Let’s dedicate a final look at Maidragon‘s second season and its role in KyoAni’s gradual rebuild—the why and how they made a beautiful show with a smaller team than it takes to animate an average episode of anime nowadays.
What if an overlooked action expert directed a thrilling episode, effortlessly switching between momentousness and hilarity? What if a generational animation talent invited his best peers to his animation direction debut? What if that wasn’t hypothetical, but the latest episode of Tropical Rouge Precure?
Sonny Boy is an anomaly in commercial media, let alone as a TV anime: a fascinating creator given a blank cheque that he cashed in to explore his philosophical views, mixing cultural touchstones and personal musings into a unique sci-fi story, and tweaking animation production norms to illustrate a singular worldview with unmatched cohesion.
KyoAni’s most renowned director Naoko Yamada left the studio she had dedicated her entire career to and is now directing Heike Monogatari at Science Saru—a studio in the midst of labor and creative turmoil. So, what does that mean for all the involved parties?
The upcoming Stone Ocean adaptation marks the return of one of the most brilliant Jojo directors, so there has been no better time for a long retrospective of the show’s production, with a special emphasis on the directorial team that truly makes it a bizarre adventure.
The second episode of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S happens to embody some ongoing changes to Kyoto Animation’s inner workings: forced to adapt to the circumstances after the tragedy exactly two years ago, while also protecting the young talent they want to continue training. More than ever before, the studio works as one now.
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway is shaping up to be an excellent film trilogy, a collective effort by creators who approach realism from their own angle coupled with stellar character acting—but how come such a high profile work by one of the remaining bastions of 2D mechanical animation went the 3D mecha route?
Maidragon is back. KyoAni is back—in more ways than one, having given free rein to the next generations of creators trained under the studio’s unstoppable mentorship system. All these efforts shared a rallying cry that the studio altogether has adopted after their tragedy: inspiration for the future.
We’re due a final in-depth look at SSSS.Dynazenon: the creators who stood out in the last stages, the fascinating answers to some seemingly unanswered riddles, and what to expect from this unique team in the future.
A teaser for 86: Eighty Six‘s second cours dropped today, so let’s look back at this surprisingly daring show—a stunning showcase of a beginner director’s vision, technical skill, and confidence to stick to his unique style all the way through, except for one brilliant interlude.