Studio Mappa’s upcoming anime series, Zenshu, has fooled many fans, even hardcore anime experts, about its true story. Over the past eight months, Mappa has dropped three different trailers for this original anime that isn’t based on any source material (manga or light novel).
The catch? If you watched each trailer separately, you’d come up with a completely different idea of what the series is about every single time.
According to the official synopsis from the studio, Zenshu tells the story of Natsuko Hirose, a highly talented artist who starts working as an animator right after high school. Thanks to her dedication and skill, her first directorial anime project becomes a massive hit, earning her instant fame.
But her next assignment, a romantic comedy film, turns out to be a nightmare. Never having experienced love herself, Natsuko finds it hard to connect with the story, and production grinds to a halt.
This synopsis perfectly lines up with the first trailer released seven months ago, which made the anime seem like a grounded, slice-of-life drama about the struggles of creative work. Here is the first trailer:
The Second Trailer: Fantasy Genre?
Things took a wild turn with the second trailer, released just a month ago on Crunchyroll’s YouTube channel. This time, there was no mention of Natsuko or her struggles.
Instead, the trailer introduced a magical world where a hero and his comrades fight against a demon army, only to watch each friend die one by one. The tone was dark, intense, and very fantasy-oriented, leaving fans wondering what was going on.
In the YouTube comment section some viewers quickly caught on to the misdirection, with one highly liked comment saying, “FYI, this isn’t the actual anime. It’s about an animator making the anime you see right here.” But even this popular theory didn’t survive the reveal in the third trailer.
The Third Trailer: Isekai Genre?
The third trailer tied everything together in an unexpected way. It revealed that the dramatic fantasy story shown in the second trailer was actually from a fictional movie titled A Tale of Perishing—Natsuko’s favorite film from childhood.
This movie had inspired her to become an animator. The trailer then shifts back to Natsuko’s struggles with creating her romcom storyboard. Overworked and unwilling to accept help from her colleagues, she ends up collapsing from exhaustion, seemingly dying in the process.
But here’s the twist: Natsuko doesn’t die. Instead, she’s reincarnated into the world of A Tale of Perishing and is saved by its heroic protagonist. Having already seen the movie, Natsuko knows how things will unfold and that the hero’s companions are destined to die.
The trailer ends with an epic moment where Natsuko activates her unique power—time manipulation combined with her incredible drawing skills—just as the hero is about to be killed by the demon army. This hints at a gripping mix of creativity, action, and emotional stakes.
Mappa’s Brilliant Marketing Strategy
Mappa’s decision to release three drastically different trailers was a genius move. It kept fans guessing and created massive buzz around Zenshu.
This reminds me of the hype during the airing of Takt Op. Destiny (a Mappa and Madhouse collaboration), where the lack of source material made each episode’s events a complete surprise.
The anime already has a lot going for it. Mappa’s track record ensures the animation will be top-notch. On top of that, the opening theme, “Zen,” performed by the Japanese rock band BAND-MAID, is already generating excitement.
With such a unique premise and high production quality, the only question left is whether the story will deliver.
Zenshu premieres on January 5 in Japan, with Crunchyroll streaming it the same day. This is shaping up to be one of the most exciting anime of the season. If it lives up to the hype, it could inspire more original projects in the anime industry.
