This NINTENDO 3DS Anime Took 4 Years to Make

An anime made on a Nintendo 3DS? Why not. Independent producer Mirror Panel 3 released a teaser for an anime he’s spent four years creating. The Japanese producer—who insists he’s not an animator—illustrated the anime, dubbed Ugomemo Senshi (or Flipnote Warrior), entirely on his own. That is next-level impressive, especially considering he made the 34-minute episode almost exclusively on a  Nintendo 3DS.

SoraNews24 reported on Panel 3’s anime teaser, which the producer recently posted on his YouTube channel. Panel 3 noted that he made Ugomemo Senshi using Flipnote Studio 3D, a free downloadable animation application for the seminal 2011 handheld console. Ugomemo translates to “moving memo,” which is another way of referring to the application.

Ugomemo Senshi tells the story of Mome Kugou, a young illustrator who meets a mystical creature that pops out of her 3DS. Kugou, whose name is a reversal of the syllables in Ugoku Memo (the app’s Japanese name), subsequently becomes a magical warrior. She battles dastardly monsters as she defends her fellow artists from the forces of evil.

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In the teaser, we see Kugou meet her little mystical creature friend, who looks like a Pokémon. The teaser then introduces the cast of the show, which includes an illustrator who walks around naked in a robe and as well as “handsome Hayao Miyazaki.” Miyazaki, is, of course, the Japanese animator and filmmaker who cofounded Studio Ghibli.

Panel 3 says he’s going to release the full length version of Ugomemo Senshi on December 4. It will have a 34-minute runtime, and we’re all in luck since the producer is going to make it available on YouTube. In the meantime, the 3DS artist says he actually needs a little bit of help, and is looking for a sound editor. Which makes sense, as no animator producer can fight the evil that is deadlines on their own!

A Japanese producer spent four years making an anime on a Nintendo 3DS.

Mirror Panel 3

Featured Image: Mirror Panel 3