This morning, fans of Netflix’s artisinal animated projects were treated to the teaser trailer debut for ONI: Thunder God’s Tale as well as the reveal of the Tonko House project’s stellar voice cast. Crafted in stop-motion-styled CGI, the four-episode event series comes from creator & showrunner Dice Tsutsumi (The Dam Keeper).
“The story of a brave girl caught between two worlds divided is, at its core, not only a very personal story for me, but one that’s become personal for everyone involved including our absolute dream cast,” Tsutsumi shared. “Every one of these incredible talents from our dream list accepted with such passion and empathy for the story, and collaborating with them has been equally humbling and inspiring. They’ve given souls to our characters and unparalleled performances for our animators.”
The just-announced cast features Momona Tamada (The Baby-Sitters Club), Archie Yates (Jojo Rabbit), Craig Robinson (The Office, The Cleveland Show), Order of Canada honoree Tantoo Cardinal (Blackstone, Wendell and Wild), Brittany Ishibashi (Runaways, Over the Moon), Omar Miller (Ballers, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Anna Akana (Jupiter’s Legacy, Amphibia), Charlet Takahashi Chung (Fast & Furious Spy Racers, Rugrats), Miyuki Sawashiro (Demon Slayer, Fruits Basket), Yuki Matsuzaki (Othello-san, Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles), Seth Carr (The Mysteriouos Benedict Society), Robert Kondo and George Takei.
Tsutsumi serves as executive producer alongside Robert Kondo (The Dam Keeper) and Kane Lee, and co-exec producers Megan Bartel and Sara K. Sampson. Sampson also serves as producer. Mari Okada is the series writer.
Synopsis: In a world filled with the oddball gods and monsters of Japanese mythology, one of the creature’s free-spirited daughters, Onari, is determined to follow in the footsteps of the mighty heroes of lore, but her unique powers are yet to be revealed. Does she have what it takes to fight to protect her peaceful village from the encroaching threat of the gods’ mysterious enemies, the “Oni”?
A release date for ONI is to be announced, so stay tuned!
