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Animator Expo Will Return in March With 'Kanón' by Gankutsuou's Mahiro Maeda

Japan Animator Expo, the project of weekly anime shorts from Hideaki Anno's Studio Khara and the media company Dwango, announced on Monday that the project's first season has ended, and that it will pick up again for the second season in March. The 13th short will be "Kanón," directed by Mahiro Maeda (Gankutsuou, Blue Submarine No. 6, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo). Hibiki Yoshizaki will serve as technical director and Tatsuya Kushida (Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo) will serve as art director.

In lieu of a summary of the short, the website has an image that reads "It's Punishment."

The first season of shorts included:

• "Ōtarō Maijō 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 & Ichiro 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"
• Akemi Hayashi's "Tomorrow from there"
• Akira Amemiya's "Gridman: Boys Invent Great Hero"
• Takashi Horiuchi and Masahiro Emoto's "Yamadeloid"
• Yasuhiro Yoshiura, Studio Rikka, and Trigger's "Power Plant No.33"
• Shinji Aramaki's "Evangelion:Another Impact"

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.