On June 14, Dungeons and Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast shared an epic DnD starter set anime trailer. The video (shared on social media) comes from D&D Japan, who brought in illustrator Hisashi Momose to create visuals for the pre-generated characters in Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. Wizards re-sharing a cool trailer from last year isn’t so strange; what is strange is that Dragons of Stormwreck Isle seems to have received multiple anime treatments.
Dragons of Stormwreck Isle released worldwide in October 2022 (though the trailer says the Japanese version came out on December 16). This adventure replaced Lost Mines of Phandelver as the go-to D&D starter set.
A trailer posted on the Dungeons and Dragons Japan YouTube channel on April 4 (six months after the one featuring Momose’s work – see below) advertises a similar collaboration with manga artist Chomoran. Chomoran apparently designed the look of the playable characters found in the deluxe version of the starter set.
We’re not currently in Japan (and no one at Wargamer speaks Japanese), so it’s not immediately clear whose art features in what versions of the starter set. What we do know, though, is both sets of character designs look pretty dang cool.
Already played Dragons of Stormwreck Isle? Here are the best DnD campaigns to try out next. And if you need help building a character, our guides to DnD classes and DnD races can help you get started.