Rebuild of Studio Spotlight 2.22: ufotable

[blkmage]

Like the siren call of Evangelion to Hideaki Anno, Studio Spotlight is back. And this time, with even more studios that no one's heard of. We begin with a small one who lay there unassuming before unleashing one the greatest anime movie series of the decade.

[SIZE="1"]「凛として咲く。」/「jojotaro」[/SIZE]

ufotable is a younger studio, founded at the turn of the millenium. They don't have many works under their belt, but they've become known in part for their claymations that they append to their anime. Many of their earlier productions were kinda okay. I wouldn't expect too many people to have heard of them. They started out with Weiss Kreuz and you might have seen Futakoi Alternative or Coyote Ragtime Show. But I want to focus on two works in particular.

The first is a 2007 show called Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight. It's a show that not many people have seen or heard of and its sales weren't that great in Japan. Still, this is the show that introduced me to this studio and it's still one of my favourite slice-of-life shows. This is the show that I thought that K-ON! should have been aiming to catch (and it eventually did). The premise isn't anything spectacular; it's about an energetic high school girl who becomes the student council president and attempts to revive the school festival. But there's something about the entire thing that, by the end of it, gave me a similar feeling to when I had finished Gurren Lagann. An absolutely excellent adaptation and excellent production (dat graffitiing OP).

But the second one is the one that everyone now knows them for and it's the massive seven-part movie series that adapts Kinoko Nasu's novel, Kara no Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners. Aside from sporting some of the most amazingly choreographed fights, beautiful nighttime cityscapes, and a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack scored by Yuki Kajiura, it was an excellent adaptation. Instead of falling into the temptation of creating a TV anime, ufotable chose to animate one theatrical film per chapter of the novel. The result? The first TYPE-MOON adaptation that didn't suck; an animated production that's finally able to properly convey the themes and narratives that TYPE-MOON fans have been raving about all this time. This thing singlehandedly turned me into a TYPE-MOON fan.

While ufotable has been busy for the past few years working on Kara no Kyoukai, they've come up with a few smaller things since then. They've put out an OVA for Toriko, a Jump manga about eating or something. They've also been putting out the Tales of Symphonia OVAs, which I hear are quite well done. And for the future? They've got their first TV anime since Manabi Straight, a comedy called Minori Scramble, as well as an interesting project that's a crossover involving Anime Tenchou and Touhou Project.

NEXT TIME: GAADO SKILL HANDO SONNICU


[SIZE="1"]「天使」/「ldld2」[/SIZE]

[Atria35]

OOOO! I saw some of Manabi Straight, and I adore KnK! I can't wait to see what they come out with next!

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Yup, I haven't seen anything by them, but I have been meaning to watch KnK for a while now.

[CrimsonRyu17]

<<<333 KnK. I haven't seen anything else by them but I do keep my eye out for things they make.

[blkmage]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this. We've already gone through most of the big, well-known studios so we'll be going through some that most people probably have never heard of. Even if you don't know anything about them, I'd like to encourage you to post things in the thread. Maybe something I said or described intrigues you. Maybe you have questions about the studio or the shows they've made. Maybe you're looking for suggestions of what shows to start with.

Essentially, what I'm trying to say is that if the only people who posted in these threads are those who love the studios and their shows, we're going to get some pretty empty threads soon.

[MightiMidget]

I am stoked for Studio Spotlight's return, thanks, blkmage.

In addition to KnK, do you have any recommendations on what to watch to get a feel for the studio's style? And how does claymation work with anime?

[Falx]

I don't suppose there's been any word on when the epilogue movie for KnK is coming out?

[blkmage]

I am stoked for Studio Spotlight's return, thanks, blkmage.

In addition to KnK, do you have any recommendations on what to watch to get a feel for the studio's style? And how does claymation work with anime?

Their claymations are relegated to the EDs for their TV shows and in the case of Kara no Kyoukai, they take the form of those turn off cell phones/don't pirate shorts that precede the movies. They're quite cute.

Definitely watch Manabi Straight. It's one of the best slice of life shows, one that I would put up there with Aria. It also has the interesting quirk of being an HD show that's not done in widescreen.

I don't suppose there's been any word on when the epilogue movie for KnK is coming out?

Epilogue's coming with the DVD/BRD boxsets in February. The Japanese BR boxset is Region A, which means, it's playable in North America and also comes with English subtitles. If I were getting a job instead of trying to get into grad school after I graduate, I'd totally be dropping the $500 for this thing.