Kyoto Animation Is Reportedly Working on a New TV Series

Kyoto Animation marked a sobering milestone last week as the one-year anniversary of its arson came around. Just over a year ago, more than 30 employees working in Kyoto Animation Studio 1 were killed when a man set fire to the building. In the months since the attack, Kyoto Animation has returned to work in stages, and a new report suggests the company has dedicated that time to a new show.

Recently, the heads of Kyoto Animation spoke with the press in Japan to mark the anniversary of its deadly fire. One article by Yomuri Shinbun went on to say that Kyoto Animation has begun work on a brand-new show, and fans think they have figured out what title is being worked on.

Before the company was targeted, Kyoto Animation confirmed it had plans to adapt Nijuuseiki Denki Mokuroku. The news was announced back in July 2018, but little to no progress was made on the show before the studio was attacked. In the time leading up to the arson, the studio’s talented staffers were hard at work on Violet Evergarden.

As for Nijuuseiki Denki Mokuroku, fans have been waiting eagerly for the light novels to receive an adaptation. The books were written by Hiroshi Yuuki while artwork by Kazumi Ikeda and Momoka Hase. Now, it seems the show may be in development, so you can read the novel’s synopsis from My Anime List below:

“Summer 1907—40th year of the Meiji period. 15-year-old Inako Momokawa lives in Fujimi, Kyoto, and works at her father’s sake brewery. Due to her ineptness, she gets scolded by him everyday. The only relief for her is to trust in her prayers to the Gods. One day while praying at the Fushimi Inari shrine, she meets Kihachi Sakamoto, a freewheeling young boy who declares “I don’t believe in something I cannot see.” He denies the Gods, and boast that it will be the era of electricity in the near future.

The talk of marriage suddenly comes up in Inako’s household. Facing her father’s one-sided decisions and thinking her worth is nothing more, Inako is about to give up. However, Kihachi was aware of her true feelings of wanting to escape, so he sneaks in and takes her away.

The only way to stop the marriage is to find an unusual book called the “Electricity Catalog;” a prediction book about electricity that Kihachi wrote when he was young, but his older brother Seiroku took it and went missing. Kihachi and Inako—the two begin their journey across Kyoto and Shiga prefectures in search of the book.”

What do you hope to see from Kyoto Animation‘s next TV project? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!