And it seems that this approach is working well.
Summary:
- I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability is produced without outsourcing to different studios.
- It’s not the first time Tsumugi Akita Animation Lab experiments with production.
- The animation during the action scenes is very good, but the use of CGI in backgrounds is disappointing.
The first episode of I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability (Tensei shitara Dainana Ouji Datta node, Kimama ni Majutsu wo Kiwamemasu) didn’t impress many people with its contents. It’s another generic fantasy series featuring reincarnation (although it’s not an isekai), and it really doesn’t do anything new.
However, one thing fans noticed in the first episode is how unusually smooth the anime looked. And those who actually went through the credits noticed an important thing: there’s no one credited for the production assistant position. This approach is fairly unique, and it might explain the look of the anime.
The Anime Is Done Entirely In-House
Production assistants are very important to the process of creating anime. They manage schedules and have to arrange communications between different departments, and a lot of the time, their work ends up being crucial for the production.
Having no production assistant whatsoever can only mean one thing: the entirety of the anime has to be produced in-house, with no outsourcing — and that’s exactly what studio Tsumugi Akita Animation Lab has been doing, according to its president.
The Studio Experimented With Production Before
Now, the studio doesn’t actually plan to adopt this approach for every anime — this is just an experiment on their part. The whole production of Reincarnated as the 7th Prince seems to be experimental, including the animation style — and the scenes took longer to animate because no one was used to it.
The studio has actually been experimenting with different production tactics before. Their first work was a short film called Ryuusatsu no Kyoukotsu back in 2021, which relied heavily on using Unreal Engine for backgrounds. Last season, they made Meiji Gekken: 1874 — which felt more like a live action TV series than an anime.
It Gave an Anime a Different Visual Flavor
The results are mostly pleasantly surprising. The action in the first episode has multiple really impressive cuts, and some people who weren’t impressed with the story itself decided to stick with the show for the animation.
That said, outside of the action cuts, there are some complaints about the visuals. More specifically, some of the 3D backgrounds feel very flat and out of place. It seems that this approach has its pros and cons.