The original concept is from the man who brought us Drakkengard and Nier
The script is by the creator of Kagerou Project, one of my favorite works of all time.
The director worked on Knights of Sidonia and has a proven handle on 3d animation.
How could I not be excited after an Anime Expo panel like that? Well, the promotional images and trailer that dropped certainly helped. Let’s take a look!
Here, we can start with a look at the main characters, in the form of the promotional postcards offered at the panel. I managed to collect a full set. It’s obvious enough that the character designer is a veteran (if not one whose work — Soul Eater and Fire Force to name big titles that got mentioned — I am the most directly familiar with), and has a very particular style. If this doesn’t end up coming out the sharpest because of whatever WordPress did to the file, I’ll try to get them scanned and made available in the coming days.
While I must apologize for the low quality jitter cam, seeing as the opportunity (encouraged by the panel!) to record and share this was rather sprung on me with maught but a phone and a bad seat, here we have a preview scene! while obviously unfinished (in terms of sound if nothing else) and lacking some context, it shows a style and visual wonder to a battle between two of our significant characters.
To me, this scene is reminiscent, at least somewhat in its feel of Bubuki Buranki‘s first season — which I occasionally faulted for its writing skill (something that’s not in question here with Jin on the case) and never for its passion or vision. The longer pitch, though still not giving away too much, sounded like a child of Mirai Nikki (with some brief clips which we weren’t explicitly asked to film and share like this one) adding to the overall feel of those two shows having a child: God candidates, selected via app, battle with weird and wonderful mystical weapons!
That said, I feel like those comparisons are selling the potential (unrealized at least until October when the thing comes out, mind you) short. We also were party to some interesting words from the creators, like the various styles (“Lies” says one, “Death”, another, “Love” a third) and tales of production, making it clear that this not the product of a madman but rather several madmen who like each other enough to laugh about the disagreements between their varied forms of madness. I mean that as the highest praise, I really do — all the best artists are at least a little mad.
With this also being an original anime, brought to use in its first and most ideal form as a show, I’m particularly excited. Original shows are something I’ve tried to highlight in my Seasonal Selection entries, in part because… everybody knows the adaptation of the famous Manga or Light Novel and what to expect from it. Sometimes I still feel compelled to cover them, either because I’m personally interested or because it seems like I can’t get away from it, but when I’ve got a chance to take a crack at something original and signal boost it by as much or as little as I can, I like to take it. After all, it’s also hard to get buzz for an original product compared to an adaptation of an already-popular one, a fact the creators of Kamierabi were only too aware of.
So, please, I invite you to look forward Kamierabi God.App with me!