These Major Anime Creators Collaborated on a New Anthology & the First Episode is Out for Free

Dentsu is one of the largest media companies in Japan, and has in recent years played a big part in the funding and distribution of anime. Its most recent production, Enter the Garden, is a unique anthology of short films intended for a modern digital audience. In a collaboration between Dentsu and lifestyle digital media brand Azuki, the anthology project is intended to showcase Azuki’s aesthetic in the anime and manga space.

Because each of the three shorts in the series is only a few minutes a piece, this project has allowed the A-list creators in the space to really put the most effort into creating top-level animation quality. The first of the anthology’s shorts, “The Waiting Man,” is now available to watch free on YouTube. Perhaps looked at by Dentsu as something of an experiment in creating direct content for an internet audience, Azuki itself is doubtlessly happy to be getting such a high-profile project out to get eyes on its brand.

Enter the Garden has one of the most popular creators in anime today. Goro Taniguchi, who both provided the initial story concept for the “Waiting Man” episode in addition to having served as the general producer overseeing the concept, is a big name in the modern anime industry. Most notably, he served as the director and main storyboard artist behind 2022’s blockbuster success One Piece: Film Red with Toei Animation.

While Taniguchi isn’t directing the short, the directorial baton has been passed to Junichi Yamamoto, who previously served both in creating the visual feel for Makoto Shinkai’s global phenomenon Your Name, as well as TV anime directing roles for series as diverse as Pop Team Epic, to the Love Live franchise’s “Yohane the Parhelion” spinoff, Sunshine in the Mirror.

At around eight minutes, “The Waiting Man” is a brisk, entertaining short that takes a simple plot and runs with it (or, rather, skates with it) as the means to show off some impressive visuals. Set in a sort of near-future, quasi-cyberpunk cityscape, a