Shopping Guide
An anime series titled Etotama that combines girls, battles, and an everyday story will start its television broadcast from next April. Etotama is an original anime made in a joint project by Shirogumi and Tablier Communications. It is based on the Chinese zodiac (called eto in Japanese), a concept the Japanese have known since ancient times. As such, the main characters of the series will be the etomusume (zodiac girls) who take the shapes of animals. Twelve among them are chosen to serve as messengers to the gods and become the 12 zodiac signs, which can be achieved by winning through to the last round of the ETM 12, the selection festival of the Eto Gods that is held only once every 60 years. Now, the next ETM 12 is about to be held, and among the contestants, there is a feline etomusume named Nya-tan.
Looking at its story, Etotama might seem like an average piece, but it’s also full of gimmicks you wouldn’t find anywhere else. For starters, let’s take the unusual collaboration between Shirogumi and Tablier, the creators of this project. Shirogumi is a studio that works in a wide range of fields including movies, VFX, and anime. You might’ve heard about them from Ukkari Penelope or Moyashimon. On the other hand, Tablier creates radio programmes and events themed on anime and games. As these companies are working in two entirely different businesses, it’ll be interesting to see what result this unusual collaboration will produce.
Another special point is that they are separating the video into 2D and 3D parts. Not only that, the 2D and 3D animation parts will be animated by different studios! The characters will have an adult mode and a pretty mode that will be depicted in 2D and 3D, respectively.
The production of the 2D parts––which depict the noisy everyday––is supervised by Encourage Films, with Akio Watanabe doing the character designs. Meanwhile, Shirogumi, the production supervisor and one of the creators of the original concept, is taking on the 3D animation parts with QP:flapper as character designer. How they will manage to combine these parts might be one of the most interesting aspects of this piece.
On Nov. 13, new information was announced regarding the show: Key visuals, character settings, and a PV were released on Etotama’s official home page. The long-awaited cast list is as follows: Rie Murakawa is voicing Nya-tan, Eriko Matsui is Mo-tan, Ari Ozawa is playing Uma-tan, and Yumiri Hanamori is Uri-tan, while Takeru Amato’s role falls on Hiro Shimono. Put together a cute design and popular voice stars, and we’ll get excited fo sure!
Etotama
Scheduled to air from April 2015
http://etotama.com
Staff
Production Supervision: Shirogumi
Original Work: Shirogumi & Tablier Communications
Original Planning/Settings: Takashi Hoshi & Toru Zeku
Director: Fumitoshi Oizaki
CG Director: Takamitsu Hirakawa
Series Composition & Script: Deko Akao
Adult Character Original Planning: QP:flapper
Adult Character Design & Supervising Animation Director: Satoshi Koike
Pretty Character Design: Asami Takahashi
3D Animation Production: Shirogumi
2D Animation Production: Encourage Films
Cast
Nya-tan: Rie Murakawa
Mo-tan: Eriko Matsui
Uma-tan: Ari Ozawa
Uri-tan: Yumiri Hanamori
Takeru Amato: Hiro Shimono
Etotama
© Etotama Production Committee
Source: animeanime
