Animation studio AIC announced at AnimeJapan 2019 that they are moving forward on a project to reboot the science fiction robot anime Megazone 23. The announcement follows successful crowdfunding campaigns launched in 2017 and in 2018 to finance two separate projects related to Megazone 23.
Megazone 23 was first released on VHS and VHD in 1985 to commercial success. According to market data compiled by Oricon, first week sales of the anime reached 7,590 copies, placing it first in that week's sales rankings. It was the highest first week sales figure for a work of anime at the time. Megazone 23 also went on to sell more than 26,000 copies, the highest sales number ever for an OVA release at its time.
The success of Megazone 23 led to a boom of "mecha and bishoujo" anime titles produced during that time period. But whereas the original Megazone 23 release was produced by animation studios Artland and Artmic, AIC became involved in the series only beginning with the production of Megazone 23 Part II, released in 1986. By the time Megazone 23 III was released in 1989, AIC had become the primary animation studio for the series.
According to promotional materials displayed at AnimeJapan 2019, AIC plans to reboot the first two parts of the series into a TV anime titled Megazone 23 Sin. In addition, a sequel work to be titled Megazone 23 Xi, which diverges from the original third part of the series, is also being planned. A promotional video of the reboot project was previewed at the AIC booth featuring Moe Toyota as the voice of new main character Sakura alongside series veteran Kouichi Yamadera.
Source: K-SUKE on Twitter, Moe Toyota on Twitter
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Anime