During his Otakon panel, Director and Mechanical Designer Shinji Aramaki made an intriguing revelation about an unreleased anime series titled “Aliens vs. Predator: Annihilation.”
He shared dated screenshots and designs from the project, dating back to 2015. Surprisingly, Aramaki confirmed that the series was completed almost seven years ago but expressed uncertainty about why it was never released.
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The 10-episode series is set aboard a massive immigration ship, but Aramaki remained tight-lipped about further details to preserve any possibility of a future formal release. He did, however, treat the audience to glimpses of the iconic Alien and Predator factions from the shared universe. Additionally, he proudly showcased his personal designs for the Alien Queen featured in the anime series.
Interestingly, the previously published Alien 3: The Unproduced First-Draft Screenplay mentioned an associated AvP: Annihilation novel by John Shirley. Yet, Aramaki did not confirm any connection between the unreleased anime series and Shirley’s planned book.
It’s worth noting that Disney’s acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox, the production company behind the Alien vs. Predator franchise, was finalized in 2019. This development adds an extra layer of curiosity as to why the anime series never saw the light of day.
Aramaki’s directorial debut came with the Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 original video anime. He later helmed the Appleseed 3D CG anime, along with its sequel Ex Machina. His repertoire includes Megazone 23 Part III, Harlock: Space Pirate, Appleseed Alpha, Ultraman, and Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045.
Apart from those, Aramaki showcased his talent in two Starship Troopers movies and the Blade Runner: Black Lotus series. Furthermore, he supervised the Halo Legends anthology and contributed to its direction. His creative involvement extended to the designs for Takara’s Micro Change toy line (exported as Transformers by Hasbro) and the Genesis Climber Mospeada and Megazone 23 anime (part of Robotech by Harmony Gold). Additionally, he worked on DIC Enterprise’s animated series for Namco’s Pole Position game and Kenner’s M.A.S.K. toy line.
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At present, Aramaki and longtime collaborator Hideki Kakinuma are diligently working on Genesis Breaker, a Genesis Climber Mospeada spinoff project featured in Hobby Japan magazine. Furthermore, they have planned an action figure for the project, set to be released by Sentinel.
Source | Otakon’s “Shinji Aramaki on Bubblegum, Bikes, and Bungie” panel (Egan Loo)
