GKIDS has announced the license acquisition of the 2006 Tekkonkinkreet anime film for a new 4K remaster screening in North America in commemoration of its 20th anniversary. The anime film will be screened for only two nights on May 31, 2026 and June 1, 2026 and will be presented in both its original Japanese language and in English dub.
A 4K UHD Blu-ray and digital download for the new 4K Remaster will also be released by GKIDS later this year.
Tekkonkinkreet was released in Japan on December 23, 2006. It was directed by Michael Arias (Harmony co-director), with a screenplay written by Anthony Weintraub. STUDIO4°C was in charge of the animation production.
Meanwhile, the main Japanese voice cast for the anime film starred Kazunari Ninomiya as Kuro and Yu Aoi as Shiro.
A short pilot film directed by Koji Morimoto was released in January 1999.
The anime film won the 2008 Japan Academy Film Prize for “Animation of the Year,” the Ofuji Noburo Award at the 2006 Mainichi Film Awards, and “Best Original Story” and “Best Art Direction” at the 2008 Tokyo Anime Awards, among other honors.
Taiyo Matsumoto’s original manga series was serialized in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits magazine from July 5, 1993 to March 21, 1994. Three total tankobon volumes were published in Japan. VIZ Media first released the manga in English under the title Black & White in its former Pulp manga magazine in 1997. It would later publish the series in a single volume titled Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White in 2007 and re-released a 30th anniversary version of it in 2023.
GKIDS describes the main synopsis of Tekkonkinkreet as:
Black, a boy who seeks to bend the city to his will through strength, and White, his innocent counterpart, are two orphaned street kids living in the slums of Treasure Town. When real estate developers threaten to transform Treasure Town into a massive theme park, its very existence is put at risk. Determined to protect both White and their city, Black takes on the yakuza and assassins, gradually losing his innocence as he confronts a dark manifestation within himself.
Source: press release
