Nearly eight years after the original Kickstarter to produce its pilot was launched, Mecha-Ude is finally a full-fledged series! Created by indie animator Okamoto, Mecha-Ude is a shonen action anime about humans who’ve bonded with the titular enigmatic mechanical alien arms, following the protagonist Hikaru as he stumbles into bonding with a particularly powerful, friendly, and curiously amnesiac Mecha-Ude named Alma, and gets involved in a conflict between rival organizations wrestling for control of the Mecha-Ude. Okamoto conceived of Mecha-Ude as an animation student, and inspired by other then-indie animators like Yasuhiro Yoshiura and Makoto Shinkai, she decided to self-produce and crowdfund a pilot for the series through her own indie student-founded freelance animation studio, Tri-F.
Mecha-Ude’s Kickstarter met it’s initial goal in just two days and drummed up a lot of support – 999 backers! – raising over double the original target and leading to the pilot being produced and released, including with an english dub, in 2019. Three years later, Pony Canyon announced that they would be creating a full Mecha-Ude series. Alongside the anime announcement, a manga adaptation for Mecha-Ude was launched and simulpublished in english on Azuki, allowing longtime Mecha-Ude fans to get a preview of the full scope of the series’s story. The manga has just now come to an end, with full-color editions to be published by Scholastic Graphix in Spring 2025.
When the Kickstarter for Mecha-Ude was launched in October 2016, I was still an animation student at SVA. The series caught my attention thanks to its well-made proof-of-concept teaser trailer that showed off its unique concept, exciting and energetic action animation, striking color design and effects animation, and creative character and mechanical designs. As a fledgling animator myself, Okamoto’s ambition to self-produce her own anime and personal passion project was deeply inspiring and resonated with me. I was an early backer, and have been keeping tabs on the project ever since, intrigued to see how the series and Okamoto’s career would develop. I was thrilled to hear the production of the series announced by Pony Canyon and excited to see the premiere of the first episode at Anime Expo 2023, the first in a series of screenings of the series at various conventions throughout the next year leading up to the series’ streaming debut.
At the Mecha-Ude panel at #AnimeExpo2023, featuring director Okamoto, Pony Canyon producer Tetsuya Kinoshita, and TriF producer Shuichi Aso!
They just premiered the first episode and a brand new PV for the show, which will be coming out next year! pic.twitter.com/AugaibIi65
— LumRanmaYasha (@LumRanmaYasha) July 2, 2023
The first episode, which you can stream now on Crunchyroll, is a delight! The story is classic shonen; protagonist Hikaru is a passive and indecisive kid worried about being judged, spurred to fight for what’s right and unlock untapped power within through a chance encounter finding a new friend/mentor in Alma. He’s complemented by an emotionally cold rival, Aki, a girl who takes her job very seriously and resents the Hikaru’s naivety, recruited by a secret governmental organization who partner with and protect Mecha-Ude against a secretive evil corporate organization who seek to use them as tools of oppression. The series employs an interesting hybridization of 2D and 3D animation, where the Mecha-Udes are usually depicted in 3D while human characters are 2D, though Okamoto noted they animate the Mecha-Ude’s in 2D during scenes where they felt they would be able to make more of an impact. I’m curious to see how the original pilot will compare when reanimated in the series as the third episode. Mecha-Ude was always envisioned as a multi-episode series before the pilot, and the series as it is now is a refined version of her original story concept that they’re now following through on.
Mecha-Ude’s scrappy energy, underdog story, character designs, and it’s dynamic action scenes felt reminiscent of an early Studio Trigger show, a feeling that’s helped by a suitably bombastic soundtrack compared by Hiroyuki Sawano. In particular, the dynamic between Hikaru and Alma is very reminiscent of Ryoko and Senketsu’s from Kill la Kill, and much like how Studio Trigger infused KLK with so much bombastic creative energy to loudly announce themselves and what they’re all about as a studio to the world, Mecha-Ude also feels like TriF Studio’s statement to anime fans that “we’re here, here’s what we’re capable of, let’s do this!” In an industry saturated with studios who’ve been relegated to churning out workmanlike adaptations, sequels, and reboots with few opportunities to explore original ideas, Mecha-Ude is a shot in the arm for encouraging the development of new, original and independant anime in Japan, and I weclome it with open arms!
When I was offered the opportunity to interview Okamoto, Pony Canyon producer Tetsuya Kinoshita, and Tri-F producer Shuichi Aso at Anime Expo 2023, I jumped at the chance. It was an honor and pleasure to meet and speak with Okamoto in-person after having followed the project and her career for nearly a decade. We discussed Okamoto’s career journey as an independent animator, the state and future of indie anime in Japan, and the themes and messages Okamoto hopes to inspire in viewers through the show. Read on to “arm” yourself with more insights into Mecha-Ude!
Interview with Mecha-Ude Creator Okamoto, Pony Canyon producer Tetsuya Kinoshita, and Tri-F producer Shuichi Aso | Anime Expo 2023
Manga Mavericks: Hello! I am Siddharth from Manga Mavericks, here reporting at Anime Expo with the team behind the mecha-mazing new anime series, Mecha-Ude!
We have the director, Okamoto-san, we have Tri-F studio animation producer, Shuichi Aso, and we have Pony Canyon producer, Tetsuya Kinoshida.
Thank you all for meeting with me today. I have been following Mecha-Ude and Tri-F’s work since your original Kickstarter, and I’m so excited at how far the series has come, and to have the opportunity to talk with you about your journey developing it.
Okamoto & Aso: Thank you very much.
MM: Thank you! Thank you for coming here. I was wondering – what has been your experience interacting with fans of Mecha-Ude here in the U.S. and seeing the reactions to the premiere at yesterday’s panel?
Okamoto: I got to meet so many people who did the Kickstarter at the panel, so that made me very happy.
Aso: There were a lot of people who participated in the Kickstarter that were at the panel.
MM: Yeah, that was amazing. It was like a full room, and that was so cool to see.
But yeah, it’s been such a great journey for Mecha-Ude, and for you, Okamoto-san, it’s been like a decade since you first released your short film 11:08 and worked on your first projects in the industry. I was wondering how you feel you’ve grown as an animator/director/creator since then – now reaching this point in your career where you’re directing a full-fledged anime series?
Okamoto: Basically, I’ve been working on Mecha-Ude for about eight years now. Obviously, first as an indie project, and now it’s more of a full-fledged project. But being able to interact with fans has been great, and also meeting Kinoshida-san, who’s the producer from Pony Canyon, has been a very big influence on the project itself.
MM: Yeah, that’s amazing. And, a question for Kinoshida-san then – when did you first become aware of Mecha-Ude as a project, and what were your initial reactions to it, and how did Pony Canyon get involved with it?
Kinoshida: Well, I found out about the project by watching the pilot, and that’s exactly when I knew that I wanted to be involved in the project.
MM: That’s amazing. Yeah, it’s incredible for a project of Mecha-Ude’s ambition to get off the ground like that. It’s very rare. But, do you feel that the climate is changing in the anime industry where more independent anime projects are able to be produced like this?
Okamoto: I don’t think there’s much change within the industry itself, but there are a lot of students know who are pretty ambitious and want to make their own animation. So, I think there’ll be more independent projects coming up in the future because of that.
MM: Yeah, I think that’s very exciting that there are a lot of ambitious up-and-coming animators. What do you think would need to change about the way the industry is now for independent animation to be easier to produce?
Aso: That’s a very hard question. (laughs)
Okamoto: Basically, how the Japanese animate. When actual studios are making it, the roles are pretty split up. So, that’s good. But when indie production people are doing it, they’re basically doing all the roles themselves. So, I don’t really have a request for the industry itself, but maybe if people who are indies and can do all those things can get into the business a little easier, that would be great.
MM: I agree, and one of the things I find really cool about Tri-F as a studio is that you’re based in Fukuoka rather than Tokyo, and staffed with mostly young animators. I was interested in learning more about your goals in founding the studio, and whether you believe there’s more of an opportunity for the anime industry in Japan to start becoming decentralized from Tokyo?
Aso: I think there’s already a change happening. But even with Tri-F studio, that’s in Fukuoka, has a central office in Tokyo. So, Tokyo’s still involved, but I think we’ll start moving away from it eventually.
MM: Especially as we’ve seen the rise of more international involvement in anime productions, it feels like the work can become more international and more split-up in different places.
Aso & Okamoto: Yes. Thank you.
MM: Now, I want to talk a little bit about the theme of the series. Okamoto-san, I watched an interview with you before where you said “determination” is a driving theme of Mecha-Ude. Can you speak more about how that theme is expressed in the series, and what it means to you personally?
Okamoto: So, I’ve always been wanting to relay my feelings to everyone through this project in just how fun it is. It’s slightly changing now, but I still want everyone to. I still want to relay that feeling of determination to everyone.
MM: Yeah, I thought that was expressed really well in both the pilot and the first episode. And, I want to just leave our interview off with by asking; What message would you like fans to take away from Mecha-Ude, and what would you like fans to look forward to seeing most in the series?
Okamoto: We’re in the middle of production right now, and in Mecha-Ude, the characters are very essential and very important to the series, and I want the fans to basically see how hard the characters are working.
Aso: Pretty much the director said everything I wanted to say. So, speaking of the studio, this project started when she was a student still, so I want everyone to look forward to it.
Thank you for watching a lot of our older interviews and stuff.
MM: Oh yeah, it’s a pleasure. I’ve been following the project since the Kickstarter.
Aso: We’re very thankful.
Kinoshida: Basically, if a series like Mecha-Ude become a hit, I want it to give courage and hope for young animators to make more stuff like that, and so hopefully there’ll be more of that in the future. So I want fans to definitely support the project.
MM: Absolutely. Thank you very much for this interview, and looking so forward to seeing the full Mecha-Ude series next year.
Aso: It definitely still needs a little bit of push, and word-of-mouth, so please let everybody know about the project.
MM: I absolutely will. Thank you.
Aso & Okamoto: Thank you very much.
_________________________________
Thanks so much to Okamoto, Aso, and Kinoshida for their time, and to Evan Minto for his help in arranging and facilitating this interview. For more thoughts on Mecha-Ude, listen to our review of the first few chapters of the manga on Manga Mavericks. And be sure to watch the Mecha-Ude anime, now streaming on Crunchyroll, and read the manga on Azuki!
