Arknights: Prelude to Dawn Anime: Release Date, Trailer, Cast, Plot & More (2023)

Arknights is a free-to-play tactical RPG/tower defense/gacha mobile game developed by Hypergryph. The game was released in China on May 1, 2019 and in 2020 for the rest of the world. Arknights is available on iOS and Android operating systems. Arknights: Endfield, a spin-off game for PC and mobile phones is announced in March 2022. An anime television series adaptation by studio Yostar Pictures has been announced, and here is everything you need to know about the upcoming Arknights anime.

As of October 2021, an Arknights anime series is officially in development. At this moment, we don’t know when the series is going to premiere or what it is going to be about, but we know that the series is going to be titled Arknights: Prelude to Dawn, which definitely hints at an original story. It’s also possible that the anime is going to be a prequel.

The rest of this article is going to bring you all the known and unknown information related to the upcoming anime adaptation of Arknights: Prelude to Dawn, the popular mobile video game from China. You’re going to find out about its potential release date, whether there is a trailer, what the story could be about, and much more about this upcoming adaptation which has us being very, very excited.

Arknights: Prelude to Dawn release date

Arknights is a mobile tactical RPG that was developed in China. It was first released on May 1, 2019 and even after three years, the game is still going strong. So strong, in fact, that it is set to receive an anime adaptation in the near future. But, before we dive into that pool, let ut see what Arknights is all about in the first place.

The main gameplay is that of a tower defense game and the unlockable characters (called “operators”) are the towers. Melee operators can be placed on the ground, and distance operators on raised floors. Melee Operators obstruct enemies to keep them from advancing, while Ranged Operators take care of safely damaging enemies or healing other Operators. Specialist operators can be positioned on any type of terrain and perform various functions. To win, the player must position the operators available as he sees fit and prevent enemies from reaching his base.

The more the player progresses with the game (there are currently eight chapters in the campaign), the more game modes, operators and resources will be available to him, as well as new enemies and new game mechanics. Levels passed with three stars can be beaten again automatically without the player doing anything since the game records the player’s moves and can replicate their movements.

The game also allows you to customize your own base, where you can let your operators work, rest and strengthen them. This allows players to deposit more and more resources. The game has the same layout and features as classic free-to-play and gacha games, the most notable of which is the acquisition of characters at random using the game currency obtainable throughout the game’s history, social characteristics, daily rewards for each time you start the application or use real currency.

There are 9 classes of operators: Caster, Defender, Guard, Medic, Sniper, Specialist, Supporter, Vanguard, they first determine the position in which the operator can be played (melee boxes or ranged attack boxes), the type of damage they deal to opposing units (physical damage or magical damage) and how many units they can block. Operator classes can then be divided into subclasses (or archetypes) based on additional characteristics such as attack speed or attack priority.

Now that you know everything about the game and the upcoming anime series, we can state that we also do not know when the anime is going to premiere, but based on the timeline and the usual practice, the show is likely going to premier in late 2022 or early 2023.

Arknights: Prelude to Dawn trailer

When the anime series was confirmed back in October 2021, a preview teaser trailer was released. The teaser trailer did not reveal much about the anime, save for its title and some visuals. You can actually check it out for ourselves:

Months went by without any news of the show, until April 23, 2002, when the production studio behind the series released a full “proper” event. If you’re wondering what we are talking about, you can check it out for yourselves:

The trailer was very short and it did not reveal much of the plot, save for some key visuals. How that helps, in the long run, is not quite clear, but it is obvious that whichever you choose, you’ll be doing a good job.

Arknights: Prelude to Dawn plot

At this moment, we do not know which parts of the game’s plot are going to be adapted in the series, if any (it could be a completely original story). Namely, the video game series has a somewhat specific structure when compared to traditional sources for anime plots, which is why it is very difficult to determine these facts. This is why we do not know what awaits us in the upcoming season of the show. The only thing we know for sure that it will somehow tie into the story. What follows is a general overview of the games’ plot.

The story takes place in a futuristic, dystopian, and post-apocalyptic universe on the planet Terra, where the inhabitants have physical characteristics of animals (kemono and kemonomimi) or mythological species. The many natural disasters leave behind a precious mineral, the Originium, which allows the use of “Arts” (magic). However, exposure to Originium is dangerous and people in contact with it can contract an incurable disease: Oripathy.

Because of the characteristics of this disease – a mortality rate close to 100% as well as a high rate of transmission at the time of the death of the patient – the hostility towards the Infected is important and leads to government expulsions and quarantines. masses, which increases tensions between the Infected and the non-Infected.

The player embodies the “Doctor”, a mysterious and amnesic character. He leads teams of operators within Rhode Island, a pharmaceutical, medical, and advocacy organization for the Infected. The organization faces many threats like the Reunion movement, an anarchist military force of Infected wanting to overthrow the governments of Terra as revenge for the persecution of Oripathy victims.

Arknights: Prelude to Dawn cast

At this moment, we don’t know a lot about the cast behind Arknights: Prelude to Dawn. We know some names, but we’ll just have to wait a bit for the other voice actors to be revealed. Luckily for you, we have one confirmed casting for Arknights: Prelude to Dawn, and that is that of Takashi Matsuyama in the role of Ace, a previously mute role from the games. We also know that the series is going to be by Yuki Watanabe, with Masaki Nishikawa serving as assistant director. At this moment, we simply don’t have any new information.

Where to watch Arknights: Prelude to Dawn?

At this moment, as expected, there is no means of watching Arknights: Prelude to Dawn, as there are no Arknights: Prelude to Dawn you can watch at this moment. Since the first season has yet to come out, even in Japan, we don’t really know where it will be available for streaming. Knowing how things work, though, we assume that Crunchyroll is going to pick up this show, just how it did with numerous other ones in history.

Will there be an Arknights Season 2?

The future of Arknights is, as of this moment, unknown. At this moment, we don’t really know much about the first season, so whether we’ll be seeing a second season or not is still unknown. If the show does good, and with all the currently available anime content, Arknights could be a likely candidate for a renewal, but the fact that we do not know anything about the series’ success (or failure) makes the future very, very uncertain at this period.