A Brief Visual Evolution of Kyoto Animation

On July 18, 2019 an arsonist attacked the Japanese animation studio Kyoto Animation, killing 34 and wounding many others. The studio started off as a group of a few housewives doing in-betweens (the frames between key poses in animation) and color on series for Tatsunoko Pro and Pierrot productions in the early 1980s. In 1985, Yoko Hatta officially founded Kyoto Animation with her husband, Hideaki Hatta as the president—an arrangement that has not changed over the lifetime of the studio. KyoAni has a family mentality that focuses on being self-sufficient in all animation production matters. Where most other anime studios use freelance artists trying to meet frame quotas in poor conditions, KyoAni has employees who focus on the quality of delicate expressions and movement. For a more detailed history of the studio please check out this post from the Sakuga Blog.

early 1980s

Urusei Yatsura, Dirty Pair OVAs, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Akira–KyoAni worked on all of these series as support doing key animation (Dirty Pair OVAs), backgrounds (Neon Genesis Evangelion), and minor assistance (Studio Ghibli and Akira). These classics, while diverse, share what has come to be KyoAni’s defining trait of unique and proficient character animation.

Image credits: Urusei Yatsura via kitsu.io, Dirty Pair OVA via Anime News Network, Neon Genesis Evangelion background via backgroundsbot on Twitter, Kiki’s Delivery Service still via dotandline.net, Akira via Akira wikia.

first tv series

Full Metal Panic? FUMOFFU poster (via animeextremist.com)

Based on the manga series “Full Metal Panic?” Fumoffu follows the more light-hearted slice-of-life chapters that the first season of the anime left out. The surrealist humor combined with heavy emotional moments sets this season apart from the others and makes it the most memorable out of the three.

defining a generation

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was the first huge break out series for KyoAni and garnered a cult following. A later series, Lucky Star, makes several nods and references to the Haruhi series, much the same way Studio Trigger and Western cartoons do today. K-On! has gone on to become the most lucrative anime series to date.

Image credits: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya via aliexpress.com, Lucky Star via All The Anime blog, K-On! via K-On! wikia.

just everyday life

Nichijou: My Ordinary Life manga volume 1 cover (via crunchyroll store)

Nichijou, a slice-of-life series with slapstick humor and over the top dynamic reactions you’d expect in an action series. While not as pervasive as Haruhi or Lucky Star, the series is a source for legendary reaction gifs and humorous video clips.

fresh new air

Visually stunning is an understatement when it comes to these series. While Clannad feels like a stylistic upgrade of KyoAni’s early works of MUNTO, Air TV, and Kanon, the story is riveting, and touching. Hyouka takes this a step further, and Sound! Euphonium is a technical zenith in terms of rendering. All the instruments are hand drawn!

Image credits: Clannad via akibatan.com, Hyouka via Hyouka wikia, Sound! Euphonium via mucinminhhao.com.

creative diversity

Free! Iwatobmi Swim Club is for thirsty fan girls what K-On! is for hungry fan boys—not to say that both series don’t have a wide appeal. The same goes for Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid and Violet Evergarden. While all focus more on slice-of-life scenes and character, the care that went into each frame is visible and drives a certain urgency to key scenes.

Image credits: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club via Honey’s Anime, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid via Anime with Sky, Violet Evergarden via Goomba Stomp.

beyond the present

This is just a small sampling of Kyoto Animation’s diverse filmography. For a complete list check out their official list of works here. You might recognize many other series on that list! KyoAni is a leading force in the animation industry that many look to when moving forward. The face of anime is forever changed because of KyoAni’s unique viewpoint and decisions.

You can help KyoAni by donating to them directly. Please follow this guide on how to buy high resolution digital images from their online shop. While there is a GoFundMe set up, there is no guarantee all that money will reach KyoAni. The method in the first link is the best way to ensure all your money goes straight to Kyoto Animation in their time of need.

Please leave a comment below if you feel there is a key series that was missed or if you have further questions about how to help Kyoto Animation recover.

Getting to Know OK KO – Writeup Roundup

It’s the heat of summer, you’ve just started your new job at the local strip mall and all you want to do is your very best—and then robots show up from across the street and start attacking the store! Good thing you’re a hero and can totally defend yourself from all the explosions. That’s essentially the premise for OK KO Let’s Be Heroes. The story follows 6-11 year old KO on his adventures working at Gar’s Hero Supply and Bodega in Lakewood Plaza, conveniently located across the street from the evil Boxmore company. While relatively simple, the world is built off of a massive wealth of genre and cultural influences. Here are a few articles to help lift a few veils of the show’s mystique.

CARTOON NETWORK ORDERS ‘OK K.O.! LET’S BE HEROES’ SERIES – VARIETY

Skip the first two paragraphs and find the most succinct explanation of the series’ development process. Starting life as an animated short, then becoming a console game, then a collection of animated shorts, and finally a full-on animated series. This will be the development format for immersive content in the future, according to Rob Sorcher, chief content officer at Cartoon Network.

a new cartoon network show finds inspiration in columbia, md., the animator’s home town – The Washington Post

Lakewood Plaza is actually an alternate universe of Columbia, Maryland—the town series creator Ian Jones-Quartey grew up in. Jones-Quartey fell in love with the bike paths, dirt roads that run next to industrial power lines, homes, shops, schools, lakes, and places of faith all next to each other in the planned community. “[T]hat …mundane magic you get from being a kid in a world that’s so big,” Jones-Quartey says.

ok k.o.! is charmingly imperfect – kotaku

Skip down to the characters and get a good cross section of all the big players. Did you know that KO has the same voice actress as little Goku and Gohan from Dragonball? The profiles on Carol and Mr. Gar are well-put and humorous. There’s even a section at the end that talks about some of the “nerd culture” nods and references.

how ‘ok k.o.! let’s be heroes’ created the craziest mall in animation – inverse

In a world where sci-fi and fantasy, and video games, and anime, and 90s cartoons all collide, what exactly do the background characters look like? They all actually look like the protagonists of their own series! Approximately 60 recurring background characters with likes, dislikes, superpowers, and backstories exist. Along with an additional 100 that story boarders keep dropping in (like the infamous Dogman).

ianjq tweet featuring free character and pow card template – Twitter

In keeping with the series’ immersive content, Jones-Quartey and staff released a complete template of character heads and bodies for fans to make their own characters and POW cards with. Feel free to print it out and make your own! In fact, it’s actually encouraged.

ok k.o.! let’s be heroes is leveling up to become an even better tv show – gizmodo

While a lot of summarizing happens here, some of the most iconic episodes (that aren’t blatant crossovers or homages) are hit upon. Perfect for brushing up on “what the heck happened” in the first two seasons. If season one was about getting to know KO’s view of the world, then season two is about KO getting to know just how big his world really is.

Hopefully reading all or some of these articles and posts will help you to understand or appreciate OK KO Let’s Be Heroes a little more. There is certainly a lot going on at all times in the series and it can be difficult to keep up with, but these posts lay some of the ground work that all aspects of the series are built off of. Understand the foundation and you can only build up.

Catch OK KO Let’s Be Heroes Sundays at 4:30 pm on Cartoon Network and the Cartoon Network app.

Is there a link or article not included here? Drop it in the comments below!

5 Cartoon Series for Adults to Watch this Summer

Summer is shaping up to be hotter than ever this year! While you’re inside cooling off why not spend ten to fifteen minutes watching an episode of a refreshing new series? As a busy adult you’re confronted with a near infinite number of options to watch and it can be difficult to narrow down what exactly you have time or energy to invest in. Many animated series have shortened their episodes to be 10-15 minutes long and can be watched almost any time thanks to network apps and on-demand services. With so many options and limited time to watch here are five worthwhile series to follow and take the edge off the heat. This list is in order of what I personally am most excited to watch.

MaoMao Heroes of Pureheart poster via IMDB

1) MaoMao Heroes of Pureheart – Mondays at 6:10 and 6:30 pm on Cartoon Network
As outlined in this post MaoMao is the type of show that comes out maybe once in a decade. The animation is incredibly fluid and consistent, the plotting evenly paced, and the story still manages to hit all the tropes of an action adventure series while still making fun of itself, the genre, and maybe the adult viewers too. Watch for pure entertainment alone or come back weekly if you like that building plot line.

Amphibia poster via IMDB

2) Amphibia – Mondays – Thursdays at 10:00 am on Disney Channel
Stylistically there isn’t anything special about the series. The animation is clean and what I’ve come to expect from Disney’s TV series in terms of quality. Plot is overall very episodal, but any new developments are always circled back to one or two episodes later. So why is this show even on the list if it’s not that special? Amphibia is absolutely beautiful in a heart-crafted way. For a fantasy world everything is very real, grounded, and everything makes sense. Series creator Matt Braly brings his childhood visits to Thailand and previous experience storyboarding and directing Gravity Falls to the series ensuring that things are not always what they seem.

Craig of the Creek poster via IMDB

3) Craig of the Creek – Saturdays at 9:00 am on Cartoon Network
Easily the coolest show around! Follow Craig and his friends as they enjoy being kids who play in the local creek behind their homes. Also, they have to protect the creek from a tyrannical king from the north who seeks to take over the land and impose strict and absurd rules on all his subjects, but that’s happening in the background. A fantastic series for inclusion and representation of people of color and the LGBT+ community. Watching as an adult it’s like reliving the wonder of childhood and seeing the world with the fresh awe of amazement. Anything is possible if you imagine it to be so!

Summer Camp Island poster

4) Summer Camp Island, season 2 – Sundays at 12:00 pm on Cartoon Network
As this series only airs in the summertime here’s what you missed last year: Hedgehog turned into a werewolf and the camp counselor witch, Susie, has been 15 for the last 100 years. While the island is very wacky and random, once you adjust to almost everything having a face and a personality, the series is very soft, comforting, and homey. Perfect to watch with a best friend, or on a rare rainy day when one is feeling kind of cozy. Immense imagination and creativity has gone into the production and I am constantly wowed by some of the concepts Oscar and Hedgehog encounter.

Victor and Valentino poster

5) Victor and Valentino – Saturdays at 9:30 am on Cartoon Network
Riding in on the heels of unapologetically Mexican films like The Book of Life and Coco, the series follows two step brothers who are spending the summer with their grandmother in the peculiar city of Monte Macabre. While most series would have the heroes investigating strange occurrences that happen around them, Victor and Valentino has chupacabras, cursed board games, god-trapping-figurines, and a talking skeleton dog as just a normal part of life that should be embraced. Also, the opening animation is almost absurd in the amount of perspective and detail. Watch and keep track of Victor’s shoe. If cryptids and adventure are your game, then Vic & Val are your team!

Whether you’re watching for entertainment, or want something more wholesome, or need something with a little more intrigue and mystery, there’s something for everybody this summer. From the action-comedy of MaoMao to the mystery and plot-driven story lines of Amphibia or Victor and Valentino, or just need something light and fluffy like Summer Camp Island, or that special middle ground of Craig of the Creek that has something for everybody. Summer is bountiful this year, so get to watching!

Do you think I missed a series worth adding to this list? Leave a comment below so we can watch and talk about it together!

Mao Mao, the Premiere of a Perfect Adventurer

Mao Mao Heroes of Pureheart aired on Cartoon Network Monday, July 1st. The series follows a samurai cat turned-sheriff, his lazy best friend and sidekick, and an adorable bat on their journey into legend to protect the cute and innocent inhabitants of a mythical valley from all sorts of villains and monsters. The series is heavily inspired from Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series, the color of 90s Super Nintendo games, and of course Batman: The Animated Series. Parker Simmons initially created Mao Mao as a fun five second animation for Titmouse Animation’s Five Second Day event, but soon turned the clip into a seven minute pilot. Simmons’ goal was to create something fun and cool that all his friends and colleagues could work on together. Mao Mao is the result of that experiment.

What does all of this mean for a viewer?

In short, Mao Mao is great. Due to the zany influence of Toriyama the world of Mao Mao is one where dinosaurs and cavemen exist side by side with talking animals, flying motorcycles, airships, and classic swordsmen too. While a lot of the color choices are bright and saturated, the backgrounds and landscapes are expertly designed to show depth and atmosphere on a huge scale, similar to the backdrops in many Super Nintendo games of the 1990s. And then there’s Mao Mao himself. With a solid black body, glowing green eyes, and a few red accents, our iconic hero stands out against any background—no matter how bright!

Concept art of Sheriff HQ with Ruby Pureheart Castle in the distance, Mao Mao Heroes of Pureheart

Like Batman, Mao Mao isn’t the typical hero; he’s a little dark and secretive, and doesn’t like sharing his personal life. All you need to know is that his main desire in life is to become a legendary hero like the rest of his family so they will love and respect him. His over-inflated ego is his biggest flaw—if he had any. That desire for validation and love is precisely what makes Mao Mao so relatable though. Many people want to experience fame or acceptance from a group of peers, but feel that admitting their true feelings will make them seem weak or unworthy in some way.

Still of Mao Mao and Adorabat in season one episode two, Mao Mao Heroes of Pureheart.

“I think you are the sum of the people around you, and what you can learn from them.”

Parker Simmons, Animation Magazine August 2019 issue.

“I think you are the sum of the people around you, and what you can learn from them,” said series creator Parker Simmons in the August 2019 issue of Animation Magazine. As the series is just starting out, it remains to be seen if Simmons meant for this quote to be a guiding post for Mao Mao and the various characters’ developments, but at least for the title character it rings true. The samurai sheriff cat’s two companions of Badgerclops and Adorabat are the perfect balance to Mao Mao’s frustration and brooding. The hero has as much to learn from his companions as they have to learn from him.

Rest assured that any and every episode of Mao Mao Heroes of Pureheart will be pure entertainment from start to finish. It’s a series created by 90’s kids for all kids (and adults) to enjoy and boisterously laugh along with. Watch the adventures of Mao Mao and company Mondays at 6:30 on Cartoon Network and the Cartoon Network app.