The Death Stranding IP continues to grow. Along with getting a movie adaptation from A24, Hideo Kojima’s creation is now getting an animated series on a surprising streaming service: Disney+. Set to reach in 2027, Death Stranding Isolations (working title) was unveiled on the Disney+ Originals Preview at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. The series’ executive producer, Hideo Kojima, was joined onstage by series director Takayuki Sano to announce their first-ever partnership with a world streaming platform. Latest concept art for the series from Ilya Kuvshinov was revealed. Kuvshinov served as character designer for Ghost within the Shell: SAC_2045, which could also be why the art style looks familiar to you.
Death Stranding Isolations will tell a totally latest story set on the earth of Death Stranding. It’ll be entirely separate from the video games, with the premise following a young man and woman as they set out on an adventure. It can be told through a conventional, hand-drawn 2D animation style, with E&H Production on the helm to bring the series to life.
Kojima Productions offered this story synopsis for the upcoming series:
Once, there was an explosion…
Lonesome souls of the dead manifest within the physical world, reaching seeking the living. Nonetheless, the connection they create triggers a large explosion that eradicates anything of this world—a phenomenon known as the Death Stranding. These events wipe out nations in addition to civilization itself. Individuals who remain at the moment are isolated, withdrawn, and without connections. As humanity stands on the brink a legendary porter got down to transport each cargo and desires of its senders, reconnecting people within the hope that they may still be saved.
Based on the video game born out of the mind of legendary game creator, Hideo Kojima, comes a brand new animation series headed by Japan’s up-and-coming animation studio E&H production. Helmed by E&H’s Takayuki Sano, it follows within the footsteps of the unique in spirit and concepts and depict the world of Death Stranding through a daring and yet subtle touch and top-class hand-drawn animation.
Somewhere in North America, just as Sam Bridges walks through the continent with the intention to save America, the someones are also attempting to take care of their isolation in their very own way. An old man trying to appreciate salvation through ways outside of the connection advocated by Bridges. A female warrior who tries to kickstart a world of constant fighting. A boy with a grudge against Bridges. A woman who embraces loneliness.
On the precipice of the top of humanity and the world, their fates and hopes converge, as one other story of Death Stranding begins.
And now, comes one other explosion…