HBO Max already has the entire library of legendary anime production company Studio Ghibli on its platform, it’s now begun to fill it out with the works of another popular animation studio and an acclaimed director.Warner Media announcedthat the Studio Trigger moviePromarewould be coming to HBO Max along with a pair of movies from director Masaaki Yuasa. Yuasa is one of Japan’s more popular directors known for a more free-form style. His moviesNight is Short, Walk On GirlandRide Your Wavealso come to the platform.
Warner also announced that a pair of documentaries on Studio GhibliThe Kingdom of Dreams and Madnessdocumentary andNever-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazakiare also coming. All of the new movies hit HBO Max on January 12 while Season 1 of the anime seriesRe:ZERO -Starting Life in Another Worldalso hit the platform on January 15.
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The anime movies hitting HBO Max add some stylistic diversity to their platform. Where other streamers like Crunchyroll, Funimation, and even Netflix focus on bringing different anime series and franchises, HBO Max seems to be rounding out their library of anime movies. The showcase, of course, is theirselection of Studio Ghibli movies, but the recent additions bring something different to the table.
Promareby Studio Trigger is one of the notable additions to the bunch. Anime by Trigger isn’t quite as elegant as Studio Ghibli, but it’s got a style and way of storytelling that is reminiscent of thoseold Saturday morning cartoonswith a phrenetic pace and action to match.Promareembodies all the things that make Trigger unique telling the story of a world scarred by mass spontaneous human combustion. The result is a world at war between those with pyrokinetic abilities and those that don’t.
Where Studio Trigger has a collective style all its own the addition of two works by Yuasa brings a director with the cache andtalent on par with Hayao Miyazaki. His two moviesNight Is Short, Walk On GirlandRide Your Wavehave both won prestigious animation awards in Japan and showcase what makes his movies unique.Ride Your Wavein particular is worth a watch telling the story of a young couple that falls in love through surfing. It gets interesting when one of them dies and somehow returns to life as a water spirit.
The addition of more anime movies to HBO Max is promising because the world has moreanime movies than those by Studio Ghibli. Here’s to hoping that HBO Max gets some other lesser-known (but just as interesting) works by directors like Satoshi Kon or Makoto Shinkai even.
Promare,Night is Short, Walk On Girl,Ride Your Wave,and the two documentariesThe Kingdom of Dreams and Madnessdocumentary andNever-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazakiall release January 12.Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another Worldalso hit the platform on January 15.
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