One Ticket, Three Different Worlds
GROTESQQQUE is built as an omnibus: three short films with separate settings, casts, and staff, screened together as one theatrical feature. Per Japanese anime news site Anime Anime, the full trailer arrived on Aniplex's YouTube channel along with a new key visual, and the film's official site carries roman-alphabet stylings for all three segments.
ÆLIENS (エリィアンズ) follows an alien girl who buddies up with a civil servant at the space agency, and the pair scrambles around looking for "friends."
4649GIRL (夜露死駆★少女, read as Yoroshiku Shōjo) gathers a group of girls billed as "GAL-P" for a frenzied battle royale fought to decide the winner of a game called Queen of Butterfly. The numbers 4-6-4-9 can be read "yo-ro-shi-ku" in Japanese, and the kanji title spells the same word in classic delinquent fashion.
Nocturn: En Cette Nuit Grotesque (ノクターン～このグロテスクな夜に～) follows a pure-blooded vampire and the three girls who survived her bite by becoming "infected," traveling a ruined world by van after humanity's collapse.
Atsushi Nishigori and CloverWorks Reunite
Atsushi Nishigori directed The Idolmaster and Darling in the Franxx, and served as chief animation director on Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time. On GROTESQQQUE he takes the director, screenwriter, and original character design credits. He also episode-directs both ÆLIENS and Nocturn, handling Nocturn's character designs himself.
4649GIRL goes to episode director Takahiro Miura (三浦貴博), with character designs by tarou2 and action direction by Isao Hayashi (林勇雄). Kazuko Nakajima (中島和子) handles color design across all three segments.
CloverWorks (Spy x Family, Bocchi the Rock!) produces. The studio and Nishigori already have history together: Darling in the Franxx and the 2021 Idolmaster concept movie VOY@GER both came from this pairing. Planning and production credits go to Aniplex and JOEN, the company Aniplex, CloverWorks, Wit Studio, and Shueisha jointly founded in 2022, with ANIMEC distributing in Japan.
A Cast and Soundtrack That Cross Genre Lines
The 14-person cast splits by segment. ÆLIENS stars Kana Ichinose alongside singer and actor Gen Hoshino. 4649GIRL fields the biggest roster: Sara Minami, Ikumi Hasegawa, Saori Hayami (Yor Forger in Spy x Family), Maaya Uchida, Chika Anzai, Miyu Tomita, Rumi Okubo, and Rie Kugimiya. Nocturn is cast entirely from the idol group Nogizaka46: Nagi Inoue, Aruno Nakanishi, Miku Ichinose, and Nao Tomisato. No word yet on who plays whom within each segment.
The music side is just as crowded. A previously announced lineup of 35 artists contributes songs to the film, including Reol, ASCA, and TAKU INOUE. The newly confirmed opening theme is "Shoot Shoot Shoot" by METALVERSE, who said in their comment that the song flows into each of the three stories, and that finishing all three felt "like watching a single story," one they wanted to watch again and again.
Looking Ahead
Mubichike advance tickets, Japan's standard digital pre-sale format, go on sale starting July 10, 2026, with designs featuring characters from all three segments.
International viewers actually get the film first. Anime News Network reports that GROTESQQQUE holds its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, which runs July 16 through August 2. Beyond that festival stop, no overseas theatrical rollout or streaming partner has been announced. And since this is a fully original film, there is no manga or novel to catch up on before November.