Kyoto Animation is animating and producing the project.
In 2018, it was announced by Kyoto Animation that the 20 Seiki Denki Mokuroku novel by Hirō Yūki will receive an anime adaptation. It was finally confirmed under the English title “Sparks of Tomorrow” in October 2025. The latest update of the project confirmed that the series will stream exclusively on Netflix globally when it comes out in July 2026.
Although the anime was announced back in 2018, the project was put on hold after the devastating arson attack at Kyoto Animation's Studio 1 building in Kyoto in July 2019. The attack claimed 36 lives and is known as one of the deadliest massacres in the country.
Kyoto Animation struggled for a few years with the aftermath of the attack, so it's a great relief and joy to many fans of the studio that it is getting back on its feet.
Sparks of Tomorrow anime details
A new visual of the two main characters has been released with the Netflix exclusive streaming news. The previously announced main cast of the series is:
- Yuma Uchida as Kikachi Sakamoto
- Sora Amamiya as Inako Momokawa
Minoru Ota is directing the anime at Kyoto Animation. Tatsuhiko Urahata handles series composition while Kohei Okamura is the character designer and chief animation director. Takaaki Suzuki is in charge of the worldview setting while Hitomi Koto is the music composer.
The anime is based on a Japanese light novel written by Hiro Yūki and illustrated by Kazumi Ikeda. Kyoto Animation published the book under their KA Esuma Bunko in 2018, after it won an honorable mention in the full-length novel category at the 8th Kyoto Animation Awards in 2017. Netflix describes the story as:
The series follows a boy and a girl who dream of a life beyond the haze. But after losses upend both of their lives, any hope for a brighter tomorrow feels achingly out of reach. The boy has grown cynical since his brother’s death shattered their shared vision of an “Age of Electricity.” The girl, devoted in her faith, has learned to keep both her own dreams and her grief for her late mother carefully hidden away. Drawn together by the mysterious 20th Century Electrical Catalog and its tantalizing glimpse of all they’ve longed for, the two set out to uncover its secrets. Staring down their pasts together, the two begin to clear a path toward the future they once thought was gone — and push their smoke-choked world to the brink of a blazing revolution.