Wakfu - Ankama's Awesome Animated Series Making The Jump To English

Woohoo! If you've been following this blog for a while, you've probably heard me lament a few hundred times about the lack of France's Ankama animation never making the jump overseas. Wakfu in particular impressed me with it's fantastic animation quality, stylization (Courtesy of Ankama's Xaxaxa, among others) and popularity in it's home country which we noted during a trip to Paris. That was in 2011.

Fast forward a few years and it seems like Ankama launched a Kickstarter about a month back (Something we missed), which with less than 15 hours to go has blasted through all it's goals, achieving 500% funding (About $360,000). Among the rewards are some amazing art books, Blurays of the first season and more. I'd highly recommend checking it out if you get a chance. Here's to hoping other overseas studios take a similar approach with their franchises.

Baïdir - A Stunning Animated Motion Comic From Ankama

Looks like we have a stunning animated comic incoming sometime this year, produced by the amazing folks Ankama and sprung from the minds of Aniss Slimane, Thierry River and Charles Lefebvre. Baïdir has been in the works for years now, with my earliest memories of the project dating back to sometime in 2009. This latest trailer shows the fruits of their labor, and it's nothing short of visually stunning. While the project was initially rumored to be an animated series, it seems like they've shifted the Baïdir project into some incredibly high end animated comic that will be released on iOS and Android platforms sometime this year. I'll be there, day one- More details on the official Baïdir Facebook page.

Paris, 2025. Global warming has reached it's climax. Nayah plays hide and see in her room her big brother Baidir. Suddenly, the room is devastated and Nayah is nowhere to be found. This event puts into motion an epic quest for Baidir, who has to defeat supernatural creatures in a fantastic world, as well as important people on his native earth.

Le Dauphin Dauphin

Le Dauphin Dauphin is a clever short by employees at the French gaming/animation studio Ankama, titled using a clever play on words ('Dauphin' means both dolphin and the elder son of a king). The coolest aspect about this short was that it was created by 5 interns over a summer period at the studio, putting all their newly learned knowledge to practical use. If you're tired of classic 'Princess and the Frog' style stories, you'll enjoy seeing this short turn that concept on it's head and piledrive it into the ground.

Here's the translation of the initial 40 second narration:

Once upon a time in a faraway land, lived a prince of unequaled beauty, who only found amusement in the torment of innocents. Dolphins, in particular, were his victims of choice, and he tortured them by the thousands. The Lord Of The Seas received word of the prince's atrocities, and saw to it that they would cease. He transformed the prince into an abomination, part man, part dolphin, consigning him to a dark prison made of clouds. Only the kiss of a very special someone would someday grant the prince his freedom, and restore him to his human form.

The World Of Kairos Comes To Life

Studio La Cachette was formed by four Les Gobelins students, and unsurprisingly, their trailer 'Kairos' looks amazing.  This hand-drawn, 2D animation is a promo for the upcoming French comic of the same name. With a style somewhat influenced by Studio Ghibli and a feel reminiscent of a mix between Legend of Zelda and a Team Ico game, the trailer sent a pleasant chill down our spine.

There's something wonderfully old school about the entire premise, but the presentation is downright exciting, colorful and excellently animated, begging for a longer length animated treatment. Ankama has a history of creating elaborate promos for their upcoming comics, like 2011's absolutely kickass 'Teotl' mech series.

Images courtesy of Ankama publishing.

'The epic plot follows the story of Nills and his girlfriend, Anaëlle who harbors a deep, ancient secret which ultimately results in her capture by creatures from another world. In his quest to save his beloved, Nills ultimately embarks on an amazing journey into a fantastical world that will change his life forever.'

We were fortunate enough to receive a ten page preview of the comic (Realized by Ulysse Malassagne) as well, showing off the distinct style that got translated perfectly into an animated form by the talented folks at Ankama studios (Wakfu animated series), check it out after the break!

The Exquisite Corpse Series By Ankama

Created as a fun team building exercise by the staff of Ankama, the French animation studio responsible for the excellent looking Wakfu animation series (Yet to make the leap overseas), Exquisite Corpse is the result of an exercise involving 17 animators. Each artist was tasked with animating a small sequence (266 frames) that would tie in to the next one with no thematic limitations, creating a seamless animated sequence showcasing a small piece of each animator's style and personality.

Check out part two after the beak! The animators names, in no particular order: Naoki Araiza, Tokumasu, Floriane Grivillers, Julien Maret, Thomas Fourniret, Büb, David Besnier, Vincent Legarrec, Valerie Ménard, Sophie Dupont, David Decobert, Jean-Philippe Florin, Simon Coroller, Remi Juillet, Kosal Sok, Claudia Delahaye, Benoit Somville, Lucie Mayjonade and Carlo Toselli.

Turboten : Comics With Trailers

Why hasn't this practice caught on in the US? Just like Ankama's 'Teotl' comic trailer that we posted a few months ago, it seems like indie comic artists get the benefit of actually getting animated trailers to promote their upcoming manga-esque titles.

Turbo Ten jumps on the entire shonen-sports category bandwagon, an entire genre which has the magical power of making any athletic activity look absolutely badass. The only unfortunate downside is that these fine comics haven't yet made the jump overseas. Here's to hoping, because I'd pick this up day one.

Ankama Studios 'Teotl' Looks Absolutely Stunning

This new promo for a French comic book with heavy Japanese influence was just recently released..And its not even an actual animated series. I already want to start a petition that this get made into an animated series because I think its already got what it takes to be a winner. From what I can make out, the series is basically a Power Rangers inspired series mixed with Gatchaman and a little sprinkle of Lupin. Unfortunately, the series probably won't be reaching English shores anytime soon.

Ankama has been releasing a ton of amazing stuff recently, all with beautiful artwork. Check out our previous post about Ankama's animated series based off their MMO, Wakfu!