A new trailer has been unveiled for the upcoming anime adaptation of Square Enix's classic PlayStation 1 game Legend of Mana, the fourth installment in the Mana video game series.
Posted on Warner Bros. Japan's official YouTube channel, the new trailer for Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal, gives viewers a glimpse of the show's actual animation for the first time. This trailer focuses mostly on the series' protagonist Shiloh, along with Princess Pearl and Elazul. These two are the last members of a race called "Jumi" that was hunted nearly to extinction for the gems embedded in their chests, which grant them special powers. Elazul is shown to possess one of these gems, which presumably belongs to a female Jumi, and Shiloh decides to join the duo in their search for her.
Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal is currently set to debut this October, and it is being made to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Square Enix's Mana franchise. The series will be directed by Masato Jinbo, who also directed Season 2 of The Rising of the Shield Hero. The music for the series will be done by Yoko Shimomura, who not only created music for Legend of Mana but also worked on the soundtrack of Kingdom Hearts I and II. Nobunaga Shimazaki (Fate/Grand Order, Xenoblade Chronicles 2) will play the role of Shiloh, the fantasy adventures' main hero. Kaori Nazuka (Code Geass, Fire Emblem Fates) will also star as Princess Pearl while Yuichiro Umehara (Black Clover, Kingdom Hearts III) will star as Elazul. In the Japanese version, Pearl and Elazul's names are "Shinju-hime" and "Ruri," respectively.
Legend of Mana, which was first released back in 1999, managed to sell well at the time despite a lukewarm response from critics. The plot of the game revolved around the destruction of the Mana Tree, a tree which brought the life-giving substance mana to the world. Humans, faeries and several other races fought one another over the remaining mana, and in the game the main hero must embark on a journey to restore the world's mana to its previous state. The game is divided into three main plot branches, with the story of Elazul, Pearl and the Jumi race comprising much of the first part. A remastered version of Legend of Mana was released in June of last year for PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC. This version also featured a special cinematic opening that was produced by Graphinica and Yokohama Animation Lab, the same team that will be doing the animation for Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal.
The Teardrop Crystal will be broadcast in Japan on both TV and streaming services in October. Details about the series' international release have yet to be announced.
Source: YouTube