Devastating WWII Anime Movie Unveils New Trailer & Release Date: Watch

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Second World War, Kazuyoshi Takeda’s harrowing and award-winning manga, Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise, is getting an anime movie adaptation. Along with Shigeru Mizuki’s Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths and Osamu Tezuka’s Message to Adolf, Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise is considered to be one of the great manga depicting the horrors of World War II.

Plans for a Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise anime adaptation were first announced in 2021. However, fans of the manga have just been treated to a load of new details, as well as the first teaser trailer for the anime movie, which includes a release date.

Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise Releases in December, 2025

Toei Animation (One Piece) is overseeing the new anime movie. Goro Kuji (Chained Soldier) will make his directorial debut helming the new film. The manga’s author, Kazuyoshi Takeda, will co-write the script with Junji Nishimura (Ranma 1/2).

The first teaser trailer for the film didn’t reveal much in the way of action. However, it did clue audiences into the film’s harrowing tone. The war cries, terrified screams, and death rattles of American and Japanese soldiers can be heard over gunshots and explosions, as the camera refuses to move away from the serene fauna of the island. The trailer also revealed that Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise will release in Japanese theaters on December 5th. A US release date has not been announced yet.

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What Is Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise About?

Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise is set in 1944, a year before the Second World War would come to an end. The heartbreaking manga depicts a fierce battle between thousands of American and Japanese soldiers, from the perspective of a Japanese soldier, Tamaru.

The official description reads: “The island of Peleliu. A paradise on Earth where the Japanese soldier Tamaru, a draftsman in civilian life, disembarked in the summer of 1944, at the end of the Pacific War. The Eden turns into hell when the American fleet decides to invade it… 50,000 Japanese and American soldiers kill each other around an airport considered strategic at the time. The American army dispatched 40,000 elite soldiers, while the Japanese army faced up to the situation with a reserve of 10,000 soldiers, having received orders to resist to the last.”

Kazuyoshi Takeda’s manga was serialized in Hakusensha’s monthly Young Animal seinen magazine, with the first chapter being published in February 2016. The series came to a close in April 2021. Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise was awarded the Japan Cartoonists Association Excellence Award in 2017.