Summary
- The Darwin Incident anime premieres in January 2026.
- The series follows the life of Charlie, a half-chimpanzee, half-human.
- The manga has won awards with 1.6 million copies in circulation.
The official website and social media accounts of the anime adaptation of Shun Umezawa's award-winning sci-fi thriller seinen manga, The Darwin Incident, have revealed a brand-new teaser, key visual, and a slated release date for the series. The series will be produced by BELLNOX FILMS, a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corp. The main members of staff involved in the production of The Darwin Incident have also been revealed.
The series is set to broadcast in January 2026. The series follows a series of incidents surrounding the life of a half-chimpanzee, half-human named Charlie, a strange circumstance referred to as a "humanzee", with the tagline for The Darwin Incident being "Humanzee, you are special".
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Basic Plot and Background Information
An Award-Winning Seinen Manga
The Darwin Incident by Shun Umezawa has been published in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon seinen manga magazine since June 2020. The series follows the aftermath of an operation carried out by the Animal Liberation Alliance, an animal rights organization, in which a pregnant chimpanzee was discovered in a research institute. The animal later gave birth to a half-chimpanzee, half-human that came to be named Charlie, who was raised by human parents for fifteen years. Finally ready to go to normal high school, Charlie's only friend is a girl named Lucy, who is constantly bullied for being a nerd.
Being neither animal nor human, Charlie's very existence causes ripples in the world around him, but unbeknownst to him, the ALA, an organization not beyond using terrorism as a vehicle for "animal liberation", wants to make him an emblem of their cause. The Darwin Incident has been collected into eight volumes as of November 2024, with Kodansha USA licensing the series' English release. The series has been immensely successful, with over 1.6 million copies in circulation as of May 2024, and multiple awards and nominations, including:
- 15th Manga Taishō in 2022
- Excellence Award, 25th Japan Media Arts Festival
- 47th AND 48th Kodansha Manga Award, general category, 2023 (nominated)
- 17th ACBD's Prize "Asie de la Critique" in 2023
- Japan Society and Anime NYC's American Manga Award, Best New Manga, 2024 (nominated)
The Darwin Incident anime series will be produced by BELLNOX FILMS, with Katsuichi Nakayama (key animation, Yu Yu Hakusho) as chief-director, Naokatsu Tsuda (chief director, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind) as director, series composition by Shinichi Inozume (series composition, Yona of the Dawn), character designs by Shinpei Tomooka (key animation, Kizumonogatari Part 2 & 3) music by Alisa Okehazama (music, Jujutsu Kaisen) and Mariko Horikawa (music, Sumikkogurashi). No cast members have been revealed as yet. The series' key visual can be seen in the post by the official Darwin Incident X account below:
The Darwin Incident anime premieres in January 2026.
Source: Crunchyroll