The spinoff anime episode of Fafner in the Azure: BEHIND THE LINE has been confirmed to be pre-screened in Japanese theaters at an undetermined date. Although a screening date is not yet known, the production team has revealed a new anime key visual and information about additional staff.
The production staff for the “peaceful spin-off” anime consists of Takashi Noto (Soukyuu no Fafner) as director, Tow Ubukata (Psycho Pass 3) as screenwriter, Hisashi Hirai (Heroic Age) as character designer, Naohiro Washio (Gundam Build Divers) as mechanical designer, and Tsuneyoshi Saitou (Kageki Shoujo!!) as music composer. Production I.G is handling the animation production.
Additional staff members include Masafumi Mima (Bubble) as sound director, Yumi Horikoshi (86-EIGHTY-SIX) as art director, and Mitsuko Sekimoto as color designer. Additionally, the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra is contributing a special musical performance for the anime episode. Japanese pop band angela will also be performing the anime special’s main theme song.
The first Fafner in the Azure anime series aired from July 4, 2004 to December 26, 2004 with XEBEC handling animation production. It has released three additional installments in 2005, 2010, and 2015 respectively, with the most recent anime being Fafner in the Azure: The Beyond. The series has also inspired various anime films, OVAs, light novels, manga, video games, music albums, and drama CDs.
Funimation licensed Fafner in the Azure for North America. The anime series is described as:
Tatsumiyajima is the central island in the middle of a small cluster of islands, in a sleepy backwater of the Japanese isles. Not much happens there, and the island’s young people go to school knowing that their lives are likely to remain peaceful and undisturbed. Or so they have been taught… but the truth is different. The fate of mankind is on the line, and Tatsumiyajima is the last line of defense against a hostile and incomprehensible enemy. At the center of it all, fighting for Humanity’s continued existence, is the giant robot Fafner, the dragon that guards this final treasure of mankind.
