Original Anime 'Kurayami Santa' and 'Kowabon' Announced for Summer and Fall 2015

Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting (KBC) revealed two original short anime for broadcast on its network in Summer and Fall 2015. The first, Kurayami Santa, will begin airing on July 5 and run for 13 episodes. The second, Kowabon, will air in October. Both series will be animated by ILCA.

Kurayami Santa
Kurayami Santa overlays animation on archived footage from the 1960s, which was recently uncovered by KBC, in order to recreate a Showa-era atmosphere. The protagonist, Santa, is tasked with maintaining the balance between the spirit and human worlds. One setting to be used is the now-abandoned Hashima Island in Nagasaki Prefecture, which was previously an active mining facility during the Industrial Revolution.

Staff
Planning, Character Design: Chouji Yoshikawa (associate producer for Pokemon series)
Director, Episode Director: Manabu Nakamura
Script: Hiromu Kumamoto
Episode Direction Advisor: Shinji Nishikawa (special effects design for Godzilla films)
Music: Yasuhiko Fukuda
Studio: ILCA

Cast
Santa Kurayami: Kazuko Sugiyama
Honekami Jizou: Katsue Miwa
Enma Daiou: Hidekatsu Shibata
Ichinosuke Shikabane: Mao Ichimichi
Mutsuko Tomurai: Ami Himesaki (idol group LinQ member)

Kurayami Santa PV


Official site: http://www.kbc.co.jp/santa/


Kowabon
Kowabon, a horror story, will be animated using a technique called rotoscoping. Animators will trace live-action footage frame-by-frame to recreate it as animation.

Staff
Director: Kazuma Taketani
Script: Hiromu Kumamoto
Studio: ILCA

Cast
Yuumi Takaki, Natsu Amano (idol group LinQ members)

Kowabon teaser


Official site: http://www.kbc.co.jp/kowabon/

Source: Kai-You

Kurayami Santa & Kowabon on MAL

Huh, they look interesting, specially the last one. Will be watching most likely.

Too bad they're shorts :|
Will still watch though.

The Kurayami Santa anime looks interesting especially for the PV.

That sounds really interesting.Really looking forward to it,good shorts are always welcomed :)

Sounds interesting. Lets hope the final product is too.

I don't like Kowabon, the art is crap, Kurayami Santa is another story as it is a historical experience that's a must watch for that reason alone.

looks intresting

both of these look pretty cool, will check them out.

Studio ILCA = Studio of Horror.

Looks like hipster shit

The first one looks more creepy than the Kowabon one lol. Both look interesting though. Will probably watch. ^_^

The first one intrigues me. Too bad they will be shorts :(

When I saw ILCA, I was expecting something like Yami Shibai. Well, Kurayami Santa's theme song is great though. Not sure what to think of Kowabon yet. Still have good expectations for both.

Sweet! Both sound good to me!
The first one is really up my alley but I'll watch both!

talk about old school

sooo
anime's getting more realistic these days
i sweat that shouting female was a real shouting female
turns out she was animated

How Can Actors Be Real If TVs Aren't Real?????

I'm really looking forward to the 2nd one, rotoscoping stuff is not bad, it worked quite nice in Aku no Hana. At least imo.

Will probably work even better in this one if it will be a short.

Both of those seem pretty bad, but the first at least has potential. The latter will probably be angsty stuff like Aku no Hana.

I might watch the first one, the second is absolutely not my thing.

"Kowabon, a horror story, will be animated using a technique called rotoscoping." God damn, that's gonna be scary.....because of rotoscoping.

No thanks for both of them.

Rotoscoping sounds really cool. And it's a horror! I'll be watching that one :)

Will check out Kowabon, pass for Kurayami.

Kurayami looks like it has some potential to it. I'll check it out.

As for Kowabon, the rotoscoping is cool but it could be just a gimmick. Pass for now.

I'm only interested in Kurayami Santa because of old school seiyu.

This sounds like something completely different! Nice that they're short - if it's terrible, it's only terrible for a short while, and if it's great, then we can always hope for more episodes or a full-length original. Hope for some more key visuals soon.

Kurayami Santa looks very interesting. Too bad it's short episodes, but oh well.

Will Kowabon look like Aku no Hana? Not a fan of roto, but anyway, horror story interests me.

Kurayami Santa sounds and looks so dope. PTW.

I'll wait to hear more about Kowabon.

I'm in. It's fine that they're shorts, I never expected something like Kurayami Santa to be anything more than a short, and though Kowabon looks like it'll be a horror and it being a short makes me cringe *Pupa flashbacks ensue*, it's being rotoscoped and so I think it being a short will work best in that aspect. We'll see how this goes, though, they can end up being crap or pretty cool at this point.

kurayami looks very intriguing, i'll try checking it out when the time comes.

i actually don't mind rotoscoping, so i may check out kowabon as well. i'm just really squeamish when it comes to horror, and i hope it isn't super scary.

Always looking for good horror animes. Even if i have a better first impression on Kowabon i will watch both.

very nice , the fist one looks very good to me .

And since I'm heavily curious and interested in all things that touch Rotoscoping , I'll be waiting for that second one , even if the actual content doesn't look that appealing to me .

Interesting, I will look forward to see them!

Indeed, they look interesting !

Ah, I hate rotoscoping. Too bad.

Aku no Hana 2.0?

These could either be completely amazing or among the worst anime of all time -- there is no in-between.

They both look very interesting and unique, particularly Kurayami Santa. Will check both of the out.

Rotoscoping and horror looks interesting..

I wish they could do a bit more than just recreating the feel of old anime. Look at Kaiba it's super retro but also modern at the same time.

Dat acting.

Rotoscoping? Mehh. Call me when they finally have a capable actor/actress.

Rotoscoping? No thanks. Just make it a regular morning TV drama in live action and i will definitely give it a try

Kurayami Santa looks very interesting, not just for its black/white 1960s anime design, but because they're using live-action footage and they've employed a VFXpert from the Godzilla films.

This should be very interesting to watch.

I am intrigued. Non-conventional ways to animate sounds interesting and can turn out great (I liked the rotoscoping in Aku no Hana). The fact that they are shorts makes it easier to try out these series.

The former could be labelled as "a blast to the past" while the latter of those two anime is outright weird.

The live action background gimmick alone is enough to make me want to watch Kurayami Santa.