Some trailers you watch for the plot; others you watch for what is happening in the background of every shot. The main trailer for Fool Night, released on Thursday (November 5) by Netflix and Bandai Namco Filmworks, is the second kind: the sunless city, the building lights and the flowers growing out of people are what stay with you. It came with the official key art, the theme songs and five new cast members. The full series premieres on Netflix on November 26, all episodes at once, worldwide.
The anime adapts the manga by Yasuda Kasumi, serialized since November 2020 in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Superior. It is also the first time Sunrise (Cowboy Bebop, Gundam) and SHAFT (Madoka Magica, Monogatari) have produced a work together, and you can see each studio’s hand in the details: heavy, realistic backgrounds on one side, restless cuts and framing on the other.
Theme songs and new cast
The opening theme is “Shake! spit out” by the band Tempalay, and the ending theme is “iki” (“breath”) by Nowlu. The trailer already previews part of the opening, which fits the story’s dark, slightly psychedelic mood.
The newly announced voice actors are Wakayama Shion (Matsuno Sumi), Tsuchida Hiroshi (Hikasa Ken), Okamoto Nobuhiko (Nishi), Senbongi Sayaka (Okumura Meg) and Kobayashi Yumiko (Ivy). They join the previously announced cast: Uchiyama Kōki as protagonist Kamiya Toshiro, Kotobuki Minako as Hōrai Yomiko, Enoki Junya as Yatsuka Akira, Endō Aya as Kanaeno Saeko and Mizuuchi Kiyomitsu as Hiragishi Jin.
The story
In a distant future, thick clouds cover the sky and trap the Earth in endless winter and night. Most vegetation has withered, and oxygen has become scarce. Humanity’s answer is Transfloration: a technology that implants seeds in the bodies of people near death and turns them into plants, the “Spiriflora”, which produce the little oxygen that keeps society alive. The question Netflix uses to present the series sums it up: “For how much would you become a flower?”
Kamiya Toshiro is a poor young man who works to pay taxes, bills and his sick mother’s medication, and who has already lost hope. He decides to undergo the procedure and goes to Transflora Medical, where he runs into his childhood friend Hōrai Yomiko. After the operation, Toshiro gains the ability to hear the voices of the Spiriflora, and the company hires him as a special temporary worker to make use of that gift. Meanwhile, a series of murders committed by a Spiriflor starts drawing attention, and Toshiro is pulled into the investigation.
Staff
The director is Yukawa Atsushi, a unit director on Suzume, with Shimura Ryō as assistant director. Series composition is by Tanaka Jin (Oshi no Ko), character design by Satō Robert and music by Katō Tatsuya (Dr. Stone). A nice detail for anyone who reads the credits: the background art director is Takano Maki of J.C.Staff, and one of the compositing directors is Aizu Takayuki of SHAFT, a Monogatari veteran. Color design is by Hibino Hitoshi and sound direction by Tsuruoka Yōta.
On paper, Fool Night has 13 volumes in Japan, with the 14th due on November 30, four days after the premiere. Viz Media publishes it in English. Netflix has been investing heavily in Japanese animation and game adaptations, such as the live-action PUBG series with Donald Glover and the second season of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. More anime and manga news is collected on our anime page.
The main trailer is on Netflix’s YouTube channel, and the series page is at netflix.com/foolnight.
Where to buy
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Sources: Netflix, Bandai Namco Filmworks and Anime News Network.
Rudeus Greyrat
Hirose Natsuko
Edward Elric