Horizons (Mini-Series)

***Horizons*** is a British-Japanese science-fiction anime mini-series created and written by Jay Stevenson and directed by Noriyuki Abe. The series was produced by J-Animations and aired from September 5 to October 10, 2021, consisting of six episodes. It was broadcast worldwide in a variety of regions, including TV Tokyo in Japan, BBC Two in the United Kingdom and digitally on Hulu in North America.

*Horizons* documents a fictional future of space travel and galactic colonisation. Each episode takes place in a different century, starting with the 31st and ending with the 36th, and follows a different incarnation of the Miraguanis I, II, III and IV crew as they explore the galaxy and enact different roles in the society humanity has been developing in outer space, including mapping and exploring, mining, and constructing. The first two episodes take place in the Miraguanis I ship until it is retired due to wear; the third and fourth episodes take place in the Miraguanis II ship until it malfunctions and is pulled into a dwarf star; the fifth episode takes place in the Miraguanis III ship, and the sixth and final episode takes place in the Miraguanis IV ship, the final incarnation the Brazilian tech company Miraguana makes.

Development for the season began in 2019, with Jay wanting to develop a true science-fiction anime that reflected his passion for space travel. A previous J-Entertainment product, *Nico Adventures: Contact*, also took place in space, but Jay has gone onto record stating he regrets how he handled the execution of the game. Noriyuki Abe, who was returning to J-Animations to direct the remake of the anime *Bleach*, was included in the project. By 2021, *The Happiness Patrol* and *Chequered Flag*, J-Animations two flagship series, were announced to be ending in 2022 and 2023 respectively. *Genshin Impact* had begun in 2020, *Omega-Beta* (J-Animations' new flagship series) was in the development and the *Bleach* anime was scheduled for an August 2021 release. Because of this, J-Animations was spread thin with its animators: in 2020, the company were employing over 6,000 animators worldwide, and only 300 of these animators were put on the *Horizons* project. Thus, the series was cut from 16 22 minute episodes to 6 45 minute episodes.

The mini-series featured a wide and high-profile cast, notably Ryan Reynolds, Amy Schumer and John Malkovic. Other members of the voice cast included Anne Yatco, Stephanie Sheh, Xander Mobus, Yuri Lowenthal, Cherami Leigh and Johnny Yong Bosch. Heavy promotion for the series began in Summer 2021, and the series released in September.

*Horizons* released to universal acclaim from critics, who praised the series' art direction, sound design and animation, as well as worldbuilding, characters, voice cast, soundtrack (composed by John Williams), pacing and narrative. The series was much more well-received than J-Animations *Omega-Beta* which debuted the same year. *Horizons* also received commercial success, garnering an average of 28 million viewers per episode. It was nominated for a variety of awards at the International Anime Awards 2021, including Anime of the Year, and won for Best Animation, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Design, Best Character Design and Best Soundtrack, more awards than any other J-Animations production that year.

Since airing, the series garnered a cult following. A second mini-series was initially planned, but scrapped due to insufficient animators and too much workload for J-Animations. After the conclusion of *The Happiness Patrol* and *Chequered Flag*, *Omega-Beta* remained J-Animations' only flagship series. Thus, in January 2023, J-Animations announced a 52-episode season of *Horizons*, continuing on from the mini-series with the Miraguanis IV crew. The new series began airing in 2024, and ran for 6 seasons and 312 episodes until 2034. In 2022, the mini-series was collected into one DVD and Blu-Ray volume.