Katsuhiro Otomo, the legendary Akira manga artist and filmmaker, is still making a sci-fi film called Orbital Era; he’s now set up a new studio to animate it. With Akira, Japanese manga artist, writer and director Katsuhiro Otomo made one of the most astounding animated films of all time. Although he hasn’t released a film ... Akira director Katsuhiro Otomo has set up a new animation studio
Katsuhiro Otomo, the legendary Akira manga artist and filmmaker, is still making a sci-fi film called Orbital Era; he’s now set up a new studio to animate it.
With Akira, Japanese manga artist, writer and director Katsuhiro Otomo made one of the most astounding animated films of all time.
Although he hasn’t released a film in roughly 20 years, Otomo has been trying to make an animated sci-fi feature called Orbital Era since at least 2019. And after years of silence, it looks as though the project has finally taken a step forward.
It’s recently been announced that the filmmaker has set up a new animation studio called Oval Gear, where Orbital Era is currently being developed. A graphic uploaded to the company website appears to show a Russian cosmonaut holding a skateboard and trudging across a strange, high-tech surface.
Here, have a gander:
The hand-drawn quality of the space person and the slick, Lego-like backdrop might suggest that Otomo’s new film will be a mixture of CGI and traditional animation techniques – something he explored before in Steamboy, a sci-fi adventure released in 2004.
According to some words on the Oval Gear site, “This studio was established with the aim of passing on the visual expression and authorship that Katsuhiro Otomo has cultivated over many years to the next generation, and to disseminate new animation works to the world.”
“Currently, the studio is already working on a new title,” it adds. “We will provide further details about the project as soon as they are ready.”
There are also job listings advertised on the site, and they illustrate Otomo’s stated aim of passing on skills to younger artists; ads for animation and production staff both state that candidates with no prior industry experience can still apply. The sticking point being that you’ll have to travel to the office in Musashino City, Tokyo.
Orbital Era will almost certainly be years away, given the slow, laborious nature of animation. But a new film from Otomo is always worth celebrating. Certainly, we’d take it over that long-threatened Akira live-action remake any day of the week.
A respectful tip of the hat to Bluesky’s Catsuka (and our own John Moore) for bringing the good news to our attention.
