Indie animator Gensho Yasuda paves his own way with a DIY spirit

Japan Times

30-01-2025

In Japan's animation industry, the road from obscurity to renown is a long one. At least, it is for most. Indie creator Gensho Yasuda, however, is a young Japanese animator who has quickly amassed a legion of followers by embracing technology and creating his own animated shorts that he posts online.
Yasuda's videos, which usually have a running time of just a few seconds to about a minute, feature cute 3D-rendered characters and dialogue-free, visual punchlines. The videos' combination of high-quality animation, charming character designs and comic timing puts them in the same league as content from major anime studios — but, aside from sound, they're entirely created by Yasuda alone. His constant stream of uploads has earned the creator over 6 million followers across major social media platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, and he has been hired to produce short ads for the likes of McDonald's and Intel.
Now, Yasuda (who doesn't disclose his real name and age for privacy reasons) has taken on a much larger project: 'Make a Girl,' which expands the indie creator's 2020 short '
Set in the near future, the story centers on a teenage inventor named Akira (voiced by Shun Horie) who decides to build himself a girlfriend. But things between Akira and his new robotic girlfriend, No. 0 (Atsumi Tanezaki), become more complicated than he imagined when she takes on an unexpected level of independence. Soon after, rival inventors try to get their hands on her revolutionary technology.
Like Yasuda's shorts, 'Make a Girl' was largely animated in the free 3D animation software Blender. Yasuda, who studied oil painting in university before deciding 3D animation would be a more viable career path, started as an animator at the production company Nitroplus using industry-standard software like Maya and LightWave. He says that when the freeware Blender first appeared, most people in his orbit dismissed it as a 'toy.'
'But it was free, you know? When I tried it out, I realized you could really make a lot with it,' Yasuda says. 'Even if the look wasn't quite as refined as Maya, it had a lot of power.'
He posted 'Make Love,' his first self-produced, Blender-animated short, to YouTube in 2020. The same year, the short won an award at the annual CG Anime Contest. One top comment on 'Make Love' reads: 'This man doesn't need an animation studio. He IS the animation studio.' 2020 also marked the year in which Yasuda began regularly uploading his Blender shorts to TikTok, where he currently has 2.9 million followers.
Just two years later, Yasuda was approached by Koichi Kawase, the head of animation studio Xenotoon, with the idea for a full-length film. One reason Yasuda said yes was for a chance to flex different creative muscles than on his shorts.
'One of my ambitions was always to become a light novel writer, telling long-form stories,' says Yasuda, referring to Japan's genre of popular fiction novels aimed at young adults. 'So doing a full-length film was very appealing to me.'
The biggest challenge in expanding the two-minute 'Make Love' short was 'giving people a reason to come out to theaters, to not leave them saying, 'He already did that in the short,'' Yasuda says.
Making a feature also meant that Yasuda had to direct a team of animators and 3D modelers for the first time. The staff, made up of just eight people including the director himself, was minuscule compared to most full-length animated features, but it was still eight times the number of people Yasuda usually works with (that is, himself). Directing this team came with a learning curve.
'Bringing in an extra seven people doesn't mean things speed up by seven times just like that,' says Yasuda. 'There was a lot of back-and-forth and sharing of knowledge. I learned a lot through the process, and we created things I never would've thought of myself. Making the film with a team helped it surpass my expectations.'
While it was modern 3D tools that allowed a small team to create a full-length film, Yasuda says a lot of his methods for saving time were actually borrowed from old-school 2D animators.
'The 3D industry is still young, so there's still a lot of waste in the process,' says Yasuda. 'Everyone's putting 100% into everything, even parts that don't end up on screen. By comparison, hand-drawn animators know where to cut corners and still end up with a great product. Because I'm consistently producing shorts, I've learned how to incorporate those analog, time-saving methods into 3D animation.'
'Make a Girl' is based on a two-minute short titled 'Make Love' that indie creator Gensho Yasuda posted on YouTube in 2020. The same year, 'Make Love' won an award at the annual CG Anime Contest.
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© Yasuda Gensho / Xenotoon / MAKEAGIRLPROJECT
Despite the advantages of 3D, Yasuda acknowledges there has been a recent backlash from fans against its increased use in anime.
'That's because a lot of 3D is trying to copy how 2D looks but not quite getting there, so you get an uncanny valley effect,' says Yasuda. 'As a 3D animator, you really have to pay close attention to make sure that doesn't happen or you'll end up with a lot of hate.'
That doesn't seem to be a problem for Yasuda, however. 'Make a Girl' was partially funded via two rounds of crowdfunding in 2022 and 2023. Both rounds aimed for ¥10 million and ended up bringing in ¥23.7 million and ¥23.1 million, respectively.
'Getting that direct feedback really helps your motivation,' says Yasuda. 'I'd never monetized my anime like that before, so it really gave me courage to see that people were willing to pay to see something I'd made.'
Yasuda appears to have caught the filmmaking bug. He is already at work planning his next full-length film, which will likely center on the silver-haired, knife-twirling girl who frequently
'When it comes to indie animators, there are those who are best at illustration and others who are best at movement,' says Yasuda. 'Everyone has their own unique look, which makes things interesting.'
Though he has now made his feature debut, Yasuda has continued to post shorts regularly and doesn't intend to stop any time soon.
'Unlike when you're working for someone else, when you produce your own indie shorts, you have total freedom,' he says. 'You can do exactly what you want, and there's nothing better.'
'Make a Girl' will be screened in cinemas nationwide from Jan. 31. For more information, visit