Cannon Busters Brings Diversity to Anime
posted by Brian Johnson | February 23, 2016 | In Arts and CultureIn the world of the animation, there are opportunities to display incredible stories with vivid detail, quality, and precision.
Outside the success of animation studios such as Disney, is a genre of animation in Japan known for its stylized and detailed animations named anime.
Anime is very popular in many countries throughout the world but especially in America, with popular franchises that received commercial and fan success, such as Dragon Ball, Naruto and even more recently Attack on Titan.
However, within the anime and animation industry African Americans are still not given chances or are able to become leaders in mainstream studios and create their own series to life with their cultural visions, viewpoints and images. Although there have been great influences among African-American artists and creators such as Bruce W. Smith, the creator of the popular Disney cartoon, The Proud Family; and also Aaron McGruder, the creator of the political satire comic strip, The Boondocks, and the sophisticated animated television adaptation of the comic under the same name.
However, LeSean Thomas, 40, creator, writer and director of an upcoming animation project titled Cannon Busters is a new inspiration in animation. Cannon Busters is based on Thomas’s original Cannon Busters comic, which he describes on his Kickstarter page as “animated adventure about the value of friendship and just how far one is willing to go to maintain it.” He is also best known as the supervising character designer for The Boondocks in Seasons 1 and 2. LeSean Thomas has also worked with anime directors such as Hiroyuki Imaishi, who directed mega popular anime series such as Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill.
Thomas funded his project was used through the crowd funding online site Kickstarter, and he managed to successfully get his idea funded through November and December 2014 with the goal originally being $120,000 to a final amount of $156,535.
Cannon Busters not only combines some of the best animation connoisseurs in the anime industry but also through Western animation, directed and guided by Thomas’s vision of the project all under the direction of an African-American artist which could display inspiration to animation students of color.
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