Arknights: Prelude to Dawn Anime Reveals 3 Cast Members, 7 Visuals

The official Twitter account for Hypergryph's Arknights smartphone game announced three new cast members for Arknights: Prelude to Dawn, the television anime adaptation of the game, on Friday. The account also unveiled seven new visuals showcasing different characters and factions.

The Doctor, Rhodes Island's mysterious strategist

Guard, Ace, and Medic, Rhodes Island operators

Texas and Exusiai, couriers for hire from Penguin Logistics

Politician Wei Yenwu, and policemen Ch'en and Hoshiguma from Lungmen

Rhodes Island medical head Kal'tsit, and Rhodes Island top executive Amiya

Rhodes Island instructor Dobermann, and Rhodes Island operator Nearl

Liskarm and Franka, military contractors from the Blacksteel company

The new cast members include Kōichi Yamadera as Wei Yenwu, Momo Asakura as Medic, and Chiaki Kobayashi as Guard. The characters have not previously been voiced in the game.

The anime will premiere on TV Tokyo on October 28, and will also air on TV Osaka, BS11, and Animax. The anime will stream in Japan starting on October 29.

Takashi Matsuyama will play the character Ace in the anime. The character is unvoiced in the game.

The other cast includes:

• Doctor: Yuki Kaida
• Amiya: Tomoyo Kurosawa
• Dobermann: Atsumi Tanezaki
• Nearl: Ayane Sakura
• Ch'en: Shizuka Ishigami
• Hoshiguma: Kiyono Yasuno
• Franka: Ai Kakuma
• Liskarm: Yui Ishikawa
• Exusiai: Manaka Iwami
• Texas: Azusa Tadokoro
• Meteorite: Risa Taneda
• Kal'tsit: Yōko Hikasa

Yuki Watanabe is directing the anime at Yostar Pictures, with Masataka Nishikawa as assistant director. Both have previously worked on the smartphone game's "Holy Knight Light" first anniversary anime short, and Watanabe has worked on the game's numerous animated promotional video shorts. Aya Takafuji (key animator for Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia, SSSS.Gridman) is adapting the character designs for animation.

Yostar Pictures described the anime as a "season one" when it announced the show in October 2021.

Chinese developers Studio Montagne and Hypergryph released the game in China in May 2019, and then Yostar launched the game worldwide in January 2020. The game already inspired several animated promotional videos since 2019 and a nine-minute animated "Holy Knight Light" short in December 2021 to mark the game's first anniversary.

The game is set in a fantasy world called Terra with modern science-fiction motifs. Terra is plagued by rare but devastating Catastrophes that force most people to live in nomadic cities. Catastrophes also bring forth the rare mineral Originium, which yields high energy and is thus a valuable resource, but also consumes everything around it as it grows. Those with prolonged exposure to Originium easily develop a wasting disease known as Oripathy. The story centers around the lives of Oripathy-infected individuals. A roving medical company known as Rhodes Island offers a helping hand and a place to belong for the often-shunned Infected. However, Rhodes Island has often had to conduct ad-hoc paramilitary actions against the Reunion Movement, a terrorist organization that conducts violent action aimed at governments that oppress the Infected.

Source: Arknights smartphone game's Twitter account