CloverWorks’ original anime, Tokyo 24-ku, would have made a terrible production

As a new original anime from the studios Kleewerk, Tokyo 24-ku (Tokyo Twenty Fourth Ward), nearing its premiere on January 5th, the chief animation director, Kiminori itouHe expressed his pessimistic thoughts on the production of the anime on his Twitter account. Not only has he openly stated that production is significantly overdue, but he sadly predicted an animation breakdown in future episodes.

The red flags started on October 24th, shortly after the anime was officially announced. The author commented that it was part of the production, and later that day he wrote “CloverWorks has three series in the works for January. The fact that Tokyo 24-ku (Tokyo Twenty Fourth Ward) was last announced is because their calendar is arguably the most backward“.

Itou’s posts became more and more pessimistic in November. On November 1st he wrote: “This is what you will see all the time in the last few animes: designs are featured and the episode director will do design checks, but there is no animation director“(The role of an animation director is to make sure the animation matches the character design templates, and redraw the frames if necessary).

The next day he wrote: “I’m on board a sinking ship! We are about to sink! hahaha“. The next day: “I have participated in a lot of work with low quality drawings, but it seems that this time I am going through an animation crisis …“.

On November 15th he wrote: “The schedule sucks (shit emoji) which reminds me of the dark story of CloverWorks (formerly A-1 Pictures Koenji): Qualidea Code (sic)“. A-1 Pictures produced the anime Qualidea code, which premiered in 2016. Itou also made a sarcastic contribution: “* In the state of enlightenment * Don’t worry, we can outsource key animation, intermediate animation, painting and compositing abroad at any time!». Another of his sarcasm says the following: “A senior animation director leads a leisurely life, glass of wine in hand while making slight and simple adjustments to just the faces. There was a time when I thought so».

On November 30th he wrote: «It’s really hard man. I’m going to die». On December 10th, he gave a clear update on the status of the production, saying that Episode 1 still has incomplete designs, with another 20 cuts to be made by the chief animation director. On December 17th he wrote: «Stop it! I have no life!». On December 19, he again referred to a production crisis: «When is animation affected? This is the job I am currently doing!“On December 21st, he discovered that there was already a group of animators in the first episode who were added at the last minute to avoid a total breakdown. His most recent post, alluding to the production, is from December 21st, when he published a photo of himself lying on the studio floor with the comment: «I’m camping here tonight».