The Half-Genie Hero goes full anime
After teasing us with some sketches earlier this week, WayForward has released the opening animation to the upcoming action adventure sequel Shantae 5. The short movie is created by Studio Trigger of Little Witch Academia fame, who have clearly gone Full Anime with Scuttle Town.
Accompanied by a new title track featuring Shantae’s voice artist, Cristina Vee, the 30-second clip features our girl leaping out of bed to combat the nefarious pirate Risky Boots and her Tinkerbat army. We also get to see friends to the end Rottytops, Bolo, Skye and even Uncle Mimic. All straight lines, crazy proportions and sharp corners, it’s a far cry from the somewhat softer artwork of previous Shantae titles (as the franchise tends to switch up its style a little with each release.)
Of course, nothing here gives us much of an idea as to how the game itself will look, or play for that matter. If we wanna start reaching – which I generally abstain from doing – we see her monkey form here, which points to the return of Shantae’s famous animal transformations. I’m also intrigued by the shots of all of her friends dishing out attacks – even Uncle Mimic – could this point to some multiple character action? Again, this is purely irresponsible guesswork on my part. Forget I said anything.
Here’s hoping WayForward are getting set to knock it out of the park, granting Shantae’s fans their greatest wishes for this latest jaunt through Sequin Land. Given that its my most anticipated title of the year, I got a lot crossed.
Shantae 5 is still scheduled for release later this year on PS4, PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Apple Arcade.
