My Mom Became A Crater” Is a Very Death Stranding Way to Start an Anime

The first trailer for the Death Stranding anime spin-off, Death Stranding: Isolations, has been released, offering a brief and eerie glimpse into a world devastated by multiple extinction events. The short teaser reveals little, and in a touch of dark humor, the official synopsis simply states, “My mom became a crater.” Yet for fans of Hideo Kojima’s post-apocalyptic setting, there is plenty to draw from the footage visually, and the trailer also unveils the talent behind the project.

For those unfamiliar with the games, Death Stranding unfolds in a world where humanity has been pushed to the brink of extinction. Once Beached Things (BTs) began roaming the land, a series of cataclysms swept across the globe. BTs emerge through necrosis from the remains of deceased humans, and contact with living people triggers massive “voidout” explosions capable of easily erasing a city. To make matters worse, BTs are also the root cause of Timefall, a rain that rapidly ages whatever it touches, ultimately driving the surviving population to establish Knot Cities across the United States, which was later renamed the United Cities of America.

Death Stranding: Isolations tells an original story set within that world, following a young girl living in a voidout crater—possibly the one caused by her mother, as the trailer implies. “In the wake of this cataclysm, many were forced to live in absolute isolation—among them, a young girl. Although this lonely existence was forced upon her, she soon comes to prefer solitude, shunning all opportunities for genuine human connection and allowing herself to be led along by fate,” the synopsis reads.

The series also has notable talent attached, including director Takayuki Sano (Jujutsu Kaisen). The crew also includes writer Tow Ubukata (Psycho-Pass), character designers Ilya Kuvshinov (Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045) and Sayaka Koiso (Dorohedoro), and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima is listed as an executive producer. E&H Production, the studio behind recent projects like Undead Unluck and the 2026 version of Magic Knight Rayearth, is handling the animation. Death Stranding: Isolations will stream exclusively through Disney+ in 2027.

This is one of several Death Stranding projects in development currently, as Death Stranding: Mosquito from director Hiroshi Miyamoto and ABC Animation Studio was shown off last year, and a live-action Death Stranding movie is also in development. Michael Sarnoski (A Quiet Place: Day One) will be directing the movie, which will tell an original story that aims to “capture the soul” of the games.

Death Stranding isn’t the only video game property getting an anime adaptation, as Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Bloodborne, and Ghost of Tsushima projects are also in varying stages of development.