Director Hirotaka Mori Reveals that ‘The Last of Us’ Was a Major Inspiration for the Best Anime of 2023, ‘Heavenly Delusion’

As fans will know, Heavenly Delusion is a very peculiar manga and anime series. We have reported earlier that the anime was listed as the best anime of 2023 and it won big at the Trending Awards this year. The original manga was written by Masakazu Ishiguro and has been ongoing since 2018, with 10 volumes published as of the time of writing. The anime adaptation premiered in 2023, and while we still don’t have an official confirmation, a second season is very likely, although it might be some time before we see it, since Ishiguro has to write more chapters for the studio to be able to produce a proper season.

The anime was extremely popular and praised by both fans and critics, so there is absolutely no doubt that the series will receive a second season, although we have to wait and see when it is going to premiere.

The anime’s director, Hirotaka Mori, was a guest at the Anime Central (ACEN) convention this year as part of Production I.G’s panel this year. Mori is the creative mind that brought the anime to life and it is him whom we have to thank, alongside all of his crew members, for the epic experience that was Heavenly Delusion.

The director talked about the project there and while he did not reveal any precise information about the future, he did reveal information about the background and the inspirations for the anime series as a whole. In case you’ve forgotten or don’t know, the synopsis of the series is as follows:

Within the safety of the walls, youths are raised in a nursery-style setting by robots. While life there may appear stale on the surface, the children are full of potential and curiosity. In many ways it is like a slice of heaven.

The outside world is a hell-scape. It is almost entirely void of anything mechanical and is now inhabited by bizarre, yet powerful supernatural beings.

Maru, with the aid of Kiruko, is out there crisscrossing what was once Tokyo for heaven. But after searching for so long, maybe heaven is more of an untenable dream than a potential reality.

Why was this important? Well, we wanted to show you that Heavenly Delusion is a post-apocalyptic series that follows two protagonists – a girl and a boy, with the girl protecting the boy and having to bring him to a special location due to his special powers – who travel a destroyed world. This might remind you of the popular game (now a television series as well), The Last of Us, and you will probably not be surprised to hear that Mori is a big fan of the games and that they have heavily influenced the style and pacing of the manga.

Mori brought the game’s art book to work, and he and his crew had to shape the world of Heavenly Delusion to be similar to The Last of Us. This doesn’t surprise us, but it is nice to hear it officially confirmed, and it is nice to see that the Heavenly Delusion series is still an interesting topic, a year after the series’ premiere, and despite the fact that it is currently on a break until there are enough manga chapters for a second season.

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