The Charlotte anime series has just ended, and with the final episode came a rather surprising announcement: an anime adaptation of Key/VisualArt’s 2011 visual novel Rewrite is in the works.
The anime series is coming courtesy of 8-Bit, under the direction of Tensho, who previously worked on Kiniro Mosaic and The Fruit of Grisaia. The scripts are coming from Romeo Tanaka (from Humanity has Declined and Cross Channel) and Kai from VisualArt’s, who previously worked on Grim Reaper Kyou and the scenario for Clannad. The character designs, originally done by longtime Key character designer Itaru Hinoue, who designed characters for all of Key’s major visual novel releases, are being adapted for the anime by Masayuki Nonaka, the chief animation director for Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic and main animator for The Fruit of Grisaia.
The original visual novel was first released on PC in 2011, followed by PSP and PS Vita ports in 2014 and a PS3 port in February 2015. It has scenarios written by Romeo Tanaka, Ryukishi07 (founder of 07th Expansion and creator of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni), and Yuuto Tonokawa (previously worked on scenarios for Little Busters!). Jun Maeda’s involvement was somewhat limited, primarily overseeing the project and helping with musical composition. The story is set in the fictional, heavily-forested city of Kazamatsuri, and follows protagonist Kotarou Tennouji and his experiences with the Occult Research Club at his school, and fellow members Kotori Kanbe, Chihaya Ohtori, Akane Senri, Lucia Konohana and Sizuru Nakatsu. As the story goes on, things start to get weirder, as more paranormal elements are introduced and the story breaks off from the upbeat common route into the darker individual characters’ stories. The game was followed up by a fan disc titled Rewrite Harvest Festa!, written by the original team and featuring original stories with the characters from the original game.
