Bandai Namco Filmworks Launches Sunrise 50th Anniversary Project With 6 Short Films
The project consolidates Sunrise's legacy into a multi-year slate of original 3DCG shorts and a new Votoms film, signaling how Bandai Namco Filmworks intends to leverage its back catalog for new productions.
Reporting from 1 sources: Anime News Network.
Bandai Namco Filmworks announced the Sunrise 50th Anniversary project, running from 2026 to 2028, to mark 50 years since the first Sunrise-branded work, Muteki Chōjin Zambot 3, in 2027. The project includes a key visual of 50 selected works and the Mirai e no Kōro short film project, which will produce six original 3DCG animated shorts in collaboration with other studios. The first two shorts, Dice with Demon and Metafear, were revealed, and the previously announced Armored Trooper Votoms: Die Graue Hexe is also part of the initiative.
Bandai Namco Filmworks launched the Sunrise 50th Anniversary project on Wednesday, a multi-year initiative running from 2026 to 2028 that commemorates the 50th anniversary of Muteki Chōjin Zambot 3, the first work released under the Sunrise brand, in 2027. The project's key visual is a newly drawn illustration featuring 50 selected works from Sunrise's catalog of over 500 titles, spanning from Zambot 3 to 2022's Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury.
At the center of the project is Mirai e no Kōro (A Voyage Towards the Future), a short film project that aims to produce six original 3DCG animated works in collaboration with other production studios, all sharing the theme of the future. The first two shorts were announced: Dice with Demon, directed by Hidekazu Ohara at SUNRISE Studios, and Metafear, directed by Shuhei Morita at YAMATOWORKS with character and visual design by Tatsuyuki Tanaka. The previously announced Armored Trooper Votoms: Die Graue Hexe, a new entry in the Armored Trooper Votoms franchise co-produced with Production I.G, is also part of the anniversary project, with its first film opening in Japan on November 20.
- Dice with Demon: Directed by Hidekazu Ohara at SUNRISE Studios. Set in Heian-era Japan, a nobleman plays a high-stakes game with a demon to resurrect his late wife.
- Metafear: Directed by Shuhei Morita at YAMATOWORKS. A girl's unnamed nightmare transforms into a monster that plunges the world into chaos.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.