News

Shirobako Producers Discuss Possibility of Sequel

During a panel at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival (TAAF) on March 20, P.A. Works CEO Kenji Horikawa, voice actress Juri Kimura (Aoi Miyamori in Shirobako), Kohei Kawase of Warner Entertainment Japan, and Takayuki Nagatani of Infinite discussed the potential of a sequel to the Shirobako anime.

When asked what episode they would like to see if there were a sequel, Horikawa replied, "We've got plenty of material to work off of," and "I want to see a story about Aoi going back to her hometown and teaching an anime class for children."

When asked about the possibility for a sequel, Nagatani said, "We wanted people who watched Shirobako to get a lot out of the show. If we could decide on a theme, there might be a chance [for a sequel]."

Kawase hinted, "The show was made by sampling what we could from the current age, but there are many things we haven't sampled yet."

The show won the Television Animation Award at TAAF.

Shirobako focuses primarily on Aoi Miyamori, a production assistant at a fictional anime studio called Musashino Animations. The story follows the daily office life and problems that arise in an animation studio, and the workflow in making an anime. Parallel to that, the show also focuses on Miyamori's friends, who all work or are aiming to work in the anime industry: a key animator, a CG animator, an aspiring voice actress, and a scriptwriter.

The anime premiered in October 2014, and Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan. Sentai Filmworks licensed the anime for home video in North America, and released the first volume on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on February 9.

Source: Inside Games (Katsunori Takahashi) via Hachima Kikō