Yoshitaka Amano bringing hand-drawn animation back with ZAN anime

For decades, Yoshitaka Amano’s unmistakable artwork has shaped fantasy itself, from Final Fantasy to Vampire Hunter D. Despite influencing generations of artists, one of his own original stories has remained largely untouched. That changed at Anime Expo 2026, where Amano and his collaborators unveiled the first proof-of-concept footage for ZAN, an ambitious hand-drawn adaptation of his fantasy novel that feels determined to swim against the current of modern anime production.