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Not so long ago I received a really interesting mail from the managing Director at Rayark Japan Ltd (the makers of “Implosion” and “Implosion – Never Lose”), because Ed Courtroul (managing Director at Rayark Japan) told me about Mentat Studios is working on a full length “Implosion” anime movie. And it´s called “Implosion: ZERO_DAY”. Anyhow, this is what Courtroul said to me:

“I am writing this email as a follow-up to my earlier email detailing the launch and progress of our Kickstarter animation film Implosion: Zero_Day.

There is a great human interest story at the heart of this Kickstarter anime campaign and Rayark. Our CEO, Ming-Yang Yu, survived and beat cancer against all odds four years ago. With his newly gifted life, Yu quit his job at a local arcade game company to pursue his dream of creating wonderful mobile music rhythm games (mind you, there are no other game development companies in Taiwan). To accomplish this, he convinced three former school mates to join him in forming a team that would later become the company Rayark. Rayark now has more than 100 employees and its games are top sellers in dozens of countries, including two award-winning, mega-hit mobile games – Ctyus and Deemo. In fact, Implosion – Never Lose Hope, the story upon which the Kickstarter anime film is based, won “iOS Adventure Game of the Year 2015” this week!

In the mobile gaming world, Rayark is seen as the Indie underdog company that beat the odds to win a place for Taiwan in the mobile gaming industry. Rayark now wants to do the same in the animation industry. Many years ago, a company named Cuckoos Nest Ltd. (1978) formed the basis of Taiwan’s small animation industry, and it focused on doing outsourced work for Hanna-Barbera and Disney studios. After producing more than 100 films, the US studios moved the work to lower labor cost countries, which resulted in the near demise of the Taiwan animation industry. Furthermore, Taiwan’s talented artists and animators are now forced to relocate to the US, Japan, China, or other countries to seek employment. Rayark wants to change all that by leveraging its own IPs to create and deliver wonderful animated movies to the world, as it has done with its mobile games, starting with Implosion: ZERO_DAY.

Implosion – ZERO_DAY will be a full-length feature animation, set twenty years before the events of the mobile game, Implosion – Never Lose Hope. If you watch the Kickstarter trailer, I am sure you will feel the devotion and passion poured into this film. Of course, we will likely collaborate with a Japanese animation production house, but the core IP and creative aspects will be our own.” – Ed Courtroul, Managing Director Rayark Japan Ltd

Implosion – Never Lose Hope is said to offer a “AAA console gaming experience” for mobile devices.

And that was a really interesting read with no doubt, especially for me since I´m a huge mecha and anime fan. That´s also why I chose to check up on both Mentat Studios anime movie “Implosion: ZERO_DAY”, and Rayark Japan´s iOS and Android action game “Implosion – Never Lose Hope“. And I´m sure glad that I did that, because “Zero_DAY” and “Never Lose Hope” look really cool, in my opinion (I love the art style, design and animations).

However, while the iOS and Android game (Implosion – Never Lose Hope) has already had great success (“editor’s choice” on the AppStore and the Googleplay store, a 93/100 Metacritic score and the “2015 iOS game of the year” award), the “Implosion: ZERO_DAY” anime movie needs all the help it can get to be fully funded on Kickstarter. Because right at this very moment, Mentat Studios needs another $181,000 to reach their $400,000 Kickstarter goal. And since the Kickstarter clock is ticking down really fast, it´s going to take a whole lot of effort to raise those 181K bucks within 15 days henceforth.

So, what about talent then? Well, the Implosion: ZERO_DAY team sure doesn´t lack talent that´s for sure (and there are even more people in the team than the one’s, that I picked):

Ming Yang (producer, original concept) – Has worked on Cytus, Deemo and Implosion (Rayark Japan Ltd)
Anton Mark-Hitchman (Writer/director) – Has worked on Final Fantasy, Diablo, Halo
Tommy NG Kai Chung (Animation director) – One of the founders of the Hong Kong-based Animation studio “Paper Creations”
Yin Zhen (Creature, mechanical design) – The maker of the Implosion: Zero_Day teaser trailer
Tony Lee (Comic director) – Cytus (Game director), Mandora, Deemo 2.0/Deemo (Game director/producer), Implosion (creative director)

“Implosion: ZERO_DAY” offers some really beautiful animations and designs.

Even so, it still remains to be seen whether or not Mentat Studios will be able to reach their $400,000 Kickstarter goal on time. Well, they got about 15 days left to collect those missing $181,000. So it´s not impossible, but “Implosion: ZERO_DAY “needs a lot of help from the anime (and Gaming) community in order to become a reality. So I wish Mentat Studios and Rayark Japan the best of luck with that. And if you´re not quite sure if “ZERO_DAY” is your cup of tea or not, then just watch the Implosion: ZERO_DAY Kickstarter trailer down below (I bet that you will enjoy it just as much as I did).

About:
Implosion: ZERO_DAY, is a full-length feature animation, set twenty years before the events of the mobile game. By combining techniques from East and West, and sub-genres like High-Fantasy, Cyberpunk and Space Opera, this anime is sure to captivate audiences. From seasoned anime veterans to animation newcomers, ZERO_DAY has something to offer everyone. “A digital odyssey that urges the viewer to reconsider the way we interact as a species, and how we think about our place in the universe.”

Story:
All regular matter, the entire Earth, and everything ever observed by humans, adds up to less than 5% of the “known” universe. Dark matter harbors the face of reality that is invisible to us; but what if the dark universe came out of hiding? In an age when our planet has been pushed beyond the limit of population control, the only viable alternative is to search for a new home. The technology that promised to take us to new stars has brought with it far more than we’ve bargained for. In the year 2179, Earth makes first contact with extra-terrestrial life, as a result of bold, scientific experiments in faster than light travel.

Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround