The Sekiro anime looks gorgeous, gory in new trailer from Crunchyroll

FromSoftware’s samurai-action Soulslike Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is being adapted into a new anime series, Sekiro: No Defeat, with a release planned for this year. A new trailer for the Crunchyroll exclusive offers a longer, more emotional look at the series, which is being produced by Arch, Qzil.la, and Studio Betta.

Sekiro: No Defeat‘s second trailer, released at SXSW, offers a lot of vibes, both in terms of its lush, hand-drawn art style and in the death-rebirth conceit that was at the heart of the outstanding video game the series is based on. We get a greatest hits reel of boss fights that appear to be recreated in anime form: The Owl, Gyoubu Oniwa, Genichiro Ashina, the Corrupted Monk, and even the Folding Screen Monkeys, apparently. Sekiro: No Defeat looks like it won’t skimp on the blood and violence in its retelling of FromSoft’s most straightforward game story yet.

Here’s the official description for Sekiro: No Defeat, courtesy of Crunchyroll:

Japan is fractured into many independent nations entangled in ceaseless war. At the center lies Ashina, a land of sacred earth and ancient mystery. Two decades after Sword Saint Isshin Ashina reclaimed the region in a brutal coup, a new threat emerges from within: The Interior Ministry. Desperate to protect his homeland, Isshin’s grandson Genichiro turns to forbidden powers. The only hope lies in a kidnapped boy — the Divine Heir — and his silent protector: a loyal shinobi known only as Sekiro.

This is the story of a lord and his retainer — and their quest to restore balance to a nation on the edge.

Kenichi Kutsuna, director of Sekiro: No Defeat, has said of his new anime, “By embracing the hand-drawn essence of 2D animation, we can achieve a transcendent beauty in action that goes beyond cool to something deeply poignant.”

Sekiro: No Defeat is slated to stream on Crunchyroll sometime in 2026. In a post on Instagram, Crunchyroll says it’s “coming soon.”