Everything We Know About the ‘Stranger Things’ Anime Spinoff

It’s not common for a live-action show to be adapted into an anime. Generally, it’s the other way around, and it seldom works out well (Netflix’s Death Note is a great example). However, Stranger Things is a popular series, and an anime spinoff instead of a live-action one could be interesting—partially due to the fact that the Duffers won’t be the sole creatives behind the project (sorry, not sorry).

The expansion of the Stranger Things universe has the potential to cause fan fatigue (there’s only so much to be done with that world) depending on who’s driving the content. While Stranger Things 5 will be the last season of the series, news of Stranger Things Tokyo has fans excited. What do we know about the upcoming anime spinoff? Will the events of Stranger Things 5 play into the story? Keep reading to find out.

What is Stranger Things Tokyo about?

Despite the series being in development since 2021 (when exactly, we don’t know), there’s no confirmed release date as of right now. The series will focus on new characters and a new story, and according to What’s on Netflix, the plot is as follows:

“An encounter with the Upside Down evolves into a grand adventure for video game-loving twin brothers living on the outskirts of 1980s Tokyo.”

When will it be released?

We know that Stranger Things 5 will begin filming in 2023, likely in May. Netflix has yet to announce an official release date for season 5, let alone a release date for the anime spinoff. It seems likely that season 5 will premiere sometime in late 2023 at the earliest or in 2024. Stranger Things Tokyo could premiere before the final season to help make the wait a little less painful, but we truly have no idea.

Who’s in it?

Additional information regarding cast members hasn’t been revealed yet, either, but we are hoping they hire some actual voice actors for this project. It’d be cool to hear some familiar voices in this spinoff, you know? Fingers crossed for a stacked voice cast!

Who is making Stranger Things Tokyo?

The Duffer Brothers won’t be the only ones working on the project because they aren’t planning to stick around in the Stranger Things universe forever. Here’s what Matt Duffer said during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast back in July:

“The idea, ultimately, is to pass the baton to someone else … someone who’s hopefully really talented and passionate. Even the idea of Ross and I, say, doing a pilot and leaving it, it just feels silly to me. You really need to be there from the beginning to end. I think we need to find a partner to help us with that.”

He added:

“… this show will have been about 10 years of our lives by the time we’re done. So it’s like a decade of my life, and I loved every second of it, and I don’t take any of it back. But yeah, I don’t want to do another decade in the Stranger Things universe … But we do want to be very involved, and we have an idea that we’re really jazzed about.”

It’s certainly best that they’re bringing someone else on to work on the anime spinoff; hopefully they’ll also have a more diverse writers room this time around. The Stranger Things universe can’t rely on nostalgia forever, after all.

(featured image: Netflix)