New FreakAngels art has been revealed, alongside the show's final premiere date.
Crunchyroll announced today that the animated adaptation of the 2011 steampunk webcomic will premiere exclusively on its streaming service on Jan. 27. The streaming company also revealed new key art for the show, which depicts the eponymous FreakAngels, a gang of young psychics who protect London's last remaining neighborhood of White Chapel from the various threats that exist within the series' flooded, post-apocalyptic version of England. All nine episodes of the series will be available for streaming on the show's premiere date.
Crunchyroll's official synopsis for the series is as follows:
Welcome to Whitechapel: last bastion of humanity. Six years ago, the world “ended” in a single, apocalyptic event, trapping Great Britain behind a mysterious dome of purple energy. London’s last neighborhood has persevered thanks to the protection of the “FreakAngels” — a small group of psychically-powered twenty-three-year-olds. Their fragile peace becomes threatened, however, when an exiled friend returns, exposing past conspiracies and new conflicts within their fractured, makeshift family. Can Whitechapel survive?
The new show features character designs by Hiroshi Shimizu, who also created the character designs for the futuristic boxing anime Megalobox and previously worked as a key animator on numerous popular anime series, including Fullmetal Alchemist, Samurai Champloo and Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent. Osamu Masuyama, who is best known for his work on the Made in Abyss anime series and has also worked on several critically acclaimed animated movies such as Your Name and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, serves as the FreakAngel's art director.
Crunchyroll first announced the series in 2020. The first trailer for the show premiered at this year's New York Comic-Con. The show is the latest original series to be produced by the anime streaming company; the company also produced the long-delayed High Guardian Spice, and earlier this year released the swashbuckling fantasy series Fena: Pirate Princess to a generally positive reception. The company is also producing Shenmue, an animated series based on the classic Sega video game franchise of the same name.
FreakAngels was originally a webcomic that was published from 2008 - 2011. The series was an independently published work by Planetary and Transmetropolitan writer Warren Ellis, with art by The Firelight Isle's Paul Duffield. The series won the Eagle Award for Best Webcomic in 2010 and 2012, and was highlighted by Rolling Stone magazine in its list of the "50 Best Non-Superhero Graphic Novels." and was collected into a six-volume print edition by Avatar Press.
In 2020, over 60 women accused Ellis of sexual coercion and emotional abuse. Numerous companies cut ties with Ellis following the allegations: Netflix announced that the writer would not be on the staff of future seasons of its Castlevania animated series, and a planned Batman comic by the author was cancelled. Image Comics also announced that it would not publish Ellis and Ben Templesmith's Fell comic until Ellis made amends with the women who were subjected to his abuse.
Source: Crunchyroll
