Studio 4℃ has revealed a new original anime movie production tentatively titled Future Kid Takara, which it aims to complete in 2025. A Kickstarter campaign has been set up to fund a 15 second pilot clip for the CGI project, with the campaign page citing difficulty in “raising money for offbeat work like ours.”
The plot, which is subject to change, will follow a girl called Sara who ends up in the year 2100. There, she and “the protagonist Takara try to navigate a world ravaged by the effects of global warming.” The film is described as “an action-packed, family-oriented film set in a dystopian future.”
Yuuta Sano (Berserk: The Golden Age Arc – Memorial Edition, Poupelle of Chimney Town animation director) is directing the movie with Shinji Kimura (Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko art director) as world designer and original character designer, Shun Hasegawa (Berserk: The Golden Age Arc – Memorial Edition, Poupelle of Chimney Town) as animation producer, and Dr. Seita Emori as science advisor.
The announcement on Studio 4℃’s Twitter account says that the production will attempt to reduce on-site CO2 emissions. On its Kickstarter page, the studio cited the April 2022 The Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and wrote, “They firmly sounded the alarm by saying that if we don’t immediately act to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2025 by changing our society, there is a high possibility that future generations will suffer… The release of this film will coincide with an important period best described as humanity’s ‘last chance.’ Our aim will be to help raise awareness of the grave problems facing the environment and inspire action towards decarbonization.”
Various concept art for Future Kid Takara are available on the pilot’s Kickstarter page.
The highest Kickstarter tier, which requires a minimum pledge of 400,000 yen (~US$3032), will offer fans a private tour of Studio 4℃’s studio in Kichijoji, Tokyo in addition to other rewards like a shikishi, special message artwork, the pilot clip, and access to a private fan community Instagram account. The rewards do not cover the travel expenses.
Studio 4℃ aims to release the pilot and Kickstarter rewards at the end of this year.
Studio 4℃’s previous CG anime movie was 2020’s Poupelle of Chimney Town. That same year, the company paid a staff member on its 2019 film Children of the Sea 2.8 million yen (~US$21,165) for unpaid overtime after being sued in October 2019.
Source: @STUDIO4C