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9th Animator Expo Short 'Gridman' Streamed
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Japan Animator Expo, the project of weekly anime shorts from Hideaki Anno's Studio Khara and the media company Dwango, began streaming the full ninth short titled "Gridman: Boys Invent Great Hero" ("Denkō Chōjin Gridman") on Friday.
Akira Amemiya (Inferno Cop, Ninja Slayer From Animation) directed the short at the Studio Trigger (Kill la Kill, Little Witch Academia, Inferno Cop, Ninja Slayer From Animation), and Yusuke Yoshigaki (Black Rock Shooter, Gambo, Someday's Dreamers II Sora) designed the characters.
The website describes the story as follows:
22 years ago...
A boy, Takeshi Todo, who attempted to take over the world with the devil of the computer world together.
He reformed himself after the battle and now needs the power of the hyper agent. Again, the evil is going to appear in the real world.
A materialized monster is now approaching!
Enter the battle code!
The access code is..."GRIDMAN"
The previous eight shorts in the project include "Otaro Maijo and Kazuya Tsurumaki's "The Dragon Dentist," Azuma Tani's "Hill Climb Girl," a music video titled "ME!ME!ME!" featuring the musician Teddyloid (Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt) and rapper daoko, Akira Honma's "Carnage," Yoshikazu Yasuhiko & Ichirō Itano's "Collection of Key Animation Films" from Mobile Suit Gundam, Takeshi Honda and Mahiro Maeda's "20min Walk From Nishi-Ogikubo Station, 2 Bedrooms, Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, 2mos Deposit, No Pets Allowed," Tadashi Hiramatsu and Khara's "until You come to me," and Akemi Hayashi's "Tomorrow from there."
Anno himself is serving as executive producer of the entire project 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. The shorts mostly feature the voice talent of Ranma ½ and Cowboy Bebop co-stars Kouichi Yamadera and Megumi Hayashibara.
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. The episodes 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.
