The Darwin Incident drops touching trailer and a darkly atmospheric key visual as anime premieres in January
Steven Reynolds 
Honestly, it has been so long since the sci-fi anime The Darwin Incident was announced, I had forgotten it was even a thing.
Today, though, as the anime heads towards its January, 2026 premiere, we got a little more information about the series in the form of a touching and quite foreboding new trailer.
A darkly atmospheric looking key visual accompanied it.
The latest The Darwin Incident trailer features the voices of main characters Charlie Stein (voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki) and Lucy Eldred (played by Mitsuho Kanbe), and supporting character Rivera Feyerabend (voiced by Akio Otsuka) in a first decent look at the unusual-themed sci-fi anime.
The anime’s accompanying key visual, which was dropped on TOHO Animation’s X account today, features Charlie and Lucy in the foreground, while a malevolent-looking man sits on a pile of burning TVs and laptops leering at them in the background.
The visual has a tagline that says “Sweet lies peel away And the true reality is revealed“.
Its obvious from the trailer and that illustration we can probably expect an anime that is both disturbing, and makes you question what it really means to be “human”.
The Darwin Incident production details
The anime is based on the manga series of the same name, written and illustrated by Shun Umezawa.
It is being chief directed by Katsuichi Nakayama (Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time), with Naokatsu Tsuda (Tokyo 24th Ward) directing.
Shinichi Inozume (Spy Classroom 2) is in charge of series composition, while Shinpei Tomooka (Build Divide: Code Black and Code White) is designing the characters.
Newly founded animation studio Bellnox Films is animating.
RELATED: The Darwin Incident‘s non-credit opening and ending animation sequences are now out
The first volume of the original Japanese manga describes its wild plot like this:
When the terrorist organization Animal Liberation Alliance (ALA) attacks a biological science research institute, a pregnant female chimpanzee is rescued.
Soon after, she gives birth to a “humanzee” named Charlie, half human and half chimpanzee.
Now, after 15 years of being raised by human parents, Charlie is about to enter high school where he meets Lucy, a girl with a brilliant mind who is mocked as a “loner.”
This human and non-human drama follows Charlie, a “non-human,” as, alongside Lucy, they confront human issues that include terrorism, online flame wars, and discrimination.
Look out for it dropping in January.
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