Winter 2025 Preview: Grisaia: Phantom Trigger

As we’ve covered before, there’s something about anime where the central hook is simply “girls with guns” that never ceases to draw the eye, something Lycoris Recoil proved marvelously. It’s a niche, but one comprising just enough noteworthy stories that it doesn’t feel niche, and the visual novel series Grisaia has been honing in on that appeal one way or another for over a decade.

Grisaia: Phantom Trigger is the latest anime adaptation based on the visual novel franchise by Frontwing, with artwork by famed Monogatari character designer Akio Watanabe. Based on the Phantom Trigger storyline – a sequel to the story that began with 2012’s The Fruit of Grisaia, it follows a group of girls specially trained in combat and espionage for national security.

Related

Best Girls With Guns Anime, Ranked

Girls with Guns is one of anime’s many unique subgenres, and these shows are its best examples.

10 Years of Grisaia the Animation

This new anime is not only a continuation of the Phantom Trigger story that began with a series of short films in 2019 and 2020 but also a celebration of ten years since the first Grisaia TV anime. 2014’s The Fruit of Grisaia by studio 8bit, and its two sequels, centered around Yuuji Kazami, a young hitman who attends Mihama Academy, yearning to live a normal school life. As he befriends his five classmates – all girls – he learns of their trauma and confronts his own.

What Sets The New Series Apart

Phantom Trigger is set years after The Fruit of Grisaia, when Mihama Academy and the covert organization of which its operations were a part have been restructured. Rather than having a central protagonist, the story follows an ensemble of new characters attending a training academy for SORD (Special Organization for Research & Development). The series follows them as they tackle dangerous missions with their unique skill sets.

Meet the Staff Behind Phantom Trigger

Bibury Animation Studios, the production house currently working on the series, was founded by the original director of the Grisaia anime, Motoki Tanaka (AKA Tensho). The studio’s first projects were the Phantom Trigger films, the first few of which Tensho directed. Since then, the anime has been helmed by Kousuke Murayama, who directed Grisaia: Phantom Trigger The Animation – Stargazer in 2020 and who will now direct the new TV series.

Murayama is an animator, animation director, and storyboard artist who has worked on the Grisaia anime since the beginning, making him a fitting director to take charge. He has worked on the Monogatari series, Fate/Extra: Last Encore, Assault Lily: bouquet, Madoka Magica, and Magia Record, to name just a few.

One could be forgiven for seeing the trailer for Phantom Trigger out of the blue and thinking it might be a Studio Shaft production, if not an ambitious project from a studio like Silver Link. Much of that is due to the stylistic sensibilities of Akio Watanabe, the man whose artwork made Shaft’s anime adaptation of Nisio Isin’s Monogatari so iconic and striking.

A Hint of Studio Shaft’s Influence

Apart from the eyes, there’s a subtle attention to detail in how Watanabe draws expressions and the detail put into the characters’ lips that makes them feel so much more emotive. Plus, in the trailer alone, there are a lot of Shaft’s signature head tilts, which never cease to make a character look cooler. In motion, that comparison to Shaft feels even more apt given that Watanabe isn’t merely the character designer but also the chief animation director.

The action will make or break a show like this, but the glimpses of the animation shown thus far hit all the right notes. Small moments like Rena reloading her assault rifle are appreciably detailed and satisfying to watch, to say nothing of how detailed the firearms look throughout. The lighting, shading, and letterboxing lend the anime a cinematic quality that the artwork thus far doesn’t betray, save for one slightly stiff-looking shot of Maki firing two pistols.

Much like the franchise as a whole, Grisaia: Phantom Trigger is a story that struggles very little to catch the viewer’s eye, thanks to its tactical military trappings and strong aesthetic presentation. The tricky part is keeping those hooks in, and time will tell if its storytelling can bring the whole project together or if it can be kept afloat by the gunplay and pretty artwork. Depending on the execution, the latter might be enough to make this an early gem to start the new year.

Grisaia: Phantom Trigger will be available to stream on Crunchyroll starting January 2, 2025.

More

Winter 2025 Preview: Solo Leveling Season 2 – Arise from the Shadow

Winter 2025 brings Solo Leveling Season 2—get ready for unparalleled action, captivating visuals, and Jinwoo’s epic growth as a hunter.

Sources: ANN