DEATH STRANDING ISOLATIONS drops its first teaser and adds Tow Ubukata as writer

Kojima Productions has finally shown what its Death Stranding anime looks like. A teaser trailer and a new key visual for DEATH STRANDING ISOLATIONS went up on October 30, announced during the studio's 10th anniversary exhibition, Beyond the Strand, at Azabudai Hills Gallery in Tokyo.

The tagline on the new visual is a short, unsettling line: "My mom became a crater."

Story and setting

The series is set in the same world and the same era as the original game, but it tells its own story with a new cast. According to the studio, it opens in North America right after Sam, the hero of the game, reconnects the continent through the Chiral Network. As America starts to rebuild, those new connections bring consequences nobody saw coming.

Disney+ Japan's description points the story at a girl who has rejected any connection to the world, until a new encounter pulls her out toward somewhere unknown. Earlier material described the show as following a young man and woman who set out on an adventure together.

Staff

The project is fully hand-drawn 2D animation. Here's the confirmed team:

• Executive producer: Hideo Kojima
• Director: Takayuki Sano
• Series composition and screenplay: Tow Ubukata, newly announced
• Original character design: Ilya Kuvshinov
• Animation: E&H production, the studio behind Ninja Kamui and BULLET/BULLET
• Production: Kojima Productions

Ubukata is a big get. The novelist wrote Mardock Scramble and has deep experience in anime, so Death Stranding's quiet, strange tone should be in good hands.

When and where

DEATH STRANDING ISOLATIONS streams exclusively on Disney+ in 2027. In Japan it will sit under the Star banner. There's no exact premiere date yet. You can watch the teaser on the official Kojima Productions announcement.