This mythical crowdfunded indie anime is a must-see, under-the-radar gem

I’m a huge enthusiast when it comes to independent animation. Whether it’s stop-motion animation like Takahide Hori’s Junk Head or one-man masterpieces like Shingo Tamagawa’s Puparia and Kenji Iwaisawa’s On-Gaku: Our Sound, I’m an ardent believer in both seeking out and championing passion projects that exist both within and outside of the mainstream animation industry. Michinoku-toge is one such project.

Set in an alternate version of feudal Japan, the series follows an alien soldier who crash-lands on Earth after barely escaping from his home planet. After being discovered by a wandering monk, the soldier is given a “baptism” in the form of an operation that transforms his head into that of a serow — a goat-antelope native to Japan — in order to become a member of a village of oni. After settling in, Serow is dispatched to carry the body of the village landlord’s late son to be purified and dedicated to the local mountain god. With the aid of a good-natured mountain monk, Serow embarks on a journey across this strange new land, all while grappling with the trauma of his past and his newfound existence.

Though initially conceived as a 10-part anime short, the success of the series’ Kickstarter campaigns has allowed Michinoku-toge, the pseudonymous animator behind the project, to expand to 15 planned episodes. The first five episodes, complete with English subtitles and dubbed voices, are available to watch for free on YouTube, while the upcoming sixth and seventh episodes are currently in production after another successful Kickstarter campaign.

“When people think of Japan, they often imagine the glamorous Kyoto and the culture of central or western Japan,” Michinoku-toge wrote on the project’s latest Kickstarter page. “As someone from Tohoku, I wanted to capture and enhance its unique character, rather than simply depict things as they are. That’s why I’ve shaped this story as a dark fantasy, emphasizing Tohoku’s distinctiveness.”

So far, the series has been a dark, whimsical, and thoroughly original story packed with shocking surprises and twists. The character designs are fantastic, blending anthropomorphic animals with traditional Japanese folklore, and the background art is colorful and dense with details. Each short does a lot with relatively little run time; telling as much through explicit dialogue as it does through implicit environmental details and deft editing. 

While the Kickstarter campaigns have been successful so far in raising funds for the anime, Michinoku-toge has stated that he intends to finish the project no matter what. Outside of Michinoku-toge, he’s also currently working as a concept artist on two feature films, Housenka and Iris, directed by Oddtaxi director Baku Kinoshita and character designer Mugi Kinoshita, respectively.

All episodes of Michinoku-toge are available to stream on YouTube.