'Sidera' is a Dandy Gal In Space

Sidera is one of four short animation clips produced by France-based production team Catfish Deluxe and Yapiko Animation for Julien Neel's latest film Lou! Journal infime. In the film, Lou is a shy but thoughtful young girl with a profound imagination.

As she charts the uneasy road of her early adolescence Lou retreats to the comfort of her sketchbook where her sci-fi alter-ego mother Sidera blasts across the galaxy in her Space Whale-ship and rides bodybuilding My Little Pony centaurs across sugar-coated dunes of dessert (get it?) planets.

Can you say, "New Background Image"?

Honestly, this is one of the most imaginative short animations I've seen in a long time. Beautiful backgrounds, hilarious character designs, and awesome space action abound. I'm getting a heavy Space Dandy meets Gurren Lagaan meets Stephen Universe vibe off of this.

Masaaki Yuasa Directing A Trippy "Space Dandy" Episode - We Have No Clue What's Going On

And as expected from the director of movies like Mind Game, this episode is looking as bizarre as we've come to expect from his camp. Yuasa is contributing his quirky directing style to the 16th episode of the series, which airs this Sunday in Japan.

It's been a fantastic time for the director, who's been spearheading the popular Ping Pong anime series, as well as contributing his talents to co-directing western shows like Adventure Time (The 'Food Chain' episode). I'm predicting one of the strangest episodes of an anime I've probably seen in years, if the trailer is any indication.

Space Dandy - Key Animation Love

Somebody recently released a collection of animatics from Space Dandy, the wildly creative follow up from the creator of Cowboy Bebop, following a 'dandy' alien bounty hunter and his alien cat through a series of strange intergalactic misadventures. The coolest thing to note is that all this key framing is still done on paper, something that thankfully hasn't changed with the advent of control z. These sequences feature the work of key animators Tadashi Hiramatsu, Yutaka Nakamura, Norifumi Kugai, Gosei Oda , Bahi JD and many others.

For anyone unaware of typical animation process, key frame animators follow the traditional animation system of drawing all the beginning and end points of any smooth transition in animation. Their work is followed up by clean up artists and in between animators, who create the transition frames between the key frames. Check out another sequence from Space Dandy after the break.

Adult Swim Teases Shinchiro Watanabe's "Space Dandy"

With a delicious dose of retrosynth goodness courtesy of one of our staff favorite electro outfits, Lazerhawk Adult Swim just recently unveiled their plans to bring Cowboy Bebop/Samurai Champloo director Shinchiro Watanabe's newest anime state side in January. In a surprising turn of events though, the anime will actually be premiering in the US before Japan on January 4th. While the premise is still eyebrow raising at best, considering Watanabe's track record I'm going to speculate that it's going to be highly enjoyable. Fingers crossed! Check out an additional extended promo after the break.

Space Dandy is a dandy in space! This dreamy adventurer with a to-die-for pompadour travels across the galaxy in search of aliens no one has ever laid eyes on. Each new species he discovers earns him a hefty reward, but this dandy has to be quick on his feet because it's first come -- first served! Accompanied by his sidekicks, a rundown robot named QT and Meow the cat-looking space alien, Dandy bravely explores unknown worlds inhabited by a variety aliens. Join the best dressed alien hunter in all of space and time as he embarks on an adventure that ends at the edge of the universe!

Shinichiro Watanabe and Bones' Space☆Dandy

Shinichiro Watanabe, it's hard to understand how you've managed to provide consistent quality with your original series, but I'm not complaining. The newest entry to the Watanabe collection is Space☆Dandy, which is looking to be his goofiest and most fun entry to date. The story focuses on Dandy and his cat alien sidekick Meow as the they travel the universe as alien hunters. 

 

At first it seemed that Space☆Dandy would hold a similar vibe to Cowboy Bebop, but it would appear Space☆Dandy will be taking the opposite end of the spectrum and follow a less serious route.

The coloring of Space☆Dandy is absolutely beautiful, and is used to great affect to show the varying aliens Dandy will hunt down throughout the series. After the flawless adaptation of Kids on The Slope, I'm happy to see Watanabe dive back into his roots and provide us with a wholly original series. 

 

Space☆Dandy will begin airing January 2014 in Japan with no current announcements for simulcasts.