"Pop Team Epic," a much-discussed series among animation and manga fans, concluded its run late last month. The final episode brimmed with dark humor as the two main characters -- Popuko and Pipimi -- merged into one and destroyed the evil mastermind King Record Co., the program's sponsor.
The anime elicits various opinions, but one of its major achievements must be boosting the profile of anime studio Kamikaze Douga. To be honest, I hadn't heard of the studio until this show came along.
"Everyone's more or less like that," studio president Jumpei Mizusaki said with a laugh.
He graduated from an art college in Kyoto before founding Kamikaze Douga in 1998, which initially had only three members. Mizusaki incorporated the office in 2003, with the ambitious goal of changing the standing of anime production companies in society.
"It's wrong for creators to passively accept that anime is hard work with low wages," Mizusaki said. "For creators to take the initiative in producing interesting work, they must be present from the beginning of production."
Kamikaze Douga distinguishes itself with images that look as if they are hand-painted, even though they are all digitally drawn and animated on computers. A good example of this style is the opening sequences of parts 1 to 3 of the TV anime adaptation of "Jojo no Kimyo na Boken" (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure), which the studio worked on from 2012 to 2015. Kamikaze Douga grabbed attention for its innovative expressions in which the drawings by author Hirohiko Araki appeared to be moving, with onomatopoeia expressions also flashing onscreen.
"Pop Team Epic" is the first TV anime series the studio has produced.
"King Record producer Kotaro Sudo brought me the original manga by Bkub Okawa. When I read it, I understood why it was for us," Mizusaki said. "It seemed like the author didn't want an 'ordinary' anime."
Mizusaki initially proposed a variety-show-like format in which short skits by different creators are compiled into episodes.
"I thought not giving one correct answer would better fit the original work and satisfy fans," he said.
Kamikaze Douga studio's motto is "compromise is death," which may lead some to believe the studio is staffed by overworked professionals. But the company carefully looks after their employees' well-being, ensuring they take enough time off, among other measures.
"[The motto] is more like the determination we show our clients," Mizusaki said. "It means, 'Let's do a good job together so we both profit, rather than completely ignoring profit.'"
Not all Kamikaze Douga works are commissioned. "Cocolors," a medium-length anime the studio produced independently in 2017, won an excellence award in the anime category at the Cultural Affairs Agency's Japan Media Arts Festival in March.
The anime became a hot topic for promotion events, in which voice actors and musicians acted out their roles live, during screenings of the film.
"Cocolors" tells the story of boys who live underground to protect themselves from the polluted environment above ground. It's an unusual work in which all the characters wear full-face masks, concealing their facial expressions. It has also won multiple overseas awards.
In June, the studio will release "Batman Ninja," its first feature-length animated film based on the U.S. comic Batman, with Mizusaki serving as director.
The creator said his passion for anime was inspired by the movie "Akira," created and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo in 1988.
"I like tough situations," Mizusaki said. "It's more fun to work amid chaos than stability," he said, a mentality that underscores the uniqueness of "Pop Team Epic."
This is the first installment of a new column on Japanese anime.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
