Kenji Iwaisawa’s offbeat On-Gaku: Our Sound (2019) has attracted a loyal following in the US; it even earned an Annie nomination for Independent feature. Although it’s based on a self-published manga by Hiroyuki Ohashi, Iwaisawa wrote the screenplay, directed the film and animated it almost single-handedly. He simply couldn’t afford professional animators; the film’s shoestring […]

Netflix is developing a CG-animated feature film Ultraman in partnership with Tsuburaya Productions and Industrial Light and Magic. Ultraman joins Netflix’s fast growing original slate of animated features which includes Academy Award nominated Klaus, Kris Pearn’s The Willoughbys, Academy Award Nominated Over the Moon from Glen Keane; as well as the Fall 2021 comedy Back […]

Those bad bad humans. Chopping down forests. How dare they displace Hei from his home! Hei, a magical spirit in the form of a wide-eyed cat, finds himself transported to the Big City. There, he’s attacked by a trio of human thugs, but rescued by a fellow shape-changer named Stormend. Hei joins Stormend’s unnamed faction […]

Many recent anime TV programs reflect Japan’s daunting socio-economic problems in the post-Bubble economy: An aging, shrinking population; a bleak financial future that makes many young people undesirable as potential marriage partners; growing economic inequality; the persistent trauma from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident Westerners call Fukushima—and the government’s ineffectual response to it.

GKIDS and long-time partner Fathom Events, are continuing their collaboration this summer, bringing back a series of critically acclaimed and fan-favorite anime features. Kicking off the series is the 2020 animated tour-de-force from Studio 4°C (Tekkonkinkreet, MFKZ, Mind Game), CHILDREN OF THE SEA. Directed by Ayumu Watanabe, with a score by award-winning composer and longtime […]

One of the big hits of the last decade, Kohei Horikoshi’s “My Hero Academia” (2014) has sold more than 30 million books worldwide. The TV series is in its fifth season, and the eagerly awaited third feature will debut this summer. Horikoshi set “Academia” in an alternate world where many children are born with “Quirks:” […]