This week, The Walt Disney Company unveiled details on the three-season anime adaptation of the Disney Twisted-Wonderland mobile game.
Disney continues to push for more animation and anime content. The Walt Disney Company dropped major news on an upcoming anime project, based on the Disney Twisted-Wonderland mobile game. The content showcase event held in Singapore on Wednesday, November 20th, revealed that the series has already been planned for three seasons, with the first season expected to drop on Disney+ in October 2025. The initial announcement for this anime project was back in 2021.
The first season is titled Episode of Heartslabyul. The other two are Episode of Savanaclaw and Episode of Octavinelle, which will both follow at undisclosed dates. Takahiro Natori (Aria the Benedizione, Tokyo Mew Mew New) is serving as chief director and series script supervisor, and Shin Katagai (The Ossan Newbie Adventurer) is directing at Yumeta Company and Graphinica. Yoichi Kato (Space Brothers, Aikatsu!) is credited as the main writer. Hanaka Nakano and Akane Satō are designing the characters.
The original game centres around characters inspired by villains from Disney films, and is described as a “villains academy adventure game” that has rhythm game elements and battles. It launched in Japan in March 2020. Black Butler manga creator Yana Toboso handled the game’s main concept, scenario, and character designs. TROYCA animated the game’s opening movie, and Night Ravels performed the opening theme song “Piece of My World.”
The coolest part of the game are its seven Disney-inspired dormitories. The various Disney works the dorms are based on include Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Snow White, Hercules, The Lion King, and Sleeping Beauty. The game’s first TV ad focused on the Heartslabyul Dormitory, inspired by the world of Alice in Wonderland, and the second ad featured The Lion King-inspired Savanaclaw Dorm.
The aesthetics of the anime, based on the visual poster and the mobile game, look to be a mashup of Harry Potter meets anime and Disney villains. The distinct colour palettes of each character are cool against the black-and-white effect on the poster. The Disney spin-off books and content for villains have been blowing up in the last decade, so this will be an anime series that Disney and anime fans will want to check out.
The world of Disney Twisted-Wonderland has been so fleshed out it has a manga based on the game too, by Sumire Kowono and Wakana Hazuki. The manga is titled Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Comic: Episode of Heartslabyul. It was originally published in Square Enix’s Monthly G Fantasy magazine on March 18, 2021. Suzuka Oda launched Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Comic: Episode of Savanaclaw in the same magazine in December 2022. Kowono and Hazuki launched Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Comic: Episode of Octavinelle in Monthly G Fantasy on August 18, 2023.
Here is the description of the Disney Twisted-Wonderland mobile game, to get an idea of what to expect from the anime series:
“Summoned by a magic mirror to Twisted Wonderland, a world altogether unlike your own, you arrive at Night Raven College, a prestigious arcane academy. With nowhere else to go, you accept the masked headmage’s hospitality and begin searching for a way home. You quickly find that the students of this school are as talented as they are dysfunctional—bickering and competition are the perpetual order of the day. Will you be able to work with them and eventually return from whence you came? And what secrets lie within the villainous hearts of these students?”
