The popular mobile MOBA “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” (MLBB) has introduced the latest version of the Update starting on January 18, 2022. This update brings a new Anime-themed Skin series “The Aspirants” with Skins for two fan favorite Heroes—Layla and Fanny, coming from January 22. This is a step in a completely new direction for the MLBB team. To ensure the authenticity of all these new designs, Moonton has invited many well-known artists to handle the reimagining of the game’s artwork; including everything from Original Art and Storyboards to Hero portraits.
In addition, female influencers Sarah Viloid and Vivi Novika will star in the short film “We Are The Aspirants” which will play Layla and Fanny to tell how they struggle against an enemy called “Ender”. This short film has been broadcast on the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Indonesia YouTube channel on January 23, 2022, at 15:00 WIB.
Vivi and Sarah will also share more interesting and fun things for players with more influencers in the next event! From the material that has been released to date, we can see that The Aspirants takes a very different approach compared to the actual Art Style Game, with color saturation not being too bright and a flat design model to evoke a clear Anime Style.
The MLBB team then translates these works into character models, in-game perspectives, and other details, resulting in an Anime Style that fits the MLBB world.
With Anime Art, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Creates a New Dimension
It’s not just the visuals in this new update, but: to customize the Skin with Anime Style, the MLBB team invited composer Yasuharu Takanashi, a composer of Work Credit including famous anime like Naruto, to compose the theme song for The Aspirers.
The song, “We Believe”, tells a heartwarming story of loyalty and friendship from the perspective of The Aspirants as they discover a new world before them.
In the theme song we can see the amazing mecha battles as The Aspirants move their battle outfits, supported also by strong emotions. To successfully face their opponents, the Enders and avoid the power of their own emotions, the girls must have faith and fight together with friends.
This time, MLBB has put together an amazing CV lineup! Layla will be voiced by Yoshino Nanjo, best known for performing A Certain Scientific Railgun’s theme song, “Only My Railgun”. Hearing his voice on the track, you will feel like you are in a “Love Live!” concert. Fanny will be voiced by Nana Mizuki, CV best known for her role as Hinata Hyuga in Naruto.
It’s Shining Time! Rediscover Layla and Fanny
Layla and Fanny: a proud yet lonely Marksman who has accompanied the players for a long time; and the other, an energetic Assassin who is full of optimism about his skills in using Hook.
In the near future, you’ll see that The Aspirants series is more than just testing MLBB with a new Art Style. With the release of this new skin, Layla and Fanny’s story will be revealed in the comics that will come with them.
In the parallel world of Tas, there is Selrick Academy. Here, boys and girls are chosen as Aspirants, tasked with guarding the city and fighting the Enders. Layla and Fanny are the most brilliant students based on the ranking of the Aspirants.
They get off to a bad start, arguing about almost everything, but the two soon begin to understand each other as they battle the forces of evil. Powered by the user’s emotions, the mecha outfit has its own personality, and selects the Aspirants who are best suited to use the mecha outfit in battle. As the battle rages on and their emotions run high, Aspirants must rely on faith as their last line of defense.
Layla and Fanny are not just ordinary heroes, they are close friends who accompany the players throughout their daily lives. And now, players can enjoy all-new content in the form of hero portraits, voice interactions, and thrilling anime-themed visual effects on the battlefield. Take on daily quests and improve the friendship of Layla and Fanny to unlock more of their emotes.
Just as Layla and Fanny unite to defeat the Enders, Players from all over the world meet in MLBB and coordinate to achieve victory, feeling the excitement of fighting together. Undoubtedly, there is a lot of player-related things in Layla and Fanny’s story.
We Believe!
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang was released in 2016, and was ranked the #1 most downloaded mobile MOBA in August 2021 (source: Sensor Tower). To ensure an enjoyable experience is maintained for the billions of registered players from 200 countries, the MLBB team is constantly working on user research and localization to take on new challenges and make new breakthroughs.
At this time, they listened to the player base comments from social media and noted their liking for anime. As a result, they are now presenting a series of anime themed skins for players who want to see more anime elements in MLBB.
The main challenge is how to integrate Art Anime from The Aspirants with 3D Art Style from MLBB. Through experimentation, the team finally succeeded in simulating the drawing process of Anime Artist through layered rendering to recreate the Art Style in 3D, and paired it with the most suitable effects for MLBB.
Here’s a sneak peek behind the scenes! The MLBB team is also secretly experimenting with another Hero skin: Nana’s “Mecha Baby” skin. It seems Leonin like Nana is just as adorable as 2D Style! Looks like the team got some ambition in the process. Are we going to see more Heroes with The Aspirants-style Skins in the future, maybe?
Search for “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” on Google Play or the App Store to download MLBB, meet new friends, and join Layla and Fanny on their team! Keep practicing, play wisely and don’t become a toxic player!
Don’t forget to follow our social media on Instagram and also subscribe our youtube channel