The Netflix original anime series “Japan Sinks: 2020”, the anime which the director Yuasa Masaaki adopted Komatsu Sakyou's greatest novel, will be exclusively streamed from Jul. 9, 2020 worldwide.
The director Yuasa had participated in the national anime like “Chibi Maruko-chan”, “Crayon Shin-chan”, and “Doraemon” from the beginning.
Starting from “Mind Game”, he had produced many works with unique views of the world, such as “The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl” and “Lu Over the Wall”. Those works gained wide popularity both in Japan and abroad and won several awards in many prestigious movie festivals.
In 2020, not only “Japan Sink 2020”, which is 2nd Netflix original animation after “DEVILMAN crybaby”, but also the streaming of “Keep Your Hands Off of Eizouken” became a hot topic on the internet as soon as its broadcast had begun.
In conclusion, the director Yuasa is a creator who keeps surprising the audience with works with existence by partnering up with Matsumoto Taiyou of “Ping Pong” and Nogi Akiko of “We Married As a Job”, and awaiting the release of the movie “Inuo”.
In this article, we will pick up the director Yuasa's work, which can be currently seen on Netflix, before the release of “Japan Sinks: 2020” this summer.
“The Tatami Galaxy” is based on the novel by Morimi Tomihiko, the author who had received the Best 15th Japan Fantasy Novel Award with “The Tower of Sun”, and is the first work of the director Yuasa in Noitamina that he created together with Mad House (the animation studio known for Summer Wars). The story is set in Kyoto and depicts Youth mystery of “me”, who spent meaningless 2 years after entering the university, switching a total of 4 parallel worlds.
It received the Agency of Cultural Affairs Media Art Festival Animation Section Award for the first time in the history of anime and won the best TV Department Award in the 10th Tokyo Anime Award.
“Ping Pong THE ANIMATION” is a popular manga by Matsumoto Taiyou which is adopted into the live-action movie in 2002 with actors like Kubozuka Yousuke, ARATA, and Nakamura Shidou.
It depicts the youth story of two young boys who devote their lives for playing ping pong, their rivals, and its uniqueness comes from the director Yuasa himself recreated the designs from the original manga. It won TV Department Grand Prix in Anime from the Year on Anime Award held in 2015.
“The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl” is the animation movie based on the best-seller novel by Morimi Tomihiko, which recorded over 1.2 million copies. The story is set in a night in Kyoto, and depicts non-stoppable romance youth story revolves around the unpopular male university student “Senpai” and an underclassman whom he loves “a girl with black hair”. It became a hot topic also because Hoshino Gen played “Senpai” in the movie.
In the Ottawa International Animation Movie Festival, it had won the Best Movie Grand Prix. It also had won the Best Animation Work Award in the 41st Japan Academy Award.
“DEVILMAN crybaby” is the anime adoption of Nagai Gou's everlasting great work “Devilman”, which was said that the complete anime adoption of it was impossible, into Netflix original anime series. The story depicts the nature of humans through the battles between the protagonist Fudou Akira with devil powers and the opposing demons.
“The true form of Devilman” gained popularity all over the world for being expressed based on the world view of “Devilman”, which keeps receiving support even now. It had been nominated for 7 awards in Crunchyroll Anime Award 2019, and won the Best Director Award and the Best Animation Award called “Anime of the Year” as the result.
The works by the director Yuasa contains the originality. We recommend to watch all of his works in both cases if your haven't seen any of them, or if you have already saw it on Netflix.
The director Yuasa Masaaki's latest work “Japan Sinks: 2020” will be exclusively streamed on Netflix from Jul. 9, 2020 around the world.
(C)“JAPAN SINKS : 2020”Project Partners