Holy fuck! This is real!
As some of you more veteran ecchi fans may recall, Hobby Japan initially green lit a two episode OVA for their 7 Deadly Sins figurine series back in 2012, almost four years ago. It was initially set to be directed by Hiraku Kaneko, and animated by REMIC (they are probably best known for animating Renkin 3-kyu Magical? Pokan ).
After that announcement, nothing but silence. Not only that, but the original company contracted to do the anime, REMIC, hasn’t produced ANY anime since. The only evidence that suggested the project wasn’t dead was a single sentence on Hobby Japan’s website that said the project was “ongoing.” But obviously, it doesn’t take four years to make two OVA’s, so pretty much everyone had assumed that somewhere along the line a deal had fallen through.
I always had a hunch that we might get an anime though, if only because Hobby Japan has been so good to ecchi fans for so long and green lit so many ecchi anime products for their figurine lines in the past. Pretty much every year, you can bank on Hobby Japan producing an anime, even if it is just a short episode series like Bikini Warriors or an OVA.
The other thing was, and this is just my opinion, but 7 Deadly Sins has always been for me the most impressive figurine line in their inventory. Here are some examples to show what I mean:
I always thought it was insane how so many other figurine lines and properties from Hobby Japan received anime, yet seemingly their best figurine line did not. Now it’s clear, Hobby Japan was so happy with this product, that they felt it was worth a full blown TV anime with some real talent working on it.
Which is no slight on Kaneko. Kaneko is great, but for this kind of material Kinji Yoshimoto is clearly a better choice. Yoshimoto has a stellar directing resume for ecchi, including the good seasons of Queen’s Blade (seasons 1-2), Queen’s Blade Grimoire , Front Innocent , Plastic Little , Legend of Lemnear , Machine-Doll wa Kizutsukanai , and Yuushibu . Having TNK and Artland co-produce is a hell of a step up in quality from the likes of ARMS or REMIC.
Given the director, the erotic nature of the figurines, the production company history and the history of Hobby Japan produced anime, it goes without saying that nipples are flippin’ GUARANTEED in what will surely be a god-tier ecchi series.
By the way, check out their snazzy new website.
The most intriguing part of this news is the timing. A release date has yet to be announced, but it’s kind of insane to release a PV for a series five months before it’s debut date. It’s also rare to release first details on an anime only a month and a half before a season. I have no idea if this will be a Winter 2017 show or if it might be a surprise late entry into what is already a fairly stacked Fall 2016 season. But given the oddness of the timing, it seems like both possibilities are plausible.
It goes without saying, this is one of the most eagerly anticipated non-sequel ecchi anime ever, so hopefully they don’t make us wait too long. I can’t wait to see a real PV for this series, I’m sure with all the talent involved in crafting it that it’s going to look amazing.
