8 years after a successful Kickstarter, the first-time anime series director’s show, ‘Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms’ is now streaming on Crunchyroll; it blends traditional 2D with hand-retouched 3DCG to deliver fluid, lifelike human-machine characters.
Before Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms was released as a pilot on YouTube in 2019, and even before its Kickstarter campaign began in 2016, creator Sae Okamoto says the project began simply out of curiosity.
“It all started from a desire to try drawing machines,” shares Okamoto. “Humans are soft and organic, so I wanted to draw mecha as a contrast. It’s been about eight years since the Kickstarter crowdfunding ended, and I'm genuinely thrilled and happy to finally be able to deliver the continuation of the pilot episode to everyone.”
Mechanical Arms, now available to stream on Crunchyroll, takes place in a future where unknown mechanical beings have descended upon Earth, randomly fusing with humans in order to survive. These beings are called "Mecha-Ude" because they resemble mechanized limbs and appendages. While most Mecha-Ude are harmless, some are violent and used for nefarious purposes by equally villainous individuals like the “Kagami Group.”
When said group learns that Alma, a rare Mecha-Ude also known as “Trigger Arm,” has bonded with middle school student Hikaru Amatsuga, the unassuming teenager must cooperate with Alma and other Mecha-Ude users to prevent the Kagami Group from claiming Alma for their world-ending destructive plans.
Produced by TriF Studio and Pony Canyon, the series marks Okamoto’s anime series directorial debut.
Check out the trailer:
“I've done a variety of jobs, not only animation but background art, 3D CG, and more, but I haven't actually worked in the typical Tokyo anime industry before,” shares Okamoto. “Since I was a student, I've worked on illustrations and short animations for commercials, as well as creating music videos.”
But Mecha-Ude is a dream come true for Okamoto, who has waited eight years to see her Kickstarter idea become a reality.
“I don’t remember exactly how animation producer Shûichi Asô conveyed the news to me, but we had originally planned for the project to be a series, so when I heard it was finally happening, I felt excited and energized. But some things have changed since the pilot. I hope viewers pay close attention to those details.”
One of Okamoto’s favorite details in the show involves the animation for the Mechas. While much of the series, like most anime, is animated in 2D, the Mecha-Ude characters are primarily 3DCG with a bit of 2D touch-ups, which not all viewers may catch.
“First, the animators create rough sketches that include both the Mecha-Ude and the humans to decide on the movement,” explains Okamoto. “Then, based on those sketches, we animate the Mecha-Ude in 3DCG. In the rough animation phase, we animated the movements in a soft, lifelike way but, as soon as it was converted into 3DCG, the movements became technically accurate, and it lost some of its 2D charm. We managed to overcome this by retouching over the 3DCG and focusing on making the Mecha-Ude appear as lifelike as possible, carefully going back and forth between 3DCG and hand-drawn animation to create a sense of softness. We put extra care into this, even if it meant sacrificing efficiency.”
Recruiting the expertise of character designers Terumi Nishii and Yoko Uchida, Okamoto and her team also aimed to create a unified look among both the humans and Mechas, refining the visuals in a way that wouldn’t drastically change the impression for those who had seen the 2019 pilot.
“Since most of the new staff hadn’t worked on anime before, we also asked Nishii and Uchida to make the designs as easy to draw as possible… in a cute way. Of course, making them look cool was also important, but I really focused on how softly I could portray the mecha in the design and movements.”
When it came to movements, Okamoto even got the chance to put her music video production skills to good use for Mecha-Ude. “I always strive to create work with a good rhythm,” she notes. “I’m not sure if you could call it 'musical,' but during the previsualization stage, I recorded my own voice for the characters to check the pacing, and then had the voice actors record their final performances based on that. You could definitely say I built the visuals around the audio.”
There are nine episodes of the anime in total and, in each one, there’s a new character and Mecha-Ude introduced.
Okamoto shares, “With a variety of Mecha-Udes and Mecha-Ude users appearing, I hope you'll all find a favorite character.”
Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
