BNA: Brand New Animal

BNA: Brand New Animal
Promotional poster
BNA ビー・エヌ・エー (Bī enu ē)
Anime television series
Directed by	Yoh Yoshinari
Written by	Kazuki Nakashima
Music by	mabanua
Studio	Trigger
Licensed by	Netflix
Original network	Fuji TV (+Ultra), BS Fuji, KTV, Tokai TV, TNC, UHB, ABA
Original run	April 8, 2020 – present
Episodes	12
Light novel
BNA ZERO Massara ni Narenai Kemono-tachi
Written by	Nekise Ise
Illustrated by	TRIGGER
Published by	Shueisha
Imprint	Dash X Bunko
Demographic	Male
Published	April 23, 2020

BNA: Brand New Animal (BNA ビー・エヌ・エー, Bī enu ē) is an original Japanese anime television series produced by Trigger, directed by Yoh Yoshinari and written by Kazuki Nakashima. The 12-episode series streamed its first six episodes on Netflix in Japan on March 12, 2020, followed by the remaining six on May 6, with an international release to follow later in the year. The series also began airing on Fuji TV's +Ultra anime programming block from April 8, 2020.

Plot

Set in a world where humanoid animals known as beastkin exist, the series follows Michiru Kagemori, a normal human who one day suddenly turns into a tanuki beastkin. Running away, she seeks refuge in Anima City, a place set up for beastmen to be able to live as themselves, and meets a wolf beastkin named Shirou Ogami. Together, they investigate why Michiru became a beastkin, becoming mixed up in even stranger events in the process.

Characters

Michiru Kagemori (影森 みちる, Kagemori Michiru)

Voiced by: Sumire Morohoshi

The main protagonist, a human girl who one day turned into a tanuki beastkin and came to Anima City to find a way to turn herself back. She soon develops the ability to transform parts of her body into those of other animals and can stretch her arms to a massive length, make her tail bigger, can make her arms larger and stronger and make her ears longer to strengthen her hearing. It is finally shown that Michiru gained her beastkin abilities due to an accidental blood transfusion mix up and were given beastkin blood instead of human blood after she and Nazuna were hospitalized due to the truck accident awhile back.

Shirou Ogami (大神 士郎, Ōgami Shirō)

Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya

A wolf beastkin with a very keen sense of smell. He also has immense strength to surpass a lion and a rhino and possesses an immortal body with self-regeneration abilities. It is revealed that he has lived for nearly a thousand years, first living life as a normal wolf beastkin before he was killed by Raymond Sylvasta along with the rest of Nirvasyl. He was later resurrected as Ginrou, possessing immense power that he normally keeps sealed away after his body absorbed the blood of 2,000 Nirvasyl beastkin corpses.

Nazuna Hiwatashi (日渡 なずな, Hiwatashi Nazuna)

Voiced by: Maria Naganawa

Michiru's best friend who, like her, one day turned into a kitsune beastkin. She was taken by government agents and sent to a research facility for study but was saved by Cliff and joined the Silver Wolf cult. Seeing potential in her abilities, Cliff trained her, helped her hone her abilities and taught her everything he knew, making her what she is today. She became the guru of the cult under the name of Déesse Louve, transforming her appearance to resemble the silver wolf of legend, Ginrou. Like Michiru, she also gain her beastkin abilities due to an accidental blood transfusion of beastkin blood which the doctors thought it was human blood.

Alan Sylvasta (アラン・シルヴァスタ, Aran Shiruvuasuta)

Voiced by: Kaito Ishikawa

A rich, enigmatic entrepreneur and president of Sylvasta Pharmaceutics. He has taken an interest in Michiru and Shirou for their unique physical capabilities beyond any beastkin he has ever seen and has big plans for them. His ancestor, Raymond Sylvasta was the human general responsible for destroying Nirvasyl village, Shirou's original home after the beastkin begin to go berserk due to territorial aggression and started slaughtering each other and humans indiscriminately. He is also aware that Shirou is the sole survivor of Nirvasyl and the legendary silver wolf, Ginrou.

Barbaray Rose (バルバレイ・ロゼ, Barubarei Roze)

Voiced by: Gara Takashima

The mayor of Anima City, a naked mole-rat beastkin. She also knows that Michiru and Nazuna are originally human girls turned into beastkin by an alleged beastkin disease. She, along with Shirou insisted Michiru's origins and transformation powers must stay secret or risk mass panic if the public found out that humans can be turned into beastkin at any moment. She is currently researching a cure for Michiru's beastkin disease. She is one of the few people who knows Shirou is actually Ginrou.

Marie Itami (マリー・伊丹, Marī Itami)

Voiced by: Michiyo Murase

A mink beastkin who is involved in all sorts of shady dealings. She helps Michiru from time to time but also asks for a favor in exchange for her help.

Kōichi Ishizaki (石崎 浩一, Ishizaki Kōichi)

Voiced by: Kenji Nomura

Yūji Tachiki (立木 勇次, Tachiki Yūji)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Naka

A Great Dane beastkin who is a police inspector and sometimes relies on Ogami for help.

Gem Horner (ジェム・ホーナー, Jemu Hōnā)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Yanaka

A cockerel beastkin and Melissa's husband, who give Michiru a place to stay. He and his wife are devoted believers and worshippers of Ginrou the silver wolf.

Melissa Horner (メリッサ・ホーナー, Merissa Hōnā)

Voiced by: Kimiko Saitō

A wombat beastkin and Gem's wife. She and her husband are devoted believers and worshippers of Ginrou the silver wolf.

Giuliano Flip (ジュリアーノ・フリップ, Juriāno Furippu)

Voiced by: Yōhei Tadano

A beluga whale beastkin who is the head of a powerful gang and Nina's doting and overprotective father. He has an immense hatred for humans because his father was killed by beastkin hunters and was then cooked and eaten shortly after, though his daughter says that did not actually happen but that is the story she was told by him.

Prime Minister Shiramizu (白水 総理, Shiramizu Sōri)

Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka

Nina Flip (ニナ・フリップ, Nina Furippu)

Voiced by: Ami Maeshima

A dolphin beastkin who is the daughter of Giuliano Flip and has never been outside of Anima City. Nina is a friend of Michiru.

Jackie (ジャッキー, Jakkī)

Voiced by: Megumi Han

Boris Cliff (クリフ・ボリス, Kurifu Borisu)

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu

A snake beastkin and head priest of the Silver Wolf Order cult, who has taken a strong interest in Nazuna.

Production and release

During Anime Expo 2019, Trigger revealed that they are producing a new original anime television series that is directed by Yoh Yoshinari and written by Kazuki Nakashima. Yusuke Yoshigaki is designing the characters, and mabanua is composing the series' music. The theme song, "Ready To", is performed by Sumire Morohoshi as Michiru Kagemori, while electronic musician AAAMYYY does the ending theme, "Night Running".

It premiered on Fuji TV's +Ultra anime programming block, BS Fuji, and other channels on April 8, 2020. The series is also streamed on Netflix.

Sushio completed animation direction work in February 2020.

Episode list

No.	Title	Original air date
1	"Runaway Raccoon"	March 21, 2020 (2020-03-21) (Netflix Japan) April 8, 2020 (2020-04-08) (+Ultra)
In a world where both humans and beastkin exist, a tanuki beastkin named Michiru Kagemori travels to the beastkin-dedicated city, Anima-City, with help from shady mink beastkin Marie Itami who also saved her from beastkin hunters. Upon arriving in the city, which is holding a festival celebrating its tenth anniversary, Michiru's wallet is stolen. While trying to track down the thief, Michiru is caught up in a bombing, where she is saved by a wolf beastkin named Shirou Ogami. Discovering that the bomb was planted by beastkin mercenaries paid by anti-beastkin humans to sabotage the festival, Shirou violently beats up the attackers before he is stopped by Michiru, who reveals she used to be human.
2	"Rabbit Town"	March 21, 2020 (2020-03-21) (Netflix Japan) April 15, 2020 (2020-04-15) (+Ultra)
As Shirou remains doubtful of Michiru's claims that she is a human, Michiru is told by Marie to meet with Gram Grandma in Rabbit Town to retrieve her stolen wallet. Michiru begins teaching orphan kids how to read and write, until Gram Grandma decides to sell them all off to pay off a debt to a gang. While attempting to escape with the children in tow, Michiru becomes able to change the size of her arms to free herself. After Gram Grandma is arrested, Michiru becomes upset with Shirou for not intervening sooner, proving with her student ID that she was human. She then declares her hatred for beastkin due to their cruelty and disregard of life, she vows to fix the problems of Anima City, cure her beastkin illness, leave the city shortly after and never return.
3	"Rhino Melancholy"	March 21, 2020 (2020-03-21) (Netflix Japan) April 22, 2020 (2020-04-22) (+Ultra)
The mayor of Anima-City, Barbaray Rose, approaches Shirou about stopping bombers from attacking the city's medical center. Feeling the center could help cure her alleged disease, Michiru reveals her condition to Barbaray and insists she aid. Although Michiru and Shirou stop a gang from sneaking into the center, an explosion still goes off, which Shirou deduces was caused by two of the doctors trying to eliminate evidence. One of the doctors tries to take Michiru hostage, but Shirou manages to save her.
4	"Dolphin Daydream"	March 21, 2020 (2020-03-21) (Netflix Japan) April 29, 2020 (2020-04-29) (+Ultra)
Michiru meets Nina, the dolphin beastkin daughter of the gang boss Giuliano Flip, who has been posting to social media in human form near her location. Managing to regain the ability to turn into human form, Michiru joins Nina as she attends a human party, which initially seems to accept Nina even after she accidentally reveals herself as a beastkin. During the party however, one of the girls puts Nina into a fishtank without realizing she can't actually breathe as she is a mammal who doesn't have gills, forcing Michiru to use her transformation powers to save her. Despite the incident, Nina feels happy about the small bit of shining she got to experience.
5	"Greedy Bears"	March 21, 2020 (2020-03-21) (Netflix Japan) May 6, 2020 (2020-05-06) (+Ultra)
While watching a deadly baseball game, Michiru's powers catch the attention of the Bears team, helping them win their match as their pitcher. Enjoying the feeling, Michiru continues to play with them, unaware that their coach has been gambling on them losing. During a finals match, where the team is being bribed to lose, an incident in which coach Dante attempts to steal all the gambled money for himself leads to the crowd going angry for having their money stolen. As Shirou resolves this matter, Michiru shows the importance of what baseball truly means, and despite the Bears ultimately losing, they appreciate playing fair and square. Coach Dante, inspired by Michiru's courage and dedication to the game, has rekindled his love of baseball. After that, he quits baseball gambling to train his team for real and make them win the championship next time.
6	"Fox Waltz"	March 21, 2020 (2020-03-21) (Netflix Japan) May 13, 2020 (2020-05-13) (+Ultra)
Michiru discovers that Nazuna Hiwatashi, her best friend who caught the beastkin disease before she did, has joined the Silver Wolf cult dedicated to the mythology of the silver wolf Ginrou, sacred deity of the Beastkin. Wanting to help cure Nazuna's condition too, Michiru arranges for Nazuna to meet with Barbaray. However, Nazuna takes advantage of the situation to secure a settlement for Silver Wolf, stating that she prefers being their idol and leaving Michiru downhearted.
7	"Easy Albatross"	May 6, 2020 (2020-05-06) (Netflix Japan) May 20, 2020 (2020-05-20) (+Ultra)
Michiru meets a albatross beastkin named Pinga, whose species has faced trouble migrating to the beastkin restrictions placed on them. Meanwhile, Barbaray and Shirou have an encounter with Alan Sylvasta, head of Sylvasta Pharmaceuticals, who advises against giving the Silver Wolf cult refuge. After Pingu flies Michiru across the city, Shirou suspects that Pingu may be a terrorist. Spotting Pingu approach the Mayor's office, Shirou stops him with the help of Michiru's new flight ability, finding his planned terrorism was a bluff and deciding to let him go. Meanwhile, Alan is attacked by a hitman but is rescued by Nazuna.
8	"The Mole Rat Speaks"	May 6, 2020 (2020-05-06) (Netflix Japan) May 27, 2020 (2020-05-27) (+Ultra)
Following Alan's rescue, support for the Silver Wolf cult increases, leading to their refuge being approved. Just as Shirou and Michiru go to visit the prison to find out the assassin's motives, Yaba, one of the doctors that Shirou stopped before, goes berserk following a visit from Silver Wolf priest Cliff Boris. As both Shirou and Michiru struggle against the powered up Yaba, Shirou is forced to reveal his true identity as the legendary wolf Ginrou in order to defeat him. While Shirou recovers, Barbaray explains to Michiru how Shirou became Ginrou over a thousand years ago, when the beastkin of Nirvasyl were allegedly wiped out by humans.
9	"Human Scapegoat"	May 6, 2020 (2020-05-06) (Netflix Japan) June 3, 2020 (2020-06-03) (+Ultra)
After failing to convince Nazuna that Ginrou is real, while Shirou investigates what made Yaba went beserk, she sees Nazuna being allegedly abducted, Michiru breaks into the medical center to rescue her, only to discover she is there for an MRI scan. Alan then tells Michiru that she and Nazuna became beastkin as a result of a blood transfusion mishap and he is working with Nazuna to develop a cure, and reveals that it was his idea to have Nazuna pretend to be Ginrou.
10	"Rabid Wolf"	May 6, 2020 (2020-05-06) (Netflix Japan) June 10, 2020 (2020-06-10) (+Ultra)
Upon encountering another berserk beastkin, Michiru and Shirou attempt to take it down when a group of drones called Engel Machines appear and capture it. Following the trail to the medical center, they find that the drones were sent by Alan, who claims that the so-called "Nirvasyl Syndrome" is the result of stress caused by several species of beastkin amassing together and is what wiped out Shirou's village. When Alan reveals he intends to prevent this by developing a vaccine to turn beastkin into regular humans, Shirou becomes furious at the idea, going against both Michiru and the police. While Alan tasks Michiru and Nazuna with putting on a concert to calm the beastkin until the vaccine is complete, Barbaray tells Shirou she is planning on dismantling Anima-City to disperse the beastkin to keep them safe. However, when Barbaray goes to visit Minister Shiramizu regarding the matter, he places her under arrest, as it is revealed he is working alongside Alan.
11	"A Beastly Feast"	May 6, 2020 (2020-05-06) (Netflix Japan) June 17, 2020 (2020-06-17) (+Ultra)
While Barbaray escapes from her captivity and heads back to Anima-City with Pinga's help, Marie informs Shirou that Nazuna is planned to reveal that she is a human, which Nazuna is told is supposed to calm the beastkin. As the concert gets underway, Shirou informs Michiru thats Nazuna's confession will actually trigger the Nirvasyl Syndrome. Michiru convinces Nazuna not to make the confession, only for Cliff to expose her himself which, along with weapons sent in by Alan, sets off the syndrome in several beastkin. Shocked by this and the sight fully reawakening his memory of how beastkin were the ones who destroyed his village instead of humans like he originally convinced himself, Shirou falls into shame and despair before also succumbing to the syndrome and attacks Michiru.
12	"Anima-City"	May 6, 2020 (2020-05-06) (Netflix Japan) June 24, 2020 (2020-06-24) (+Ultra)
Michiru manages to survive Shirou's attack with the help of the friends she made eliminating the berserker beastkin and Cliff, with her blood managing to bring Shirou back to normal. As Barbaray reveals Michiru's and Nazuna's blood can be used to create a serum to cure Nirvasyl Syndrome, Nazuna goes to try and calm down the other citizens while Michiru and Shirou go to confront Alan, who reveals himself to be a purebred beastkin himself. Finding that a recording of Shirou's howling can calm the affected beastkin's rampage, Michiru works with Nazuna and Marie to broadcast it across the city, which Alan attempts to intervene in. However, Shirou steps in to oppose him, using the antibodies in his own blood to stop Alan when he goes berserk himself, after which his howl calms everyone until the serum can be administered. With Alan's conspiracy revealed to the public but with the repercussion of Shirou being a wanted criminal, Michiru decides to stay the way she is to what she can, encouraging Shirou to be whichever form he wants.

Media

Novel

A prequel novel BNA Zero: Massara ni Narenai Kemono-tachi (The Animals That Can't Be Brand New) written by Nekise Ise was released on April 23, 2020.

Soundtrack

The show's soundtrack is scheduled for release on June 24, 2020.

External links

• Anime official website (in Japanese)
• BNA: Brand New Animal (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia