Atelier P’ontdarc, a studio that suffered gravely during covid with Uncle From Another World. Plagued with health issues, poor production management, and staff fleeing the studio left and right due to the conditions of the series. Delayed several times, and left in a pitiful state, Pontdarc has been silent since. That was, until No Longer Allowed In Another World (also known as Isekai Shikkaku since it’s so much shorter) released its second PV- over six months since the original teaser went live. Can Pontdarc stay afloat through this production, or will it crumble to dust in front of them once more? Before that discussion, and the preview, some background information.
Created By:
Hiroshi Noda (Story)
Takahiro Wakamatsu (Art)
Synopsis
An adventure in another world with cute girls by your side and video game-like powers–sounds like an anime fan’s dream, right? Not so for melancholic author Osamu Dazai, who would quite literally prefer to drop dead. Video games haven’t even been invented yet when he gets yanked into another world in 1948. Really, all the fantastical adventure he keeps running into is just getting in the way of his poetic dream of finding the perfect place to die. But no matter how much he risks his hide, everything seems to keep turning out okay.
Seven Seas Entertainment
Staff
Director: Kawai Shigeki
Being only their second time ever in the director’s seat, and the previous being Uncle From Another World, Shigeki’s credits provide the biggest red flag in the list of staff. The saving grace however, is that Shigeki has not appeared on a production in any role since Uncle From Another World.
Character Design: Inayoshi Asako, Inayoshi Tomoshige
This one’s incredibly interesting. First of all, impressively good designs that capture the manga. Secondly though, there’s a high likelihood that these are sibling character designers. They share the same family name, and have only ever appeared on projects as a duo. All I can say is that two is better than one.
Art Direction: Miyake Masakazu
Truthfully, this is probably the “strongest” credit out of the list. Masakazu has done art direction for entire series like Mushoku Tensei and Sabikui Bisco, and they’re an old hand in the industry. I think most comical though is the fact that Masakazu had a streak in their career from 2019 to 2022 where they did art direction for hentai. Don’t believe me? Just check out his profile on Anidb (their name links to the page).
Color Design: Sakamoto Izumi
So, maybe I lied a little about Masakazu’s credit being the strongest. Izumi here is arguably the best staff member, as they’ve done color design for Re: Zero, In This Corner of The World, Wotakoi, and many, many more. It’s just, in a lot of cases a great color designer isn’t felt as strongly as an art director is. Still, great addition.
Photographic Direction: Hirooka Gaku
Continuing along with the chain of curiosity, Hirooka Gaku appears, being explicitly credited as coming from studio Nexus. Undeniably a staff member that’s good at their job, I can’t help but appreciate the production support Pontdarc has sought, rather than Gaku’s own abilities.
Series Composition: Nakanishi Yasuhiro
This is one of those credits that never really brings anything foundational to the production- typically. Sometimes they can make equally impressive or confusing decisions, but Yasuhiro here is pretty rock solid. Finding highs with Love Is War, Yasuhiro shouldn’t concern any fans of the series.
Creature (1) & Prop (4) Design: Terao Kenji,
Iwahata Gouichi, Koresawa Shigeyuki, Odaka Michiru, Tom
Incredibly fun credits here, purely because of Tom. Anyways, Creature and Prop designs are rather extraneous credits, and not that big a deal- if it weren’t for 3 of the 4 (Shigeyuki, Michiru, and Tom) being credited as work from the studio Digital Noise. Very curious and I’ll touch on it later.
Art Design: Sanami Yuri
Despite being a bit ticket staff member, working alongside Masakazu frequently, many might not know what Art Design is. Simply put, it’s the planning stage in creating art. Yuri is tasked with the conceptualization of it, and Masakazu delivers on those concepts.
CG Direction: Yoshida Miki
Yoshida Miki might be a good CG Director, but without the proper staff to back the effort, you end up with dragons that do not look good. Regardless, very interesting to see how much staff overlap there is with Steins;Gate 0.
Special Effects: Nexus
This is both a surprise, and not really. Nexus has very consistently been a staple on production support for various roles- but this is their first time credited for a Special Effects role. It only makes sense, of course, sense Gaku is credited as being from Nexus for their role.
So, where does this list of staff members land you?
Well, right here with this PV! Honestly, I was thoroughly impressed with it. No Longer Allowed In Another World is far closer to a parody than anything else, but due to Dazai’s charm it cannot escape finding genuine moments. The preview does a surprisingly good job of selling you on that point with its very strong composition and boards, but won’t hesitate to pull the curtains back to display the comedy the series is known for. On the opposite spectrum, the most concerning aspect is the fact that there’s very little strong animation shown. There’s lots of well done smaller pieces that will help the series feel alive when travelling from point to point, but the decisive lack of substance is causing a dull ringing of alarm bells for what may yet come.
Though I will say, don’t lose hope. Atelier Pontdarc has their connections, and so does Nexus. Uncle From Another World, while endlessly plagued with challenges, undoubtedly had its moments, and The Eminence In Shadow can certainly pride itself on some of its action sequences. That’s not to say that we’ll see the best of both worlds collide with No Longer Allowed In Another World, but that there’s far more potential for success than failure.
Truthfully, I feel like that’s the best way to describe this new information. Despite Pontdarc’s shortcomings and the (countless) challenges they faced with their previous production, I have confidence in No Longer Allowed In Another World. I have enjoyed the manga far more than I expected, and I have high hopes for how things will go when translated as an anime. Until the release of that fateful first episode (coming July 2024) though, all anyone can do is sit and wait.
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