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Director Shinji Aramaki Discusses Unreleased Aliens vs. Predator: Annihilation Anime

Director and mechanical designer Shinji Aramaki confirmed at his Otakon panel on Sunday that he directed an unreleased Aliens vs. Predator anime series. He showed screenshots and designs (dated from 2015) from the project with the title Aliens vs. Predator: Annihilation.

Aramaki previously acknowledged a May 18 IGN report on the project in a Twitter post and added, "It was completed almost 7 years ago, and unfortunately I don't know why they didn't release."

Aramaki noted on Sunday that the 10-episode project's story takes place on a giant immigration ship, but he refrained from providing more details, in case the project ever does see a formal release. Aramaki did show stills featuring the iconic Alien and Predator factions from the shared universe. He also showed designs for an Alien Queen he personally drafted for the anime series.

The 2021 Alien 3: The Unproduced First-Draft Screenplay publication listed a planned AvP: Annihilation novel by John Shirley, but Aramaki did not mention or confirm any connection between the unreleased anime series and Shirley's planned novel.

Disney completed its acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox, the production company behind the Alien vs. Predator franchise, in 2019.

Aramaki made his directorial debut with the Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 original video anime. He then directed the Appleseed 3D CG anime and its sequel Ex Machina. His other works include Megazone 23 Part III, Harlock: Space Pirate, Appleseed Alpha, Ultraman, and Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045.

Aramaki also directed two Starship Troopers movies and the Blade Runner: Black Lotus series, and he supervised the Halo Legends anthology and directed part of it. He also worked on the designs for Takara's Micro Change toy line (exported via Hasbro as part of Transformers), the Genesis Climber Mospeada and Megazone 23 anime (exported via Harmony Gold as part of Robotech), DIC Enterprise's animated series of Namco's Pole Position game, and DIC Enterprise's animated series of Kenner's M.A.S.K. toy line.

Currently, Aramaki and longtime collaborator Hideki Kakinuma are working on Genesis Breaker, a Genesis Climber Mospeada spinoff project with a serialization in Hobby Japan magazine and a planned action figure from Sentinel.

Source: Otakon's "Shinji Aramaki on Bubblegum, Bikes, and Bungie" panel (Egan Loo)