Five Indie Animated Projects To Keep An Eye On For The Rest Of 2024

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Despite the fact that Twitter may tell you that the animation industry is struggling right now, the opposite is true. Now, it could be that the HOLLYWOOD animation industry is struggling, but the actual global animation industry is thriving like gangbusters with independent adult animation being produced all over the world and making waves here in the United States. We’ve highlighted just a small-smattering of these projects which includes series and movies made in Singapore, Canada, and elsewhere in a variety of different art-styles and methods.

Drive! Cal Gal Drive! from Something’s Awry Productions

Our Take: 

Something’s Awry and Baboon Animation already show that they mean business with this one as they featured a new trailer for Drive! Cal Gal Drive! starring the legendary Kira Buckland in one of the lead roles. As can be seen in this teaser, I get Jet Set Radio! vibes all-over again and here’s hoping this one gets here somewhere down the road.

Synopsis:

Drive! Cal Gal Drive! is a sci-fi action-comedy about two young women — Lucy, a daredevil rideshare driver, and Raven, an escaped AI — on a high-speed journey through the mega-city of NeoCalifornia.

DreadClub: Vampire’s Verdict

Our Take:

Personally, I don’t care how something gets made just as long as it gets made. Cream always rises and show business is a meritocracy. If something is good and entertaining, then it should get its due diligence. In this case, it’s DreadClub: Vampire’s Verdict which definitely has Berserk thumbprints all-over it and with spooky season coming ever-so-closer, this feature-length film could hit all of the correct vibes.

Synopsis:

“Betty Gray, a college student obsessed with gothic romances, finds herself living one when she falls for Duchamps De Ve–a man on trial for being a vampire.”

Introducing DreadClub: The World’s First Fully AI-Generated Animated Feature Film. “DreadClub” is a gothic romance / vampire court thriller, an 87 minute movie in a vintage anime style.

It was generated from over 17,000 images. The movie was made entirely by one person. I spent the last six months on it and am putting the finishing touches to release it soon.

Double

Our Take:

The new CG short film starring Neil Newbon from DI4D is less of an official narrative short film and instead should be celebrated as to what animation fans can expect coming down the pike in the coming years. Netflix’s Love Death + Robots has done a lot of showcasing of photoreal CG animation, but the technology is only going to get better here on out and Double is a great example of this.

Synopsis:

‘Double’ celebrates the historic art form of acting, from its most ancient roots to its most modern digital form. The faithful reproduction of Neil Newbon’s acting performance highlights the invaluable contribution skilled actors can make to video games and other animation projects.

Egg Fried Rice

Our Take

Robot Playground has been making a lot of noise from Singapore and with projects like this in development it’s going to be difficult for streamers and networks to ignore. With horror animation steaming hot right now with the likes of Adult Swim, Netflix, and even Shudder all jumping into the genre, one could only hope that the full series order for Egg Fried Rice is,in fact, and ready to eat.

Synopsis:

Based on a story written by Ying Chang Compestine from her book A Banquet For Hungry Ghosts, this is an atmospheric, period horror piece about a woman’s plot to murder her husband and stepdaughter. The creative team drew inspiration from the works of Satoshi Kon, Guillermo del Toro and Zhang Yimou.

S(KIDS)

Our Take

Perhaps punk rock’s answer to Netflix’s critically-acclaimed Entergalactic, Solis Animation has done quite a few adult animation projects most notably with the band Rare Americans whom seem to post an animated video on an almost daily basis and the first season of Gary And His Demons, but this one clearly looks to be the studio’s most ambitious that hopefully will see the light of day on a network or a streamer sometime soon.

Synopsis:

(S)KIDS TELLS THE STORY OF SCOTTY, A TEENAGE PUNK POET WHO HAS RELUCTANTLY MOVED TO THE CANADIAN MIDWEST IN 1993.

HE QUICKLY DISCOVERS HE DOESN’T BELONG, AND LANDS ON THE WRONG SIDE OF BOTH THE OPPRESSIVE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AND THE SCHOOL’S DRUG DEALER, SAMMY.

BUT EVERY TOWN HAS ITS OUTCASTS AND THAT’S EXACTLY THE CROWD SCOTTY CONNECTS WITH: THE SKIDS.

THERE HE MEETS BILLY AND CRAIG, AND THE TRIO BOND OVER MUSIC, THEIR SHARED EXPERIENCE OF PARENTAL ABUSE AND NEGLECT, AND A DRIVE TO EXPOSE THE
LIES AND HYPOCRISY OF THE AUTHORITY FIGURES AROUND THEM.

SCOTTY ALSO CATCHES THE EYE OF MOLLY, THE POPULAR AND COMPLEX VALEDICTORIAN, WHO STRUGGLES TO KEEP HER OWN DEMONS AT BAY.

WHEN SAMMY FEELS REBUFFED BY SCOTTY INTO JOINING HIS SUBURBAN DRUG DEALING EMPIRE, HE TAKES IT OUT ON CRAIG IN AN ACT OF VIOLENCE, WHICH SPARKS
THE SKIDS ON A PATH TO BREAK THE STATUS QUO, DECIDING TO STAND UP FOR THEMSELVES AND REBEL AGAINST, NOT JUST SAMMY AND HIS GOONS, BUT THEIR
PARENTS AND THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL, WHO MAY BE HIDING THE MOST INSIDIOUS SECRET OF THEM ALL.

About John Schwarz

John is the Chief Editor and Founder of Bubbleblabber.com. While at first a part-time project, Bubbleblabber quickly grew into a full-fledged operation and officially became a company in 2014. When John isn't running a business full-time, he likes to go to concerts with your mother.