Tokyo Olympics 2020 Orders Anime Short From Studio Ponoc

Japan is pulling out all the stops for next year's Summer Olympics being held in Tokyo. Aside from [...]

By Evan Valentine

Japan is pulling out all the stops for next year's Summer Olympics being held in Tokyo. Aside from all the festivities that usually come with an Olympic Celebration, the country is even going so far as to launch a "Gundam Satellite" into outer space, housing two of the smaller mech models. The satellite itself will sport messages from Olympic hopefuls as well as viewers to spread the word. To continue their preparations, news has dropped that Japan will be employing Studio Ponoc to assist them in creating a new animated short film for the proceedings.

The Twitter Account AnimeReport1 posted the news that Studio Ponoc would be employed as part of the Summer Olympic celebration from news outlet, Kyodo News Plus:

For those unfamiliar with Studio Ponoc, the animation studio was actually created fairly recently in 2015, with the former lead film producer, Yoshiaki Nishimura, of Studio Ghibli opening up shop. The first feature length film that the studio has made is Mary and the Witch's Flower which was released in 2017. Following this in 2018, the studio created an anthology film titled Modest Heroes that has three stories linked by fantastical occurrences and magic.

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(Photo: Studio Ponoc)

Mary and the Witch's Flower, which could definitely be mistaken for a Studio Ghibli picture on many levels, follows our titular character, Mary, as she gains the ability to be a witch for only one night thanks in part to a magical flower. The story itself takes place in England as Mary attempts to use this newly found magic to make things better in her life, but she eventually discovers that magic isn't what she needs to enrich herself.

The previous Summer Olympics in 2016 took place in Brazil and managed to incorporate a lot of the culture and showmanship from the country. With the hiring of Studio Ponoc as well as the inclusion of such extraordinary ideas like launching a "Gundam Satellite", we're sure to see more new coming down the pike from Japan about how it manages to incorporate its culture into next year's big event.

While we still don't know exactly what the animated short will be about, but Ponoc itself had the following to say about the short: "The animated film will center around the Olympic spirit of "excellence, respect and friendship". We ultimately look forward to seeing what Studio Pono can create to match the spectacle of the Olympic celebration next year.

What do you think of Studio Ponoc creating an animated short for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo? What would you like to see the animated feature be about specifically? What aspects of Japan would you like to see included? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.

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