Renowned manga artist of the One-Punch Man manga series, Yusuke Murata, has revealed that he has formed a new animation production studio.

As revealed via his official Twitter account, Yusuke Murata confirmed that he has formed his own animation studio following the release of four prototype clips for his original anime project, Zaiyuki.

Zaiyuki

The four videos were produced in collaboration with Village Studio, a long-time collaborator with Yusuke Murata for many of his self-animated projects.

The first part of the project was initially shared through tweets on March 6th, 2023, and it follows the character Gojyo, a young kappa with atypical traits such as harboring distaste for cucumbers, lack of swimming skills, and being weak in sumo matches.

With the will to redeem himself as a kappa, Gojyo participates in a lottery and wins the grand prize for a package tour to India.

However, upon reaching the airport, his journey takes an unexpected twist.

オリジナルのアニメを作っています。パイロットフィルム的な。１ pic.twitter.com/DxQdn6xiKl

— 村田雄介 (@NEBU_KURO) December 29, 2023

Yusuke Murata

Starting his manga career in 1995, Murata is widely regarded as one of the industry’s most respected artists and has worked on many notable projects including the aforementioned One-Punch Man in collaboration with writer One.

Another of his notable works was the American football manga Eyeshield 21, in collaboration with writer Riichiro Inagaki.

Zaiyuki isn’t Murata’s first venture into animation as in recent years, he had worked with Village Studio to produce an animated short for One-Punch Man.

お待たせしております。となジャン版ワンパンマン、諸般の事情で最新話更新が滞っております。今しばらくお待ち下さい。空いた手で短編アニメなど作ってみました。ぜひご覧ください。 pic.twitter.com/ATUzfjsWzh

— 村田雄介 (@NEBU_KURO) September 23, 2021

In June 2023, Murata once again collaborated with Village Studio to produce an animated short for Eyeshield 21.

Considering Murata’s reputation in the manga industry, the announcement of his own animation production house has certainly caught much attention among his fans.

Despite in its early stages and the lack of sound, Zaiyuki’s animation has been receiving much positive remarks.

The release date for the complete animation of Zaiyuki has not been announced yet, but fans are eager to see what Murata and his anime studio will bring to the table.