ABEMA Picks Three Indie Anime Projects for Funded Pilots

Japanese streaming service ABEMA announced three finalists Friday from its first Project PRISMation open call for independent animators. Each selected entry will receive production funding for a short original anime pilot slated for next year or later.

Waboku's OXY-HEAVEN is a steampunk fantasy ensemble drama. Aboard Eden, a colossal ship-nation booming with postwar reconstruction, a former doctor runs the cafe OXY HEAVEN and mends wounded souls with coffee and a healthy dose of meddling.

orange's Amneka is a fantasy comedy set in a small school far from anywhere. Six students and one teacher live together. Young Amneka tries to live peacefully with her colorful classmates, but a secret she does not know quietly unsettles their everyday life.

Dominique Garrow's Kandy-Killers for Hire is a psycho-pop dark comedy. In an absurd neon city where murder is a commercial industry, Kandie runs a scrappy assassination startup. When corporate murder conglomerate ASASU pushes her toward bankruptcy, she ropes in best friends Poppy and Gumi for a desperate, blood-soaked marketing campaign.

ABEMA held the open call from May through August. Beyond producing the pilots, it will help each work reach audiences worldwide.

That support covers project development, Japanese and English voice casting, sound and music arrangements, translation, promotion, and commercial development.

Project PRISMation works with various creators, primarily individuals and small teams making web animation, to create original anime pilot films. Its name combines "Prism" and "Animation," representing a space where diverse talents converge and shine.

The project's earlier pilot releases include:

• Poppin-Play Kitchen, released January 16, currently has 2.5 million views.
• Gluttomy, by Vietnam's rapitus, was released January 23.
• The Horrors' Horror Home, by Japan-based creator Uguisu Kobo, director Rushio Moriyama, and writer Yūya Matsuzaki, was released January 30.

The project announced its second round of pilots on September 19. It plans to release these three next month:

• Miou Hiruma's The Chatty Jewel and the Phantom Thieves
• Yū Satō's SALON de MONDE
• Fantasy Restaurant Kani's LAMPMOSS COFFEE

ABEMA describes Waboku as an animation artist and illustrator whose distinctive direction combines decadent, atmospheric worlds with a keen sense of timing. Waboku has directed numerous music videos, including Eve's "As You Like It" and ZUTOMAYO's "Byoushin wo Kamu."

ABEMA describes orange as an up-and-coming filmmaker who grew up loving short animation and came to want to create their own work. They enjoy walks and rides on nearly empty buses and trains. Their aim is to preserve small everyday ideas and sensations that are difficult to forget.

Garrow is a freelance illustrator from the United States with a passion for the cute, creepy, and crazy, according to ABEMA. Inspired by anime and manga from early childhood, she became an independent illustrator and animator creating works across platforms within the VTuber community.

She began production as a fourth-year high school student and strives to improve daily. Drawing on her experiences as an internet artist, film student, and lover of all things moe, she hopes to build memorable, imaginative worlds.