''A.I.C.O. -Incarnation-'' is a Japanese
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
original net animation
An original net animation (ONA), known in Japan as , is an anime that is directly released onto the Internet. ONAs may also have been aired on television if they were first directly released on the Internet. The name mirrors original video animati ...
(ONA)
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
series produced by
Bones
A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...
. The series premiered worldwide on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
on March 9, 2018. A
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
adaptation by Hiroaki Michiaki has run in ''
Monthly Shōnen Sirius
is a Japanese monthly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Kodansha, and first issued in May 2005. It is issued in perfect-bound B5 format and retails for 580 yen. ''Monthly Shōnen Sirius'' is aimed at readers aged 16–21. The magazine a ...
'' since November 25, 2017, and has been licensed by
Kodansha USA
Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, USA, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and mang ...
.
Plot
In 2035, a biological research project to create an Artificial and Intelligent Cellular Organism (A.I.C.O.) went awry, resulting in an incident called the "Burst" which transformed Kurobe Gorge into a quarantine area infested by a rampant growth of synthetic organisms called Matter. Two years later, high school student Aiko Tachibana finds that she may be the duplicate of a girl trapped within the Matter whose family disappeared in the Burst. An enigmatic fellow student Yuya Kanzaki offers to solve the mystery by taking her with a group of professional Divers to the Primary Point which was the center of the Burst.
Characters
;
:A cheerful, energetic girl. After losing her family in the Burst, she was mortally wounded and her brain was installed in an artificial body. She meets a new transfer student named Yuya Kanzaki and shocked by what he tells her about her family and her own body. She decides to join forces with Yuya to recover her family.
;
:A new student at Aiko's school and the other protagonist of the series with a mature and aloof demeanor. He tells Aiko the truth about her reconstruction and joins the Divers to reach Primary Point. His objective is to put an end to the Burst, but much about him is shrouded in mystery. However, it is later revealed that he is Toshihide Yura, one of the doctors and researchers at Kiryu Biotech Research Facility who died on the start of the 'Burst" incident, and whose brain was implanted in an artificial organism called the "Duplicate One" by Susumu Kurose, who somehow was able to salvage Yura's body.
;
:Leader of the Divers and Shiraishi's partner. Despite his tough and intimidating appearance, he is gentle and mild-mannered. Driven by a strong sense of responsibility, he always puts the needs of his team members first. He gathered his team in response to Kurose's request.
;
:One of the Divers and Shinoyama's partner. Kind, gentle and easygoing, she supports Shinoyama and the team with meticulous attention to everything ranging from vehicle operation and maintenance to making arrangements for food supplies.
;
:One of the Divers and Kazuki's partner. Once a member of a military special forces unit, he is highly skilled in combat. He has the ability to calmly make decisions based on the situation and take appropriate action. He can be strict at times with Kazuki, but is a caring and reliable older brother type. He is deadly with any weapon, from heavy firearms to knives.
;
:One of the Divers and Sagami's partner. While he is a relatively new Diver, he makes up for his lack of experience with spirit and enthusiasm. He uses his talents in electronics to support his partner Sagami. He has a prosthetic right hand based on artificial life form technology.
;
:One of the Divers and Kaede's partner. Cool-headed, beautiful and intelligent. Before the Burst, she was an artificial life form researcher. Well-versed in scientific equipment, she prefers efficient tactics that leverage her prior experience in sharp contrast to her partner Kaede's reliance on intuition. She shows strong interest in Malignant Matter.
;
:One of the Divers and Haruka's partner. Blessed with exceptional physical abilities and animal-like intuition. She specializes in close quarters combat and preemptive strikes. Her words are often direct and impulsive, appearing as straightforward or alternatively inconsiderate and rough.
;
:One of the artificial life form researchers at the Kiryu Biotech Research Facility. Developer of the "Cell Assembler" technology. He has an easygoing, carefree persona, but is willing to take some risks to achieve his objectives. He provides support to Yuya and Aiko from outside the area. He and Isazu were in the same year in college, and Nanbara was one year ahead of them.
;
:Head of Kiryu Hospital and the doctor in charge of Aiko's care. Like Kurose, he is part of the Kiryu Biotech Research Facility. As one of the artificial life form researchers, he developed the "Carbon Nanostructure" technology. His only daughter, Yuzuha, is in a coma following an accident and he struggles with his inability to find a way to treat her.
;
:Chief of the CAAC (Control Agency of Artificial Creatures) Response Bureau and a central figure in the government's efforts to promote artificial life form technology. She supports the effort to recover research results from the area infested by Malignant Matter. She has known Isazu and Kurose since college.
Voice cast
Production
Internet
streaming
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
service
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
announced the series during their "Netflix Anime Slate 2017" event on August 2, 2017, as well as their plans to release it simultaneously worldwide in spring 2018.
The announcement was part of Netflix's plan to introduce more
original content
Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from replica, reproductions, clones, forgery, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romantici ...
onto their platform in 2018, including 30 new
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
series. The series is directed by
Kazuya Murata at studio
Bones
A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...
.
Bones had previously filed a trademark for the title on April 27, 2017, which covered anime, games, and merchandise.
The series is written by Yuuichi Nomura with character designs by manga artist
Hanaharu Naruko
is a Japanese manga artist, who often works in adult hentai manga.
Career
Naruko's career began in 2002 with the release of his first work, ''Hitai'' ("forehead"), in Comic Kairakuten. His first tankōbon collection of hentai manga, '' Shōjo ...
.
Chief animation director Satoshi Ishino is adapting the designs for animation.
The rest of the design team includes Tomoaki Okada, who provides concept designs, Takeshi Takakura, in charge of mechanical designs, and Kazuhiro Miwa, who provides matter designs.
Junichi Higashi is the series' art director, Reiko Iwasawa serves as color key artist, and Kōki Ōta serves as
CGI director.
Hikaru Fukuda is the director of photography, while Kumiko Sakamoto is the editor for the anime.
UTAMARO Movement is producing the sound under sound director Jin Aketagawa, with
sound effect
A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...
s created by Tomoji Furuya.
The music for the series is composed by
Taro Iwashiro
is a Japanese composer.
Career
Iwashiro has composed the music for many Japanese television series and films. He has composed for both '' Red Cliff'' films, '' Shinobi: Heart Under Blade'', ''Azumi'', ''The Prince of Tennis'', '' Rurouni Kenshin ...
and produced by music recording company
Lantis.
The opening theme song, "A.I.C.O.", is performed by Japanese singer
True
True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality.
True may also refer to:
Places
* True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States
* True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States
* Tr ...
, and the ending theme song, , is performed by
Haruka Shiraishi
is a Japanese actress and voice actress. She was previously affiliated with Hirata Office, but is currently affiliated with Toy's Factory.
Biography
In 2011, she made her debut as Sora Matsuzaki in the anime movie '' From Up on Poppy Hill''.
F ...
, who voices Aiko Tachibana.
Release
The 12-episode series is an
original net animation
An original net animation (ONA), known in Japan as , is an anime that is directly released onto the Internet. ONAs may also have been aired on television if they were first directly released on the Internet. The name mirrors original video animati ...
(ONA), and premiered worldwide exclusively on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
on March 9, 2018.
Originally dubbed in English by Seoul-based Iyuno Media Group, the series was redubbed by
Bang Zoom! Entertainment
Bang Zoom! Entertainment is an audio post-production studio with its headquarters in Burbank, California, in Greater Los Angeles. It has worked on anime, video games, television series, feature films, and original animation projects.
Their work ...
in October 2018.
Episodes
Reception
''A.I.C.O. -Incarnation-'' received average to positive reviews from critics and audiences. IGN contributor Shuka Yamada gave the series a rating of 7.5 out of a possible 10, writing that the series was a, "Meticulously crafted sci-fi anime with some pretty major ups and downs ". Theron Martin of The Anime News Network gave the series sub a rating of "B+" and the dub a "B−", praising the cohesive storytelling and production value, but criticized its English dubbing. Setsuken, the owner of website Anime-Evo, praised the series in a review of the series, writing, "Its nothing transcendent, but there’s a confidence and a display of clear skill in how it takes some tried and true concepts that we haven’t seen in years, and effortlessly brings them back for the current modern age." In contrast, Kayla Cobb of
Decider
Decider is both a real word and a "Bushism". It may refer to:
* ''Decider'' (website), a pop culture website operated by the ''New York Post''
*'' Bill Maher: The Decider'', a stand-up comedy special
* Decider (Turing machine), a Turing machine th ...
, gave the series a deeply negative review, referring to it as a knock off of Ghost in the Shell.
Other media
The original soundtrack for the series, including both of the theme songs and the series' background music, was released on a two-disc
CD set on March 28, 2018.
A
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
adaptation by Hiroaki Michiaki launched in
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
's
''shōnen'' manga magazine ''
Monthly Shōnen Sirius
is a Japanese monthly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Kodansha, and first issued in May 2005. It is issued in perfect-bound B5 format and retails for 580 yen. ''Monthly Shōnen Sirius'' is aimed at readers aged 16–21. The magazine a ...
'' on November 25, 2017.
Kodansha USA
Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, USA, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and mang ...
has licensed the series for digital publication.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
''A.I.C.O. -Incarnation-''on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
*
{{Monthly Shōnen Sirius
2018 anime ONAs
Anime with original screenplays
Bandai Namco franchises
Bones (studio)
Japanese-language Netflix original programming
Kodansha manga
Netflix original anime
Science fiction anime and manga
Shōnen manga