What Bandai Namco Is Actually Building Here
Bandai Namco Filmworks isn't making six short films because it loves the short film format. It's making six short films because short films are the cheapest way to run a public technology demonstration with festival-circuit upside.
The project, titled *Pursuing The Future*, pairs Bandai Namco with six Japanese animation studios on original 3D CG shorts. Each film is a separate co-production. Sunrise Studios — the Bandai Namco subsidiary best known for the Gundam franchise — is leading the initiative.
The talent roster is the tell. Attaching names connected to *Akira*, the 1988 film that remains the canonical reference point for Japanese animation's global crossover, and *Possessions*, the Yoshiyuki Momose-directed short that earned an Oscar nomination in 2013, is not an accident. Those credits are calling cards for Western buyers, festival programmers, and potential co-production partners who need a shorthand for quality.
The CG Question in Japanese Animation
Japanese animation's relationship with 3D CG has historically been complicated. The dominant aesthetic — flat, hand-drawn, 2D — is both a cultural signature and a production methodology that Western studios have struggled to replicate convincingly. When Japanese studios have leaned into CG, the results have been uneven enough that the format carries reputational risk.
That's precisely why a showcase project makes strategic sense. Rather than committing to a CG feature and absorbing the downside if the market rejects the aesthetic, Bandai Namco gets six separate proof-of-concept films, each from a different studio with a different creative approach. If two of them break through, the investment is justified. If one becomes a festival hit, it opens licensing conversations. The structure limits exposure while maximizing the number of shots on goal.
The IP Optionality Play
Bandai Namco is, at its core, an IP company. Its games business runs on franchises — Tekken, Dark Souls, Pac-Man, Gundam — and its entertainment investments follow the same logic. Original short films that perform can be extended into series, features, or games. They can anchor streaming deals. They can become the origin story for the next franchise.
The short film format also travels well. Festival premieres generate press. Streaming platforms have appetite for curated animation anthologies. And in a market where every major studio is looking for anime adjacency without the overhead of a full co-production, a polished short from a credible Japanese studio is a low-friction conversation starter.
What to Watch
The project's success will be measured less by awards and more by what deals it generates. Watch for streaming platform announcements, festival selections at Annecy or Sundance, and whether any of the six studios involved land follow-on co-production agreements with Western partners. If *Pursuing The Future* functions as intended, the shorts themselves are almost beside the point — they're the pitch deck.