Kyoto Animation, also known as KyoAni for short, has been the darling of the anime fandom for quite a while, ever since they began doing animation productions rather than simply animation. As far as I can remember, what initially got people’s attention was Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu! and the fact that the powers that be had decided to take it away from GONZO.

It was a success.

Then, of course, there was Haruhi. And Air. And Kanon. And Lucky Star. And Clannad. This isn’t necessarily in the right order, but that’s not the point. All of these have been smashing successes, and this success is quite well-deserved.

I wonder a bit though, about KyoAni’s lack of truly original works. It makes me think of GONZO, which has tried numerous times to form its own original ideas, instead of adapting existing works, with limited success of course, but they try. It makes me think of Sunrise, where the first true animation production done by Sunrise was the highly unusual Zambot 3.

I want to see what KyoAni has to offer.

I am not putting down adapted works. Way too many of my favorite anime have been adapted from manga, novels, and other mediums for me to even suggest that. Nor am I doubting their abilities to produce experimental and original work of a high quality. No, quite the opposite. More than anything, the KyoAni adaptation of Lucky Star and the ingenious way it both took in otaku culture and tried to directly influence it, something almost impossible with the original manga, is evidence of a sleeping behemoth just waiting to do some real damage.

Let’s wake the beast, Kyoto Animation. I really want to see what you can do.