Category:Supernatural: The Anime Series

Supernatural: The Animation, aka スーパーナチュラル・ザ・アニメーション

"There is more to Supernatural than what is seen in the show. This is the birth of a new anime and you've never seen the characters like this before!"—from the Supernatural Anime website

Image from the Supernatural Anime website.

Image from the Supernatural Anime website.

In June 2010, the Warner Brothers Japanese site announced the production of a Supernatural anime to be released in Japan in January 2011, later changed to February 2011.^[1][2] The studio producing the series is MADHOUSE, and the first season is twenty-two episodes covering the first two seasons of the original, live-action series. In addition to remaking some episodes of the original series, they have added new stories that cover the brothers' childhood, focus on secondary characters, and introduce new, anime-only enemies.^[2]

Image from the Supernatural Anime website.

The Winchester brothers (Sam and Dean) will be designed to look like the original actual actors (Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki). Sub characters (eg, John, Bobby, Mary, Jessica, etc.) will be designed in a completely new way to give fresh impression. Enemies such as creatures, demons, and ghosts will be given a cool design taking full advantage of Japanese anime expression.

Yuya Uchida (Soul Eater's Dr. Franken Stein, Naruto Shippūden's Rinji) voices Sam, and Hiroki Touchi (Trinity Blood's Abel Nightroad, Bokurano's Kokkpelli) voices Dean. Both actors voiced these same roles for the live-action series when it was dubbed in Japanese.^[3] You can see some of these actors' work on Supernatural Singing Dead or Alive from 3.16 No Rest For The Wicked.

At the Rising Con Spain 2010, Jensen and Jared confirmed the project and that they'd seen and approved the artwork for Sam and Dean. There was confirmation that Jensen and Jared would dub two episodes in the second box into English,^[4] and this was revised to later include information that Jared dubbed all twenty-two episodes while Jensen only dubbed the final two episodes of the first season.^[5][6] JRock star Gackt voices Andy in the series.^[4]

Release Information

• See: Supernatural: The Anime Series DVD and Blu-Ray
• There was a world premiere on February 3, 2011 at TOHO Cinemas Roppongi in Tokyo, Japan.^[7]
• Warner Home Video launched the anime on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan with a starter disc comprised of the first two episodes on February 23, 2011. It was followed by the first box set, released on March 9, and the second and last box set was released on April 27, 2011. Order the DVD Box Set 1 and the DVD Box Set 2 from Amazon Japan. The DVDs are coded Region 2.
• A preview screening of the American live-action television series Supernatural took place at Anime Expo in Los Angeles in July, followed by a preview screening at Comic-Con International in San Diego later that month.^[8][9]
• Warner Bros. Television released the series via Blu-ray, DVD, video on demand, and download in North America on July 26, 2011.^[10][5] Order the DVD or Blu-ray from Amazon.

Promos

• Official Trailer
• Preview clip of Anime and brief comment from Jared and Jensen
• Promo clip featuring extensive footage and brief comment from Jared and Jensen
• iPhone app for the Supernatural Animation

Interviews

• Kripke talks about the anime project at Comic Con 2010
• Jensen talks about meeting Yuya Uchida and Hiroki Touchi, who voice Sam and Dean, in Japan by Nitoj2
• 13min interview with Jared and Jensen

Episode Information

• The first three episodes of the anime will be remakes of 1.06 Skin, 2.16 Roadkill, and 1.09 Home. 1.04 of the anime is new.
• Descriptions of episodes 1.05 through 1.08, none of which are remakes.
• Descriptions of episodes 1-12.
• Titles (and presumably descriptions in Japanese) of all twenty-two episodes.
• Translations of episode descriptions at Sam's Laptop
• Translations of Radio Drama episodes at Sam's Laptop
• Previews of the looks of John, Mary, Jess, Bobby, and Missouri
• More character previews including Meg and original characters
• Gackt to play Andy, Gackt with poster
• Details of Jared and Jensen voice work

Links

• Supernatural Anime website
• SPN Animation community on Livejournal
• Sam's Laptop Fansite with episode descriptions, Screencaps, translations, forum, etc.
• See also Doujinshi
• review from Comic Con by io9
• Review: The Anime Series, AHBL Parts 1 and 2 by Sofia for The Winchester Family Business, Sept 13, 2011.
• Supernatural: The Animation, Introduction and Character Overview PART 1 by LK for The Winchester Family Business, Aug 7, 2015.
• Supernatural: The Animation, Episode Recap and Review PART 2 by LK for The Winchester Family Business, Sept 18, 2015.
• Supernatural: The Animation, Episode Recap and Review PART 3 by LK for The Winchester Family Business, Jan 12, 2016.
• Supernatural: The Animation, Episode Recap and Review PART 4 by LK for The Winchester Family Business, July 10, 2016.
• Supernatural: The Animation, Episode Recap and Review PART 5 by LK for The Winchester Family Business, Dec 18, 2017.

References