Netflix has a new alternative history anime on the way, Leviathan, and it has some incredibly strong talent behind it.
Animation studio Orange is back with a brand new 3DCG series, Leviathan, an anime that’s actually based on the 2009 novel of the same name written by Scott Westerfield and illustrated by Keither Thompson. Both the series and the book is an alternate history version of World War 1, where the Central Powers, i.e. the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria (known as Clankers in the book) use big mechs and war machines, as well as artificially made living creatures designed for battle to fight in war. Essentially, think World War 1, but steampunk.
You can check the first teaser trailer for the series above, which does give a pretty lengthy look at the show, just without any voice acting. There’s some pretty serious talent attached to it too – on composing duties are Nobuko Toda and Kazuma Jinnouchi, a composing duo that’s worked on titles like Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy 14, and Halo 5.
The much beloved Joe Hisaishi, best known for composing Studio Ghibli works like Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away, is also composing original songs for Leviathan. On top of that, Orange is a strong animation studio to helm it, having made series like Trigun Stampede, Beasters, and Land of the Lustrous. Safe to say, it’s a very strong team all in all.
Netflix explains the show: “In 1914, on the eve of war, a fugitive prince and a girl in disguise meet aboard a bioengineered airship, the HMS Leviathan, and change the course of history.”
Leviathan doesn’t have an exact release date just yet, unfortunately, but Netflix is currently slating it to release sometime in 2025. Let’s just hope Delicious in Dungeon wasn’t a fluke and the streamer releases Leviathan weekly too (RIP Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 6).
