The Voices of Tatsuhiko and Nico
Shūichirō Umeda (梅田修一朗), known for playing Akira Tendō in Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead and The Crawler in My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, takes on the role of Tatsuhiko Hirayama. Tatsuhiko once dreamed of becoming an animator but gave up on that path. When indie musician Nico asks him to animate a music video, he dives back into the creative world he left behind.
Aya Gomazuru (胡麻鶴彩) voices Nico Kashiwagi. Gomazuru revealed she cried when she learned she'd been cast, saying that meeting the character gave her the drive to keep going after a period where results weren't coming. "I want to pour my soul into playing Nico, carefully and lovingly," she said.
Umeda described a personal connection to the material, saying the script reminded him of when he first fell in love with performing. "I hope this series reaches anyone trying to express something, anyone hesitating to take on a challenge, anyone still fighting, and anyone who's been knocked down," he said.
Directing is Yuki Komada, whose recent credits include Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Disturbance. Misaki Morie handles series composition and screenplay, with Kazunori Aoki as character designer and chief animation director.
From MILLION TAG to MAPPA
Beat & Motion is based on the manga by Naoki Fujita, which won the grand prix in Shueisha's MILLION TAG, a competition for discovering new manga artists. The manga ran on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ app from February 2023 through January 2025 and was collected in six volumes.
The story follows Tatsuhiko, who abandoned his childhood dream of animation, and Nico, a musician who refuses to give up on hers. Their clashes spark a coming-of-age story about creative ambition and unleashing each other's talents.
Yūji Kaku, creator of Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku and a MILLION TAG judge, contributed a special illustration for the announcement. "This work contains the honest feelings of a creator, laid bare with sincerity," he wrote.
MAPPA (Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man) formally revealed the anime at its 15th Anniversary Lineup Presentation on June 19, 2026. The teaser visual shows Nico smiling with a guitar on her back while Tatsuhiko wears a flustered expression. The first PV previews the two diving into collaborative creative work.
Looking Ahead
Beat & Motion streams exclusively on Netflix worldwide in 2027, though no specific premiere date has been set. The first teaser PV is available on the MAPPA Channel on YouTube.
The source manga is available in English through Shueisha's Manga Plus service and Viz Media. All six volumes have been published in Japan. The anime's official site and X account are both live for anyone tracking production updates.