Zone of The Enders: The Animation

Zone of The Enders: The Animation (ゾーン　オブ　エンダーズ THE ANIMATION, sometimes called/stylized as Z.O.E The Animation) is an Action Mecha Drama series created by animation studio Sunrise in association with Production I.G. It's directed by Tetsuya Watanabe (who also directed Z.O.E 2167 IDOLO, and worked on After War Gundam X, Angelic Layer and Cowboy Bebop) and Hideo Kojima (who produced the Z.O.E games and directed the Metal Gear series), composed by Maki Kirioka, Akihiro Honda, Norihiko Hibino, Toshiyuki Kakuta,Shuichi Kobori, and Akira Yamaoka, includes Mecha Designs by Yoji Shikawa and extra designs by Hajime Katoki (who did many of the mech designs in the Mobile Suit Gundam series), and produced by Aniplex. The series has been licensed for release in Aniplex in Japan and America, Madmen Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand, and Manga Entertainment in Europe. FUNimation later picked up the rights to release the series in English from Aniplex. The opening is "Kiss Me Sunlights" (the same opening theme as the game) by Heart of Air, and the ending is "Flowing Destiny" by Maki Kirioka.

Plot
Z.O.E The Animation is a direct adaptation of the 2001 PS2 title, Zone of The Enders. It takes place in 2172, 5 years after 2167 IDOLO. A Jupiter colony, Antilia is being attacked by BAHRAM, a rogue, anti-terrestrial military group after the Orbital Frame, Jehuty. With a squad lead by Captain Viola, the launch a full-scale attack against Antilia, not hesitating to kill civilians. Leo Stenbuck, The protagonist, is running away from enemy forces after witnessing the deaths of his "friends" at the hands of an LEV. After hiding out in a hangar, he accidentally falls into the cockpit of Jehuty, forcing him into the battle against BAHRAM, and forced to kill to survive.

Z.O.E'S plot focuses on death, and the loss of innocence. As an example, Jehuty is based on the Egyptian god Horus Behudty, who leads the spirits of the dead to the King of The Dead, Osiris to live in eternal happiness in the afterlife, if they pass their judgement in the "Hall of Maat", and the test of the Feather of Maat. The loss of innocence is signified by the basics of the plot, as Leo is forced to pilot Jehuty, and kill to save Antilia, and to survive.

Production
The concept for Z.O.E The Animation was created in 2016, after Hideo Kojima left Konami, and the Konami namesake and franchises were bought by Sega Sammy Holdings (in a similar fashion to Atlus), with the remaining company staff joining Universal Entertainment Corp. Many of the staff from the old Konami returned to re-form the company, but better, asking for fan support, and being very honest with fans, and better working conditions. After Konami was reformed, Kojima later re-formed Kojima Productions, and approached Sunrise with the idea to adapt the first Zone of The Enders into an anime to build up hype for a potential continuation of the Z.O.E series. Sunrise and Kojima worked together to create the series, bringing back many of the staff from the game, 2167 IDOLO and Dolores, i. After this, Production I.G joined the project for co-animation and in-between animation, as Kojima felt that some of the effects for the show would be better done by them.

At the same time, Bandai Namco Partners approached Kojima, wanting to help create a new Z.O.E with them and Konami, bringing many people who worked on the MSG Extreme Vs Full Boost to help co-create the project. PlatinumGames also joined to help Kojima Productions remake the first game in the Fox Engine, and help co-create the new Z.O.E project. Nintendo helped port the remake, called Z.O.E ReMIX Edition, to the Nintendo New 3DS, under the name Z.O.E 3DS. All of these projects were announced during Sony's E3 press conference and the E3 2017 Nintendo Direct, both bringing Hideo Kojima. Kojima announced the anime at E3 as a bonus with Z.O.E ReMIX and 3DS, and helped announce the Funimation release at Anime North 2017, where he also announced that he would be in the English and Japanese Dubs, and that the series would be airing on Toonami.

Release
Z.O.E The Animation's first 3 episodes were included as a bonus with the Zone of The Enders HD Collection on PS4, and Z.O.E 3DS. At the same time, the series was released in Japan on Blu-Ray and DVD by Aniplex. Later, the series was dubbed and released by Funimation in North America, after Aniplex released the series without a dub in America. Then, the Funimation release and the Aniplex release and Limited Edition release were sold in Europe by Manga Entertainment UK and Madmen Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand.