Before Chainsaw Man unleashed its devil-hunting chaos and Look Back broke hearts with its introspective artistry, Tatsuki Fujimoto was a teenage dreamer sketching raw, unfiltered stories in notebooks during late-night study breaks and college commutes. These early works, penned between ages 17 and 26, form the backbone of the Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 anime anthology, which has just dropped a dynamic new trailer and eight striking key visuals. Set for a global premiere on Prime Video on November 7, 2025, the series adapts eight of Fujimoto’s formative short stories, offering a vivid window into the origins of a manga icon.
The trailer, a brisk 70-second whirlwind, showcases fresh footage from each episode, weaving high-octane action with tender, offbeat moments. It kicks off with apocalyptic chaos from the lead story, shifts into surreal sci-fi romance, and closes with intense sibling rivalries and gender-bending introspection, all set to an electrifying electronic score that mirrors Fujimoto’s knack for blending the absurd with the profound. The visuals highlight diverse animation styles from the collaborating studios, from fluid underwater sequences to stark, shadowy assassin chases. A limited theatrical run in Japan begins October 17 across nine venues, heightening anticipation for the worldwide streaming debut.
These stories, later compiled by Shueisha in 2021 as Tatsuki Fujimoto Short Story 17-21 and Tatsuki Fujimoto Short Story 22-26, emerged from Fujimoto’s youth, where he obsessively redrew panels to capture fleeting emotions, drawing inspiration from horror manga legends like Junji Ito and his own adolescent struggles. Crafted in hurried doujinshi and magazine submissions, these tales—marked by rough linework and unpolished dialogue—laid the foundation for his later mastery of psychological depth and explosive storytelling.
Helmed by the Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 Production Committee and supervised by Flagship Line, the anthology features seven directors, including Tetsuaki Watanabe (Blue Lock), Nobuyuki Takeuchi (Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?), and Kazuaki Terasawa (The Ancient Magus' Bride Season 2). Six studios—ZEXCS, Lapin Track, Graphinica (under GRAPH77), 100studio, Studio Kafka, and P.A.WORKS—bring distinct visual flair to each episode. The voice cast, including Kensho Ono, Kana Hanazawa, Tomokazu Sugita, and Junichi Suwabe, infuses Fujimoto’s quirky characters with depth.
The eight key visuals, one for each episode, amplify the anthology’s eclectic spirit:
A Couple of Cackling Chickens Were Still Kickin' in the Schoolyard: A twilight-drenched schoolyard with two silhouetted survivors gripping makeshift weapons amid overgrown ruins.
Sasaki Stopped the Bullet: A teenage boy mid-dive, a bullet frozen near his chest, his defiant expression set against a blurred urban sprawl.
Love is Blind: Lovers entwined in a cosmic embrace amid starry voids, rendered in ethereal blues and pinks.
Shikaku: A wild-eyed assassin girl, sword aloft, with demonic shadows swirling behind her.
Mermaid Rhapsody: A boy and mermaid share a melancholic underwater piano duet, bubbles rising like notes in azure depths.
Woke Up as a Girl Syndrome: A split mirror reflection of a youth’s male and female selves, framed in soft pastels.
Nayuta of the Prophecy: Siblings in a tense cliffside standoff, glowing runes on their skin under stormy skies.
Sisters: Two sisters in a cluttered studio, one sketching fiercely as the other watches with envious intensity, paint splatters forming abstract rivalries.
What Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 Is About
Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 is a love letter to the mangaka’s early days, adapting eight standalone stories that span dystopian survival, whimsical fantasy, and raw human emotion. Written during his teens and early twenties, these tales capture Fujimoto’s budding fascination with the grotesque and the tender. VIZ Media, which licensed the English editions of the source collections, describes the anthology as follows:
Alien invasions, high school romances, and even bloody vampire action—all this and more awaits in four compelling short stories that reveal the starting point of Tatsuki Fujimoto, the twisted mastermind behind Chainsaw Man.
Fujimoto has called these stories his “borrowed” experiments, inspired by mentors but elevated by the directors’ polished vision. Prime Video’s Thomas Dubois hailed the series as a testament to Fujimoto’s evolution and the platform’s push for bold Japanese storytelling. As the premiere nears, Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 stands poised to illuminate the raw sparks that shaped a manga legend.
Sources: Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 on X / Avex Pictures
