One of the more intriguing anime announcements to land this week is not a sequel, not a reboot, and not based on a manga you have probably heard of — yet. On 14 July 2026, Tsugumi Project (虎鶫 とらつぐみ ―TSUGUMI PROJECT―) officially received a TV anime adaptation, complete with a teaser visual and a first teaser PV from the official production. Singapore anime fans who love their science fiction dark, their action kinetic, and their post-apocalyptic lore dense should take note.
What Is Tsugumi Project?
Written and drawn by artist ippatu, Tsugumi Project is a survival science-fiction action manga set in a devastated far-future Japan. Two centuries of extreme radiation have transformed the island into a forbidden zone — a no-man’s-land overrun by grotesquely mutated creatures that bear little resemblance to anything living today.
At the centre of the story is Leone, a soldier framed for a crime he did not commit and torn from his family. His punishment doubles as a suicide mission: infiltrate the irradiated zone and recover a classified weapon codenamed TSUGUMI. What he finds instead is a mysterious girl — and a journey through Old Japan that defies everything he was told about the place.
Critics and fans have compared its atmosphere and visual ambition to BLAME!, Spriggan, and AKIRA — rarefied company that gives you an instant calibration for the kind of dark, dense, aesthetically ambitious science fiction this series delivers.
From France to Japan — An Unusual Road to Anime
The origin story of Tsugumi Project is almost as unusual as the story itself. French publisher Ki-oon debuted the manga in France in 2019 — before it ever appeared in Japan. The series became a genuine hit with French and European readers, winning a dedicated following in a market that has long embraced manga wholeheartedly.
Only in 2021 did Kodansha begin serialising it in Japan through Weekly Young Magazine, reversing the typical flow of manga publication. By the time the Japanese run concluded with volume 7 in 2023, the manga had built a readership on both sides of the world. It is now complete in seven volumes — which bodes well for a cohesive anime adaptation.
The Anime: Teaser PV and What We Know
The official teaser site at toratsugumi.jp and the series’ X account @toratsugumi_PJ are both live. The short teaser PV above delivers the first animated glimpse of the post-apocalyptic world ippatu created — all jagged, radiated ruin and looming creature silhouettes.
The production carries the banner of the TSUGUMI PROJECT Production Committee, with NBCUniversal Anime/Music among the credited partners — a label with strong international distribution reach that typically points toward global streaming availability, though no specific platforms have been confirmed yet.
What remains to be confirmed: the animation studio, director, voice cast, and premiere date. Author ippatu said of the announcement, as reported by Dengeki Online (Japanese): “It’s quite a surprise! This happened because everyone read it.”
What SG Anime Fans Should Know
Tsugumi Project is a completed seven-volume story — adapting a finished manga typically allows production teams to plan a proper beginning, middle, and end without rushing or padding. For Singapore fans of hard SF action anime, the BLAME!/AKIRA comparison is not hyperbole: this is dense, atmospheric, and unafraid to let silence and creature design do the narrative heavy lifting.
The series has been available in English through selected international channels, and a number of SG fans have already found it through fan communities and import channels. An anime adaptation with NBCUniversal involvement is likely to land on a major global streaming platform — watch @toratsugumi_PJ on X for updates. Until then, the seven-volume manga is the ideal preparation.
For more upcoming anime, check our Manga & Anime section.