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Japan Animator Expo Streams Mahiro Maeda, Otaro Maijo's 'Hammerhead' Short
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The official website for Japan Anima(tor)'s Exhibition (Japan Animator Expo), the weekly anime shorts from Hideaki Anno's Studio Khara and the media company Dwango, began streaming the 25th short on Friday to kick off the project's third season.
Note: The video contains graphic violence and may not be safe for work.
Otaro Maijo (Biorg Trinity storywriter) is credited with the original work, and he also wrote the script and directed the short. Mahiro Maeda (Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo director) served as animation director at Studio Khara. The website describes the short as follows:
"HAMMER HIM DEAD."
I beg you, please hit, crush, and kill him.
The official website for the short is is also displaying character designs and background art.
The lineup for the third season of the project is as follows:
| Title | Director/Staff |
|---|---|
| Endless night (TBC) | Sayo Yamamoto |
| Cassette Girl | Hiroyasu Kobayashi |
| Kazuyoshi Katayama Project “Untitled” (TBD) | Kazuyoshi Katayama |
| COMEDY SKIT 1989 | Kazuto Nakazawa |
| THE ULTRAMAN | Akitoshi Yokoyama |
| NEON GENESIS IMPACTS. | Yūhei Sakuragi |
| (To Be Determined) | Hiroyuki Okiura |
| HAMMERHEAD | Otaro Maijo × Mahiro Maeda |
| BUREAU OF PROTO SOCIETY | Yasuhiro Yoshiura |
| BUBU & BUBULINA | Takashi Nakamura |
| Hibiki Yoshizaki×DAOKO Project “Untitled” (TBD) | Hibiki Yoshizaki |
The titles above are listed in phonetic Japanese order, and are not necessarily in the order of their scheduled release. For the third season, Japan Animator Expo is once again releasing a new episode every Friday.
The some of the shorts are currently playing in a limited two-week engagement in 10 theaters throughout Japan. The theatrical screenings are showing all 12 episodes of the first season, plus three episodes from the upcoming third season — "Hammerhead," "Conte (Hitman) 1989" ("COMEDY SKIT 1989" or "Conte Koroshita 1989"), and "Bubu & Bubulina."
Hideaki 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.
Image © nihon animator mihonichi LLP.
© 2015 Otaro Maijo
