AIC Unveils 'Megazone 23' Anime Reboot Project

by arsonal
Mar 24, 2019 12:04 AM | 11 Comments

Animation studio AIC announced at AnimeJapan 2019 that they are moving forward on a project to reboot the science fiction robot anime Megazone 23. The announcement follows successful crowdfunding campaigns launched in 2017 and in 2018 to finance two separate projects related to Megazone 23.

Megazone 23 was first released on VHS and VHD in 1985 to commercial success. According to market data compiled by Oricon, first week sales of the anime reached 7,590 copies, placing it first in that week's sales rankings. It was the highest first week sales figure for a work of anime at the time. Megazone 23 also went on to sell more than 26,000 copies, the highest sales number ever for an OVA release at its time.

The success of Megazone 23 led to a boom of "mecha and bishoujo" anime titles produced during that time period. But whereas the original Megazone 23 release was produced by animation studios Artland and Artmic, AIC became involved in the series only beginning with the production of Megazone 23 Part II, released in 1986. By the time Megazone 23 III was released in 1989, AIC had become the primary animation studio for the series.

According to promotional materials displayed at AnimeJapan 2019, AIC plans to reboot the first two parts of the series into a TV anime titled Megazone 23 Sin. In addition, a sequel work to be titled Megazone 23 Xi, which diverges from the original third part of the series, is also being planned. A promotional video of the reboot project was previewed at the AIC booth featuring Moe Toyota as the voice of new main character Sakura alongside series veteran Kouichi Yamadera.

Source: K-SUKE on Twitter, Moe Toyota on Twitter

AnimeJapan New Anime

11 Comments Recent Comments

So is this project dead like practically everything AIC is related to?

Feb 28, 2021 8:33 PM by lkevsan

I read somewhere that megazone was intended to be a 12 tv series back in the 80s and they even made the script for each episode. But because they lost a sponsor, they decided to make a movie/ova with the existing material, some sort of a recap movie of an inexisting anime. Maybe they'll use those materials but I doubt it. Still, excited because I loved the first ova.

Jan 1, 2020 3:21 AM by Catalano

I don't know about this one. I like 80's anime because it has a certain feel to it with the art style, voice acting and music. I don't think a re-make is at all necessary, the original did the job just fine.

I guess Japan is going the Hollywood route and just digging up 80's movies and re-making them since they are running out of ideas.

Mar 25, 2019 11:45 AM by RinkanReich

Damn son, Its 2019. Miracles do happen. What next remake of Bubblegum Crisis??

Mar 24, 2019 2:42 PM by VyseLegendaire

Oh god a reboot of megazone. This is exciting!

Mar 24, 2019 2:32 PM by xchyssa

One of the most unexpected announcements ive seen.

Cnon said:
I hope this one will be better than the original part 3

Agreed, the 3rd part ruins the whole series

Mar 24, 2019 2:30 PM by JizzyHitler

Cool, a remake and then a sequel. Looks like fun. I may have seen the original back in the day but it's all a blur, I'll check it out again.

Mar 24, 2019 2:29 PM by modboy

We'llprobably regret ArtLand (since the first part was the most interesting one)

Mar 24, 2019 6:07 AM by Rei_III

I saw the protag and I taught it was Kekkai Sensen for a sec...

Mar 24, 2019 4:34 AM by Klefki_of_Awsome

I hope this one will be better than the original part 3

Mar 24, 2019 3:37 AM by Cnon

Oh, I’m really curious to see how this will do! Remakes, especially as of late is not too uncommon, but it’s very pleasing another very influential piece getting such a treatment!

It’s not very often we get two Seasons announced early first thing, I hope this just goes to show that the Studios behind this remake project are well prepared and confident about this.

Mar 24, 2019 12:30 AM by _MushiRock11_