From Tonko House, the makers of bold, Oscar-nominated short “The Dam Keeper”, comes a new four-part series debuting October 21st on Netflix. Oni: Thunder God’s Tale introduces us to Onari, a curious and courageous girl, daughter and friend. She seeks the powers that can help defeat the evil Oni, on their way to possibly destroy her village. But along the way, Onari will learn so much about herself and others — and discover what it truly means to be a hero. I spoke with creator Daisuke ‘Dice’ Tsutsumi and executive producers Robert Kondo and Sara K. Sampson. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: Dice, what do you think makes Onari such a compelling lead character? I really think she is.

Daisuke ‘Dice’ Tsutsumi: (laughs) That’s great. That’s an amazing question, and I want to answer it right. The concept of Oni comes from the famous villain character from Japanese folklore. There’s this interesting historical theory about Oni potentially being the description of a foreigner or Indigenous people who didn’t look like Japanese locals back in the day. I really felt that concept was so interesting because we still carry that same human nature — that we’re afraid of people we don’t understand or things or cultures we don’t know. That story of finding who you are and being honest about who you want to be vs. who you truly are… The struggle is something, I believe, that everybody can relate to. I certainly have… living in the United States for 30 years as a foreigner. Onari was a very personal expression of my story. However, I think it became so compelling because a lot of us who worked on this project, including Sara and Robert, and also our writer Mari [Okada], brought their own Onari into the character.