The Darwin Incident
The Darwin Incident is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by. It has been serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Afternoon since June 2020. An anime television series adaptation produced by premiered in January 2026.
By May 2024, the manga had over 1.6 million copies in circulation. In 2022, The Darwin Incident won the 15th Manga Taishō, as well as the Excellence Award at the 25th Japan Media Arts Festival.
Plot
An animal-rights terrorist organization, the ALA (Animal Liberation Alliance), carries out a raid on a biological research institute and rescues an injured, pregnant chimpanzee, sending her to an animal hospital. The chimpanzee gives birth to a "humanzee", a half-human, half-chimpanzee hybrid. The humanzee is named Charlie and raised by human parents, who are vegan. Charlie exhibits strength and agility far beyond a normal human or chimpanzee.Charlie enters high school at the age of 15, where he befriends a shy girl named Lucy. Charlie struggles to fit in and is targeted by his peers due to his difference in species, vegan diet, and perceived connection to the ALA. Meanwhile, the ALA seeks to recruit Charlie to their organization.
Characters
;Charlie;Lucy Eldred
;Rivera Feyerabend
;Gilbert Stein
;Hannah Stein
;Philip Graham
;Gare
;Lesley K. Lippman
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by, The Darwin Incident started in Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Afternoon on June 25, 2020. Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual volumes. The first volume was released on November 20, 2020. As of December 23, 2025, ten volumes have been released.During their panel at Anime NYC 2022, Kodansha USA announced that they licensed the manga, with the first volume released on September 5, 2023.
Anime
In May 2024, it was announced that the manga would receive an anime television series adaptation. The series is produced by and directed by Naokatsu Tsuda, with Katsuichi Nakayama serving as series director, Shinichi Inotsume overseeing series composition, Shinpei Tomooka designing the characters, and Alisa Okehazama and Mariko Horikawa composing the music. It premiered on January 7, 2026, on TV Tokyo and its affiliates. The opening theme is "Make Me Wonder", performed by Official Hige Dandism, while the ending theme is "Turn It Up", performed by.The series is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.