaboration menu in Japan from August 22, 2024 to September 18, 2024. New versions of the characters Blade Lighter and Geno Saurer will be on display by the Ikebukuro pop-up store and various Wendy’s First Kitchen locations as well.
The 25th anniversary celebrations come courtesy of Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, which announced a separate 40th anniversary project for the Zoids franchise in 2023 that focused specifically on the toyline.
The Zoids mixed-media franchise was first launched by Takara Tomy in 1983. It has inspired five main TV anime series: 1999’s Chaotic Century, 2001’s New Century, 2003’s Fuzors, 2005’s Genesis, and 2018’s Wild. The franchise also spawned numerous video games, manga, plastic model kits, PVC figures, and more.
© ShoPro ZOIDS
A CG anime series titled Zoids Wild Senki was recently released in October 2020 on Shogakukan’s Coro Coro Comics and Takara Tomy’s YouTube channels.
Source: Zoids Official Anime Twitter, Siliconera (Stephanie Liu)
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