Originally planned for late 2018, the feature film for Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress: The Battle of Unato has arrived with a May 10th, 2019 premiere in Japan. The film is set for a limited two-week theatrically engagement there but it’s also received streaming through Netflix and Amazon Prime Video simultaneously with the theatrical release since the whole project was based from there.
With the TV series overseas part of Amazon Prime, its still a bit of a surprise to see that Netflix has the rights to stream the film with a September 13th, 2019 debut planned. We’ve known that for a bit but they’ve now updated their series page for it to include the first trailer for the film. And it has options for a few languages for it, such as English and German so that you can get a feel for what it’ll be like across regions. Head to the series page and click on Trailers & More. Once you select the trailer, the options will be available on the lower right (desktop mode, at least).
The series was an interesting from a design perspective as it reunited some Attack on Titan colleagues with director Tetsuro Araki and writer Ichiro Okouchi. Okouchi is the main force behind the original Code Geass story and most of its spinoffs as well as having done the first two Berserk features for their screenplays.
The Japanese cast included Tasuku Hatanaka as Ikoma, Sayaka Senbongi as Mumei, Maaya Uchida as Ayame, Toshiki Masuda as Kurusu, Yuuki Kaji as Takumi, Kanae Oki as Kajika, Mariya Ise as Yukina, Ryota Ohsaka as Sukari, Kensuke Satou as Kibito and Mamoru Miyano as Biba.
Check out the official site and Twitter.
Plot Concept: The world is overrun with Kabane, infected humans with an appetite for flesh. While the last of humanity has retreated into fortress-like stations connected by armored trains, some remain as hopeful as Ikoma. Servicing the trains for a living, Ikoma uses his spare time to build a weapon that could defeat the Kabane. Unapologetically optimistic, he eagerly awaits the day when he can test it. When a train is hijacked by the Kabane, he may finally get his chance. But an unexpected turn of events puts him in a situation that will test not only his weapon but his own humanity.
Previous trailer: