Katsuhiro Otomo Founded His Own Studio at 71. Something Is Already in Production.

Seven years ago, Katsuhiro Otomo (大友克洋) announced two projects at Anime Expo in Los Angeles. Neither came out. On May 11, 2026, he stopped waiting for someone else’s production calendar.

In Japanese animation, directors rarely own their production infrastructure. Otomo directed AKIRA (1988), Memories (1995), and Steamboy (2004) all through studios and producers he did not control. The new studio, OVAL GEAR animation studio, changes that. It operates as a subsidiary of ANDENT (株式会社オーバル・ギア), has an official X account (@OVAL_GEAR), and is hiring animators. A PR Times statement from May 11 confirms a new title is already in production. No further details were given.

Why this matters

The 2019 Anime Expo announcements included an animated remake of AKIRA and an original film called ORBITAL ERA, to be produced by Sunrise. Neither moved forward publicly. ORBITAL ERA faded from view. AKIRA became a standing expectation with no date attached.

With his own house, Otomo controls the pace and chooses the animators. The studio’s stated mission is to pass on, to the next generation, the visual language he developed over four decades.

He has not confirmed the project in production is AKIRA. Nor ORBITAL ERA. No date, no cast, no trailer. Japanese press read that silence the way they tend to read these things: the studio’s existence is the announcement. What it makes will follow.

On X, fans who have spent nearly four decades expecting a canonical AKIRA continuation reacted with unrestrained enthusiasm. “Is this real?” and “New Otomo incoming?!” ran through Japanese trending topics for most of the day.

Otomo has said, across recent interviews, that he is not in a hurry. AKIRA exhausted him through the 1980s. Steamboy did the same through the 2000s. Founding this studio at 71, with financial security long established, is not a professional move. It is a personal one. Thirty-eight years is a long time to wait. A few more months should not change that much.

Source: PR Times / Oricon News, May 11, 2026.

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