Animator Expo will be shown in 10 cinemas across Japan, promoting 15 unique anime shorts produced for the expo, 12 from 2014 and 3 from the upcoming 2015 season. A new trailer has been revealed teasing of all the shorts that will be shown. All of the shorts are produced by Studio Khara (The Rebuild of Evenagelion films) alongside Japanese production company Dwango, with Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gunbuster OVA) as executive producer. The aim of Animator Expo is to promote young animators in the industry and showcase their unique ideas.
15 shorts from Animator Expo will be shown in 10 theatres across Japan from July 25th for two weeks, with tickets costing ¥2,000 (~ $16.50 USD) without tax. For more information visit: http://animatorexpo.com/theater/
One of the most well known short is ME!ME!ME! ft. daoko by Teddyloid on Friday. A brief description of the short: “You are attacked and ravished by many girls.”
The short features the voice talent of Ranma ½ and Cowboy Bebop co-stars Kouichi Yamadera and Megumi Hayashibara, and Dan Kanemitsu translated the short on behalf of Khara.
The rest of the staff includes:
- Director: Hibiki Yoshizaki
- Animation Production: Studio Khara
- Planning, Original Work, Storyboard, Technical Director: Hibiki Yoshizaki
- Music: “ME!ME!ME! feat.daoko” by Teddyloid
- Character Design, Animation Director: Shuichi Iseki
- 3DCGI: sankaku
- Color Design, Color Coordination Inspection: Yuichi Furuichi (Copihan)
- Art Director: Hiroshi Kato (Barakamon)
- Editor: Hibiki Yoshizaki
- Music Production: Rie Shimasue (King Records)
Hideaki Anno himself is serving as executive producer of the initiative with Dwango President Nobuo Kawakami, and he also designed the image character mascot “(Tor)-kun.” Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki created the title logo, and fellow Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki colored it.
One new short will stream every week for a planned total of 30 shorts, ranging from original projects and spinoffs to promotional videos and music videos. Each episode will be streamed for free via a dedicated iOS/Android app and on the web. There are no plans for a commercial release at this stage.
Here is the main visual of Animator Expo:
You can visit the official website of the project here: http://animatorexpo.com/
And follow them on Twitter: @animatorexpo
