Welcome back to the most special post of the year! As is tradition, we’ve gathered writers from different communities but a shared trait: a love of animation and all it encompasses. The goal, to praise at length the greatest productions and most resonant direction in all of 2018 anime, according to a series of categories. These are our yearly anime awards – the sakugabowl!
It’s become a common occurrence for My Hero Academia‘s management staff to allocate every capable individual available to the episodes where big developments happen. And since the production of the franchise’s first movie happened to wrap up just at the right time, the best animators in this team got to return to handle yet another climactic point. The satisfaction most fans have been feeling over this last week speaks for itself!
At this point you might already know the drill: twice a year we take the opportunity to share some samples from books that animators, directors, background artists and production teams sell during Comiket, either individually or through more official means. These are always a good way to keep a finger on the pulse of the industry – what do anime creators like, what work are they proud of, and how do they make some always needed extra cash? We’ll see!
Our animation archive Sakugabooru celebrates its fifth anniversary today, having grown more popular than we ever could have hoped for. After all this time we’ve amassed plenty of information regarding people’s favorite pieces of animation: the most beloved artists, the nature of those sequences, what kind of format and even length are favored – enjoy this very illustrative look at how fans all around the world consume animation!
Anime’s possibilities have multiplied with the growth of digital 2D animation, both in terms of techniques available and accessibility. This industry has more tools at its disposal for more people than ever, but how did we get to this point? Who are the main people responsible for all this change? And how did they convince both industry peers and audiences that this was a valid path worth heavily investing on? That’s what we’re here to address in a very special anniversary!
Since people seemed to enjoy the first rundown, here’s another look at many interesting books released by individual staff members and creative teams during the last edition of Comiket. It’s not just a very direct way for them to reach fans, it also allows us access to production materials and original art that wouldn’t have been shared otherwise. Enjoy!
Digital animators have been putting out some of the most impressive work anime has to offer over the last few years. Today we present you one of the leaders of a new wave within that movement, which introduces a more human element to those flashy spectacles. Meet Nakaya Onsen, who has been receiving lots of attention as one of the stars in the astounding Fate/Apocrypha #22!
Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond got serious ─ not in the sense that it renounced to its amusing nonsense, but by getting together the strongest lineup of animators it can aspire to. Time to learn more about the spectacle they put together!
Blood Blockade Battlefront has returned with an episode that definitely went Beyond in terms of pure madness. A new team has arrived to the series with the intention to pay respect to the original Blood Blockade Battlefront, but also to offer their own take. It’s time to look at their distinct work, analyze the situation regarding the prodigious director Rie Matsumoto who has now departed from the project, and observe where Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond is heading. I admit it,…
Comiket 92 was held last month, and as it tends to happen, many anime industry members released personal books compiling their work. And also as usual, we bought way too many of them. Our Patreon supporters were curious about the kind of material that creators put out in these events, so we’ll be showing you many samples of interesting books released this time around. This will be a more casual look at the work of anime artists than usual, so…