For over a decade (longer if you want to get technical), isekai stories have ruled the anime airwaves. Additionally, there is no sign of 2025 bucking that trend. At least half a dozen new “transported to another world” titles will hit screens in January 2025. We have a brand new promotional video from one in particular, Zenshu, which appears to be doing something different with the genre.
Zenshu’s Story
Set to air starting January 5th in Japan and worldwide (excluding Japan) on Crunchyroll, Zenshu is an original story series from studio MAPPA (Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Yuri!!! On Ice). In the series, the main character is Natsuko Hirose, who is an up-and-coming anime director. Her career starts promisingly enough, with her debut anime becoming a huge hit. Unfortunately, her second title is set to be a romantic comedy about first love. Natsuko has never fallen in love and thus cannot draw the storyboards, causing production to come to a standstill. One night while working, she falls unconscious and wakes up in an anime from her childhood, “The Perishing Story”.
English Subtitled PV:
Japanese PV (Region Free):
Zenshu’s Cast & Crew
The series stars Anna Nagase as the main character Natsuko. There are also many strong talents in supporting roles including Rie Kugimiya as Unio and Romi Park as Justice.
The creation of the series is jointly credited to Mitsue Yamasaki, Kimiko Ueno, and studio MAPPA. Yamasaki is listed as the director working off scripts written by Ueno. Finally, Yukari Hashimoto is credited with the background music. For those wondering about the theme song heard in the promotional videos embedded above, the title is Zen from the hard rock band BAND-MAID.
Early Zenshu Opinions
I’m as sick of isekai series as the next person and the “overworked protagonist” trope has been done a few times already. That said, I like the idea of Zenshu turning the plot of Shirobako into its own weird thing. In essence, this is a series about a hardworking creative professional hitting a slump and having to find a way through it which is some of the most relatable content Japan has put out lately.
While there’s no guarantee that Zenshu will be a massive hit with fans around the world, I’m rooting for this one to do well if for no other reason than I’m still enjoying seeing original stories getting a new chance to shine.
Sources: Anime Eiga, Anime News Network
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