Suikoden: The Anime, a long-awaited anime adaptation of the classic JRPG series (primarily Suikoden II), is set to start airing in 2026. The new series is being produced by Konami Animation, a studio spun off by Konami in February 2024. Apart from having access to technology and know-how cultivated through Konami’s decades of game production, another perk of the in-house studio is that it allows game developers more creative control over how their works get adapted. Suikoden series producer Rui Naito and IP/game director Takahiro Sakiyama recently brought up the topic in an interview with Dengeki Online.
“I would like to make it clear that Konami is working on the Suikoden anime jointly,” Naito comments. “Usually, when a game gets an anime or movie adaptation, the project gets licensed out to an external studio, with the IP owner acting as a supervisor, but ultimately leaving production to the studio.”
On the other hand, he explains that Suikoden: The Anime is kind of getting the best of both worlds, as there’s professional anime staff working on it, but the game development team is fully involved too. “Sakiyama and I aren’t just acting as supervisors, we’re participating in production, especially when it comes to figuring out how to express what makes the game great through the anime medium.”
Given that it would be impossible to reproduce the Suikoden games one-to-one, the anime’s creators are focusing on what they consider the franchise’s biggest strength – its storytelling. As such, the anime takes 1998’s Suikoden II as a base, extracting the story’s core and packaging it in a way that’s attractive and accessible to both veteran fans and newcomers.
While the adaptation seems to go to great lengths to stay faithful to the series’ roots – even tracking down some of the voice actors from drama CDs released over 20 years ago, it will also be doing some new things. The original game soundtrack is being re-arranged by Koji Nakamura, character designs have been re-vamped, and the protagonist has been fleshed out into a named, speaking character. The anime’s director Yuzo Sato says there will be various interesting shifts in perspective to look out for.
Suikoden: The Anime is set to air in 2026.
