This summer, indie animation wades into the mainstream on Japanese TV with the debut of Ikimono-san, a new series inspired by award-winning animator Atsushi Wada’s debut game My Exercise. These wonder-filled adventures will unfold on July 7 through TAB Channel, which has just released the official series trailer, key art and announce the theme song artist.
Ikimono-san is self-adapted by Wada, and centers on two main characters: Bōzu (a boy with a buzz cut) and his partner, Inu (a dog). In each strange and delightful episode, viewers follow along as the friends encounter various living creatures (ikimono) — Bōzu wants to be just like each being they meet, and Inu wants to make his wish come true.
The show will feature a theme song by the rising musical stars of pop band Nekosen. Their first album, Honey, Moon, Travels, was released on February 2, 2022, receiving much positive buzz —
physical versions of the album, released last December, sold out in Japan and abroad immediately. In March 2023, Nekosen attracted more attention with their cover of the Sunny Day Service classic “Sakura super love.”
Wada writes and directs on the series, which voice stars Makoto from Yoneda2000 as Bōzu and Norihiro Urai of another comedy duo, Dansei Blanco, as Inu. Nobuaki Doi handled series planning and producing. The series is produced by New Deer, which backed My Exercise and Wada’s award-winning 2022 short film Bird in the Peninsula, as well as Yoriko Mizushiri’s Anxious Body and Sawako Kabuki’s I’m Late, and is currently in development on Mirai Mizue’s colorful take on Journey to the West.
Born in 1980 and graduated from Osaka Kyoiku University, Image Forum Institute of Moving Image and Tokyo University of the Arts, Wada began creating short animations in self-study in 2002, inspired by the traditional Japanese concept of “Ma”, the tension produced between movements.
His film Day of Nose (2005) won Best Short Film at Norwich International Animation Festival, and Well, That’s Glasses (2007) won Best Film of the Young Jury at the Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival. In a Pig’s Eye (2010) screened at Zagreb, Annecy, Hiroshima and Ottawa, winning Best Film at Fantoche and Grand Prix at LIAFF. The Mechanism of Spring (2010) premiered at Venice, and The Great Rabbit (2012) won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale. In 2020, he directed the first game, My Exercise, which reached more than 2 million views of the play video by live streamers worldwide. Bird in the Peninsula (2022), his latest short film, won a Special Mention at Berlinale and Grand Prix at Ottawa.
