Buichi Terasawa’s best-selling manga series Cobra will receive a new animated adaptation after France’s Mangouste Anim acquired the rights to production. Animation Business Journal reports that this will be an ‘animated series‘ with Mangouste Anim teasing that “Cobra is returning to screens.” The announcement was made at Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 13, 2025. You can check out the new visual below.
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Cobra debuted in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1978, spanning 18 volumes until 1984. This announcement of a new Cobra animated adaptation comes nearly 43 years after the first anime adaptation, Space Adventure Cobra: The Movie, which debuted on July 3, 1982. Tokyo Movie Shinsha produced the film, which was directed by the legendary Osamu Dezaki. Studio Annapuru, ACT, Telecom Animation Film and several others are credited for the film’s animation (via Seesaawiki). Dezaki was also co-chief director with Yoshio Takeuchi for the 31-episode TV anime adaptation Space Cobra that aired starting in October 1982.
Tokyo Movie Shinsha and Fuji Television co-produced the TV series. The former’s anime studio, Tokyo Movie, is credited for the animation production. Cobra later received the Cobra the Animation OVA series from August 2008 to June 2009, and a 13-episode TV series from January 2010 to March 2010. Magic Bus is credited for the animation production of both. The manga series has over 50 million copies in circulation and has received multiple spinoffs and sequels. Terasawa passed in September 2023.
The Cobra manga currently out of print in the U.S. Pluto TV currently streams the 31-episode Space Cobra in the United States, describing it:
Cobra, a famous space pirate with a psycho-gun hidden in his left arm, supposed dead for two years, is back in action. He falls for bounty huntress Jane Flower, whom crime lord Necron wants dead, and tries to help her save her world.
Source: Animation Business Journal, Manga-News
© Buichi Terasawa/Art Teknika
