RWBY Ice Queendomwas one of the many upcoming anime featured at AnimeJapan 2022, with a new trailer and details revealed by Rosty Teeth, studio Shaft, and Gen Urobuchi, the writer ofPuella Magi Madoka Magica.
RWBY Ice Queendomis definitely one of the biggest surprise announcements this year when it comes to anime. The series wasfirst announcedthis June 18, 2025, with a key visual, and now the first trailer was revealed at AnimeJapan, alongside staff details.
RWBY Ice Queendom staff explained and why it sounds fake
RWBY Ice Queendomhas an incredible staff that will downright sound fake to any longtime anime fan. This is a brand new story based on theRWBYseries by Rosty Teeth and the late Monty Oum, with a concept by none other than Gen Urobuchi.
Gen Urobuchi is the original writer of Madoka Magica and many more darker series
Gen Urobuchi is the co-founder of Nitroplus, and the writer of many dark series such asPhantom of Inferno, Saya no Uta, Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero,orPsycho-Pass.One of Gen Urobuchi’s trademarks is to write stories that will squeeze dry the dark themes of the genre it’s based on.Madoka Magicafor example is built on the darker concepts and tragic deaths found in many magical girls anime series before it including the classicSailor Moon.
Madoka Magicahas anew movie in production,Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie -Walpurgisnacht: Rising.
Mardock Scramble’s Tow Ubukata is writingRWBY Ice Queendom
Meanwhile, the scriptwriter is Tow Ubukata, known for gore and dark sci-fi seriesMardock Scramble, and who also worked onFafner in the Azure,a long-running mecha series. Much like Urobuchi, Tow Ubukata stories too are known to be tragedy-filled.
Steins;Gate character designer huke is also onboard with Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots composers
TheRWBYdesigns were reworked this time by huke, who’s known as the character designer ofSteins;GateandBlack Rock Shooter. Next, the music composers are Nobuko Toda and Kazuma Jinnouchi, who worked onMGS4,andGhost in the Shell SAC_2045.
Studio Shaft is handling the anime, led by Toshimasa Suzuki
Lastly, the director is Toshimasa Suzuki, the director ofRinne no Lagrange, a pretty nice mecha series with slight yuri undertones, featuring three girls who become friends despite being from three different planets, and the conflicts they end up tangled into. Toshimasa Suzuki already worked with Ubukata onFafner,and on many other Shaft series from comedy and slice of life seriesHidamari Sketchto the ecchi and supernatural seriesBakemonogatari.
Ice Queendom could be the most suffering-filled RWBY anime ever, or incredibly vanilla
With this staff, everyone is expectingRWBY Ice Queendomwill be an incredibly dark series. But what if that’s exactly what Urobuchi wanted us to think? What if no one dies? Urobuchi could subvert our expectations, and after all, one of his recurrent themes is how never giving in to despair will ultimately make you triumph in the end. What do you all think? Tell me in the comments below and on Twitter@A_iyane07. Check out the AnimeJapan event and trailer below with Ruby Rose (Saori Hayami), Weiss Schnee (Yoko Hikasa), Blake Belladonna (Yu Shimamura), and Yang Xiao Long (Ami Koshimizu).
