It’s time for a last look at 2023 with the Sakugabooru Animation Awards. We’ve gathered directors, animators, designers, producers, and passionate fans to share their favorite, most resonant works of animation across the last year – and other years, frankly! In short: Sakugabowl time!
Hibike! Euphonium Ensemble Contest is the belated comeback of a series that has come to represent its team’s understanding of animation as a fundamental step in the writing process, and also one that exemplifies how Kyoto Animation buck negative anime industry trends in meaningful, sometimes amusing ways.
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.
Today we’ll cover another indispensable part of KyoAni: their energetic Osaka branch Animation Do, as seen through the eyes of their two series directors at the moment. Enjoy this sincere dialogue about directorial worries, studio dynamics, and how much they screwed up as newbies!
Tsurune‘s pleasant and surprisingly efficient first episode is yet another showcase of the importance of execution. An inspired directorial effort that makes no effort in hiding its inspirations and yet establishes an identity of its own, led by a team with more newcomers than you’d ever imagine. Who are they, and what should we expect?
Perhaps the most important episode of Violet Evergarden on a narrative sense since the premiere, as well as an interesting change in tone that also brings back the grandeur of the first episode. And beyond that, another chance to examine the production of the series and details some fans have asked us about, like which tools were used to create this series.
In this episode of our charming parenting cartoon, their daughter starts going to school. She makes a friend and the entire family plays a fun game of dodgeball. Nothing outside of the ordinary occurs.
Welcome to a new regular feature on the Sakuga Blog! After buying all sorts of magazines and scrutinizing social media, we’ll be pointing out episodes of ongoing anime with interesting staff and thus lots of potential for you to look forward to; the best episodes don’t happen by chance, as all productions try to give the strongest material to their most capable people. Things do fly under people’s radar all the time of course, but these are some episodes you should…
I thought we were due a lesser Euphonium after last week’s spectacular showing, but in the end we got one of the best Animation Do episodes.
Let’s use this very strong episode as a launching platform to learn more about the industry.