Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou‘s contemplative view on the passage of time and inevitable decadence made it a greatly melancholic work upon release. Decades later, that feeling has strengthened, and the influence of those who brought it into anime form quietly endures still.
In an industry like anime where almost everything comes down to personal relationships, is it possible to quickly assemble an entirely new high-profile studio? Cygames Pictures have found a way, and Uma Musume: ROAD TO THE TOP‘s intense, expressive animation stands as proof of their achievements.
Tengoku Daimakyou is an exceptional series facing equally exceptional challenges. It’s got a production environment and an amalgamation of talent most anime would die for, but also the duty to tackle a fascinatingly weird post-apocalyptic story that is somehow both terrible dense and also mostly laid back in nature. One of a kind!
Skip and Loafer is as pleasant as anime gets. Its director is Kotomi Deai, and this is how she went from being a fan of Shinichiro Watanabe, to collaborating with him and other renowned creators, carving her inconspicuous niche in the industry.
Oshi no Ko‘s massive, worldwide impact with its first episode is no fluke. Its team is led by savvy, inventive, and sometimes kinda superhuman individuals who tweaked and elevated the source material to start with such a bang. So who are they, what did they do, and can they keep it up?
The collapse of anime’s mentorship systems and the attempts to fix them aren’t new. At its peak 10 years ago, the Young Animator Training Project produced Little Witch Academia and Death Billiards while raising new talent—but did it succeed, and what’s their legacy now?
Kyoto Animation’s rebuilding process is allowing the most self-sufficient anime studio to foster in-house production in new ways, all while raising new generations of storytellers in animation—and Tsurune: The Linking Shot is a perfect example of it.
The experimental ufotable of the past and the current finely-tuned blockbuster makers feel like entirely different studios. 15 years ago, Kara no Kyoukai began that transition: laying their modern foundation, but also embracing their originally chaotic and subversive ways.
Many anime try to offer their viewers a relaxing experience, yet few can seamlessly blend that goal with their themes and visual storytelling like these two little gems: this is the story of Do It Yourself!!, Yama no Susume, and their animation leader Yusuke Matsuo.
To mourn the end of Pop Team Epic, or maybe to celebrate the death of the #1 crappy anime, we went over the many unique, often non-commercial artists at its core, figuring out how such a cheeky series became anime’s greatest hub of experimental animators.