Qzil.la, the production company behind newly-announced anime Sekiro: No Defeat, has issued a statement in response to concerns that the upcoming series might be created using generative AI, saying this will not be the case.
In a statement posted to Twitter/X in Japanese and in an English translation sent to IGN via PR, Qzil.la asserts that the Sekiro anime will be fully hand-drawn.
『SEKIRO: NO DEFEAT』 制作手法についてのご案内 pic.twitter.com/yIwzzf9WXl
— SEKIRO: NO DEFEAT｜アニメ公式 (@sekiro_nd_anime) August 22, 2025
“We’re incredibly excited to bring Sekiro: No Defeat exclusively to Crunchyroll in 2026,” reads the statement in English. “The whole anime adaptation is a fully hand-drawn 2D animation created by the talented teams at Qzil.la, ARCH and Kadokawa. We can confirm that no AI is being used in the creation or production of this anime. Fans can look forward to the same artistry and precision that defined the original game, now reimagined in a new medium.”
Sekiro: No Defeat was first announced at gamescom: Opening Night Live this past week as an adaptation of the FromSoftware video game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The anime is being done as a collaboration between Qzil.la, Kadokawa, and ARCH, and will be broadcast on Crunchyroll in 2026.
Concerns about generative AI use surfaced almost immediately after the anime was announced, with social media users pointing to a line on Qzil.la’s website suggesting the company uses AI in its work. The line reads, via Google Translate, “We are actively developing technology with the goal of maximizing the value created per second by all those involved in anime production. We challenge the conventional wisdom of existing methods, collaborate with partner companies with high technical capabilities, and utilize the latest technologies such as AI to evolve production processes and expressions, thereby bringing about digital disruption in the anime industry.”
Concerns were further exascerbated by the fact that Crunchyroll itself has recently come under fire for use of ChatGPT to subtitle a new anime series, something CEO Rahul Purini said in 2024 was something the company wanted to do. However, he then told Forbes in April of this year that Crunchyroll was “not considering AI in the creative process”. Crunchyroll ultimately blamed the AI subtitle incident on a third-party vendor, saying it would investigate and fix the issues.
Sekiro: No Defeat is being directed by kenichi Kutsuna and written by Takuya Satou. Wolf will be voiced by Daisuke Namikawa, Kuro by Miyuki Satou, and Genichiro Ashina by Kenjiro Tsuda. The series will arrive on Crunchyroll sometime next year.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].
