Toei Animation Releasing Experimental Anime Film “URVAN” in January 2021

In the last few years, the popularity of anime has grown exponentially, and the production companies are trying out new to keep things interesting.

History has witnessed that, to remain at the top position, one needs to keep experimenting, and the same rule applies to the anime industry.

Toei animation’s research teams are constantly working on new ideas and new animation techniques to provide the viewers with a better anime experience.

On Tuesday, Toei Animation revealed that its new intellectual property research team PEROs is producing a five-minute pilot anime film titled ‘URVAN.’ The anime short-film will be launched on its official YouTube channel in late January.

This project started in Spring 2020 but got delayed due to the COVID19 pandemic situation.

Due to the limitations and new guidelines, the staff had to use a new production method, in cooperation with Nagasaki International University’s Departments of Humanities and International Tourism’s Hitoshi Oba Seminar.

URVAN is expected to be a mysterious and nostalgic cyberpunk action that revolves around the motif of the Obon Festival, which welcomes and sends off spirits, and where the “extraordinary” and the “ordinary” intersect.

Now, why are we calling it an experimental video? Because the anime’s awe-inspiring backgrounds are made from photos of Sasebo taken by students of Oba Laboratory, instead of going on-site.

Innovative right? There’s more to it, they produced the animation just by using web conference service zoom and file sharing service Box.

The visuals released are beautifully animated, which sets high expectations from the film. This project portrays Toei animation’s efforts to gradually fit in this ‘new normal’ and its determination to keep coming up with quality content.

About Toei Animation:

Toei Animation is a Japanese animation studio that works under the Toei Company. It was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films.

Since then, it has been responsible for many popular anime and movies such as Sally the Witch, Gegege no Kitaro, Mazinger Z, Galaxy Express 999. Dr. Slump, Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon, Slam Dunk, Digimon, One Piece, and the Precure series.

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