Nov 6, 2016

Exclusive Interview: "The Dam Keeper" to be Animated on Hulu in Japan

Tonko House, the studio founded by filmmakers Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, is partnering with Japan's Hulu to co-produce a series of short films based on characters from the 2015 Academy Award-nominated short film "The Dam Keeper."

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Tonko will focus on the friendship between Pig and Fox, the main characters of the short film, in a 5-minute Ten episodes will be produced. The series will begin airing on Hulu Japan in the summer of 2017. (Hulu Japan is owned by NTV and operated separately from the U.S.-based company affiliated with Disney, 21st Century Fox, NBC Universal, and Time Warner.)

Eric Oh, who served as animation supervisor on the original short "The Dam Keeper," recently left Pixar, where he was an animator on "Monsters University," "Inside Out," and "Finding Dory," to He joined the company. He will oversee the series in-house at Tonko's headquarters in Berkeley, Calif. Kondo and Tsutsumi will serve as executive producers.

Executives at Hulu Japan, who were enthusiastic about "The Dam Keeper," began discussions to launch a project using characters from the film. Tonko's Dice Tsutsumi told Cartoon Brew, "Hats off to Hulu Japan for trusting us and wanting to work with us (instead of an already established franchise)."

Early discussions with Hulu Japan centered on a half-hour special, but when the idea shifted to a short-form series, Kondo and Tsutsumi turned to Eric Oh, who has produced several award-winning independent shorts, including "Heart" and "Way Home. We thought Eric would bring a different flavor to the film while keeping the franchise alive," said Tsutsumi. There is no one else we trust as much as Eric, and we wouldn't be doing this project if he hadn't come on board."

Tsutsumi explained that although the series will be self-contained, it will follow the same core theme as other Dam Keeper projects (including a feature film currently in development): facing the light and dark within oneself. Trained as a traditional animator, Wang plans to produce the series as a hand-drawn project, which, according to Tsutsumi, will highlight Wang's line quality and watercolor style. Promo images showing the style of the series can be seen at the beginning of this article.

"We are very grateful for this opportunity to present the world and characters of The Dam Keeper on another storytelling platform. This 10-episode television series focuses on Pig's emotional journey as he attempts to overcome his fears and emptiness through his friendship and companionship with Fox." We hope it will be heartfelt, humorous, and sincere, bringing laughter and tears to our viewers."