KyoAni Wants To Turn YOUR Idea Into Anime

Kyoto Animation, the studio behind Haruhi, K-On! and Lucky Star, has announced a new contest aimed at independent authors and artists. The Kyoto Animation Award invites anybody, whether pro or amateur, to submit their work in one of three categories: novel, script or manga. The top entry in each category will win a prize of ¥300,000 and have the possibility of being animated by KyoAni. Runners-up will take home ¥100,000. The contest rules do not mention any restrictions on the location, nationality or professional status of the entrant, nor on the genre or content of the work itself. However, the entry does have to be in Japanese. (Thanks to Dazza for pointing that out.)

So, is KyoAni actually trying to give some aspiring author or artist their big break… or have they simply run out of ideas?

–Via AnimeVice and ANN

Haruhi-chan, Churya-san and K-On! Win Kobe Awards

This year’s Kobe Awards winners have been announced, and three Kyoani series were among the honored. The internet series Haurhi-chan, along with its sister series Nyoron Churuya-san, won the Network Award, given to series with outstanding interactive content. Hatsune Miku, Second Life and Final Fantasy XI have all received this award in past years. K-On! took home the Theme Song Award for its popular ending theme, “Don’t say ‘lazy'”, joining previous winners such as “Triangler” from Macross Frontier, “Motteke! Sailor Fuku” from Lucky Star, and “Hare Hare Yukai” from Haruhi’s first season.

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Kyoani Responds to Yamakan

Yutaka Yamamoto’s thoughts on Endless Eight, which found there way onto Youtube last weekend, have elicited a response from Kyoto Animation. Essentially, they deny that Yamakan ever had anything to do with Endless Eight. Their attitude can best be summed up in this quote.

This person has absolutely nothing to do with our company.

Kyoani is also claiming that Kadokawa is the primary influence behind the current E8 arc. I’m guessing this is just the beginning of the finger pointing…

Originally posted on J-CAST via Sankaku Complex (NSFW)