Shoji Kawamori's New, Original Film Unveils Labyrinth Title, Staff, January 2026 Opening
The official website for Shōji Kawamori's new and original animation film opened on Wednesday and revealed the title Meikyū no Shiori (Labyrinth, or literally Shori of the Labyrinth). The website also revealed the teaser video, teaser visual, and the film's January 2026 opening. The film centers on Shiori Maezawa, a completely ordinary high school girl who finds herself in a deserted parallel world of Yokohama after her smartphone suddenly breaks. When she checks her phone, she finds photos of herself on her social media accounts that she does not remember posting. In order to stop her other self from going out of control, Shiori tries to escape from her smartphone's strange labyrinth.Kawamori is directing the anime, his first feature-length animated film not based on an existing franchise, at SANZIGEN. The original story concept is credited to the companies Slow Curve, Vector Vision, GAGA, and Fuji Television, and Slow Curve is also credited with planning and producing the project. Risa Ebata (Macross Frontier, AKB0048) is designing the characters, and Taichi Hashimoto (Listeners, Gate Keepers 21) wrote the script. Kawamori stated in a comment that the film is born from the idea that smartphones that people use are "another self," that accumulates data such as personal information. Kawamori added that he aims to create an emotional, pop entertainment piece that combines song and horror.Kawamori is perhaps most famous for being a key creative planner in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross anime series. He designed most of the franchise's iconic transforming Variable Fighter mecha, and oversaw most of the main installments in the franchise, including the latest, Macross Delta. Kawamori has also created the Aquarion, AKB0048, and Arjuna series, and was chief director on Jūshinki Pandora at Satelight, the anime studio for which he served as a board director. He has contributed mechanical design work to Patlabor: The Movie, Patlabor 2: The Movie, Eureka Seven, Outlaw Star, Ghost in the Shell, and more. He is credited as the original creator of The Vision of Escaflowne, Basquash!, and Nobunaga The Fool. He has worked in anime production as a director, screenwriter, mechanical designer, and storyboarder. Kawamori is also one of 10 co-producers of Expo 2025. Sources: Meikyū no Shiori anime film's website, Comic Natalie
