The ‘Klonoa’ Anime Is Cancelled

Though it was announced in 2016, little has been released about the anime adaptation of the video game Klonoa since then. It has now, however, seemingly been confirmed that the project is actually, truly dead.

Variety revealed in October 2016 that United States-based animation company Henshin was officially working on an animated adaptation of Klonoa, a video game franchise now under Bandai Namco that started in 1997 with a game about the titular character trying to save a world of dreams from becoming a world of nightmares. Henshin founder Rob Pereyda was announced as producer on the film, and Hitoshi Ariga, who drew a webcomic adaptation of the video game, was to script, co-produce, and design the characters for the film.

Since that time, little has been made public about the progress of the film, though every so often it was revealed that someone else had joined the project to help produce. Meaningful updates are entirely nonexistant — until now, of course. Rob Pereyda, Henshin’s founder, has confirmed to Anime News Network that the company was no longer involved in the animated adaptation, issuing the following statement to the organization earlier this week: “Henshin is no longer working on the project. It was a pleasure working with everyone involved, and we wish them all the best.”

While that statement certainly leaves the status of the film in limbo, Ariga has since taken to Twitter to seemingly confirm the cancellation. Their tweets, which are in Japanese, basically boil down to apologizing to fans and confirming that the film is done. You can check some of them out below:

What do you think of the news? Were you looking forward to a Klonoa film? What do you think this means for the franchise as a whole? Let us know in the comments!