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Japan Animator Expo Streams Kazuto Nakazawa's 'Comedy Skit 1989' Short
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The official website for Japan Anima(tor)'s Exhibition (Japan Animator Expo), the weekly anime shorts from Hideaki Anno's Studio Khara and the media company Dwango, began streaming the 26th short "Comedy Skit 1989 " ("Conte Koroshiya 1989" or "Conte Hitman 1989) on Friday.
Kazuto Nakazawa (Parasite Dolls, New Dominion Tank Police animation director, Samurai Champloo character designer) directed the short, and served as character designer and key animator at Khara. Nakazawa also wrote the short alongside Kouji Seko. The website describes the short as an "homage to comedy skit of Showa era." The official website for the short is is also displaying character designs, background art, and storyboards.
The lineup for the third season of the project is as follows:
| Title | Director/Staff |
|---|---|
| Endless night (TBC) | Sayo Yamamoto |
| Cassette Girl | Hiroyasu Kobayashi |
| Kazuyoshi Katayama Project “Untitled” (TBD) | Kazuyoshi Katayama |
| COMEDY SKIT 1989 | Kazuto Nakazawa |
| THE ULTRAMAN | Akitoshi Yokoyama |
| NEON GENESIS IMPACTS. | Yūhei Sakuragi |
| (To Be Determined) | Hiroyuki Okiura |
| HAMMERHEAD | Otaro Maijo × Mahiro Maeda |
| BUREAU OF PROTO SOCIETY | Yasuhiro Yoshiura |
| BUBU & BUBULINA | Takashi Nakamura |
| Hibiki Yoshizaki×DAOKO Project “Untitled” (TBD) | Hibiki Yoshizaki |
The titles above are listed in phonetic Japanese order, and are not necessarily in the order of their scheduled release. For the third season, Japan Animator Expo is once again releasing a new episode every Friday.
The some of the shorts are currently playing in a limited two-week engagement that ends today in 10 theaters throughout Japan. The theatrical screenings are showing all 12 episodes of the first season, plus four episodes from the upcoming third season. The screening lineup changed as of August 1.
Hideaki 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.
Image © nihon animator mihonichi LLP.
