Oh Ikuni, What Exactly Are You Working On...

Since May 29th, Kunihiko "Ikuni" Ikuhara (Director throughout the series and movies) has posted storyboards from the opening sequence of an anime on his blog. This one is slated to premiere in two weeks. We’d love to tell you which anime it was, but we don’t know. In fact, nobody knows. Ikuni hasn’t posted the name of it either. We have a hunch (along with many fans) that it might be the upcoming Yuri anime, Aoi Hana. The drawings look sort of similar to the trailer that we have seen. He also mentioned a "quiet" tune, and the song in the trailer seems to be pretty calming. He has posted the most interesting of entries along with these pictures of the storyboards.And as always, they end with his pondering caricature. His entries (most times) give readers something to think about. We've posted the pictures, along with the links and brief summaries of his posts below.


May 29th: his first post with a drawing! He speaks about wanting to read Haruki Murakami’s new book, 1Q84 , and how he is under the gun to finish this sequence. It was changed so suddenly, and at the last minute, and he was scrambling! He is desperate to get this done, and at the same time really wants to read Murakami’s book in the ultimate act of escapism.




June 4th: he revealed he was working on a part of the opening sequence meant for a "quiet tune", and that it was supposed to hint at the climax of the series. He remarked that it was difficult to draw what might be in the minds of the characters in this sequence. He also felt a little uneasy since he doesn't entirely know what the climax of this series is supposed to be (or how the anime will get there). This part will be colorful though!




June 16th: this one talks about how Japan recovered after a war by experiencing a period of economic growth. He also talks about how what is worth happiness changes witch each new generation and this has to do with the growing amount of money as society trudges on. He makes not of being in a recession, and how there always seems to be one every 100 years or so. The one thing that can never be taken away is imagination - and that is worth more than money can buy, and will always bring happiness to a person. The power of imagination brings "Happiness to Me", and it is good for each person. This one was my favorite of these three entries!

Well, whatever the anime does happen to be, we will keep you all posted. It has been too long since we have heard of new work from Ikuni!