NHK has revealed a new key visual and August 25, 2025 main broadcast date for the World War II drama anime Cocoon. The anime will begin broadcasting on NHK General, after an early broadcast in Japan on March 30, 2025.
Ina Yukimitsu is directing the anime adaptation, with Kensuke Ushio (The Colors Within, DAN DA DAN) as music composer. Sasayuri is in charge of the animation production.
Meanwhile, the anime’s main voice cast stars Hikari Mitsushima as Mayu and Marika Ito as San.
Machiko Kyo’s Cocoon manga was serialized in Akita Shoten’s Elegance Eve from March 26, 2009 to May 27, 2010. It was collected into a single book volume and released in Japan in August 2010. The series was published again as a single tankobon volume in April 2015, which includes a side story.
NHK stated when the anime was announced in June 2023 that it is meant to serve as a thought-provoking work about war, and noted that 2025 will mark the 80th year since the end of World War II.
Another aim of the production was to pass on animation knowledge and techniques. Cocoon‘s animation production company, Sasayuri, was originally a cafe founded by the anime’s animation producer Hitomi Tateno (The Wind Rises and Ponyo in-between animation inspector) in 2014. The company was established in 2017 and includes animation-related training among its functions.
Sasayuri Cafe has been closed indefinitely since late 2020. It hosted a large number of art exhibitions, including the Jin-Roh Hiroyuki Okiura Exhibition, the Cyberconnect2 Art Works Exhibition, and Anime Style 20 Anniversary Exhibition Part 2 #Yoh Yoshinari Doodles.
The story of Cocoon follows schoolgirl San and her classmates, who are all drafted into the student corps during World War II.
Sources: NHK Anime Official Twitter (via AIR News), NHK Official Website, Anime News Network
