The upcoming Dark Machine the Animation, an anime that’s part of a mixed-media project involving a Web3 mech game, has received a teaser trailer and 2026 broadcast start date on Fuji TV. A visual, as well as additional details about the staff and cast lineups, were also revealed.
The cast features Kensho Ono as Kairi, Miyuki Sawashiro as Rudra, Koki Uchiyama as Shin, Saya Aizawa as Isana, and Yuichi Nakamura as Majima. Among the additional staff reveals is Ko Yoshinari (White Album animation designer, Made in Abyss creature designer, the upcoming Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk‘s character designer) as the show’s main character designer.
It was previously known that Kazumi Terada was directing Dark Machine the Animation at Production +h., and that Goro Taniguchi (ONE PIECE FILM RED and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;Surrection director, Enter The Garden anthology) was onboard as creative producer while Hidetaka Tenjin (Bullet/Bullet, Knights and Magic) is the mechanical designer. Taniguchi and Tenjin are also involved with the game.
Team Carbuncle [Takaaki Suzuki, Tatsuhiko Urahata, Ashio Ishino, Satohito Sata] is handling the series composition and scripts.
The Dark Machine game was announced in 2023 with a 2025 release date and 2024 Early Access start date. It’s described as a “7 vs 7 team shooter featuring destructible mechs and maps situated against two parallel universes, The Light and The Dark” and features NFTs and NFT staking (something like the NFT version of fixed deposits).
The anime’s premise sees protagonist Kairi getting involved with Dark Machine after an encounter with Rudra, while the latter is being pursued by subordinates of the top Dark Machine player Majima. In the setting, Dark Machine is such a popular esports game that it has influenced Japan’s financial system, and the top player reigns over the game’s Japanese special economic zone Golden Valley.
Source: @dark__machine