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Kemono Friends Director Tatsuki Reveals 'Hentatsu' Anime With Video

The official YouTube and Twitter accounts for anime director TATSUKI's (Kemono Friends) three-person independent animation group irodori began streaming a promotional video for the "Hentatsu" anime on Wednesday. The YouTube listing describes the video as "tentative version," and the Twitter post describes the work as a "hobby anime."

The video begins with two unnamed characters waiting in what appears to be the underground part of a train station. They decide to take a break at a cafe. The video ends with the text "beginning."

The video features an image that irodori posted earlier this month, and the characters that appear in the image star in the video. The image shows the characters on the train platform of the Chūō (Rapid) Line's Nakano station in Tokyo. As indicated by the small sun logo at the center of the image, the camera faces the Nakano Sun Mall shopping district north of the station. (Unseen several blocks behind the Nakano Sun Mall is the more famous Nakano Broadway shopping center, known for selling otaku merchandise.)

On the same day that the image debuted, TATSUKI posted a recruitment notice for two voice actresses on a "probable work" by irodori. The first dialogue sample was for a cheerful, somewhat fast-talking girl. The second sample was for a calm girl with a low voice. Each applicant can present her own character and dialogue for the third sample.

The new video also features what appears to be a location from irodori's "Keifuku-san" anime short. The location resembles a giant Shinto shrine in the sky that functions as a station. The short debuted earlier this month, and TATSUKI previously posted the first two parts of the short.

TATSUKI and irodori — which also includes Kemono Friends art director Yūko Shiromizu and Kemono Friends animation director Yoshihisa Isa — teased a new television anime project with a flier at Comic Market last month.

TATSUKI reported in September that, per a notification from publishing and production company Kadokawa, he is no longer working on the Kemono Friends project. Soon after, the anime's official website announced that the studio Yaoyorozu would no longer be involved. Producer Yoshitada Fukuhara confirmed in December that Yaoyorozu will not return.

[Via Yaraon!]