{"rewrite":{"id":"r_c1c5c1c8df65e7d458bd6dd5","clusterId":"c_a498a28e9cb1030d969b1b7a","slug":"kohei-kadowaki-on-hybrid-rotoscoping-and-empathy-in-we-are-aliens","model":"deepseek-v4-flash","headline":"Kohei Kadowaki on Hybrid Rotoscoping and Empathy in 'We Are Aliens'","summary":"Director Kohei Kadowaki discusses his debut feature 'We Are Aliens,' which premiered at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight and screens at Annecy. The film follows two boys over 20 years and uses a hybrid rotoscoping approach to capture natural movement, developed over five years with a mostly inexperienced animation team.","whyItMatters":"Kadowaki's deliberate choice of hybrid rotoscoping, driven by empathy and a need to capture childlike gestures with an untrained crew, defines the visual language of a debut feature that has already premiered at Cannes.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eKohei Kadowaki\u0026#39;s debut feature \u0026#39;We Are Aliens\u0026#39; took five years from concept to completion, with three and a half years of production. The film follows two classmates in a rural Japanese town during the Heisei era: Tsubasa, voiced by Ryota Bando, and Kyotaro, voiced by Amane Okayama. After an impulsive incident, their relationship fractures, sending them on diverging paths over 20 years.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKadowaki told Cartoon Brew that most of the animators had little or no prior animation experience, so he turned to rotoscoping to capture subtle, natural gestures. The hybrid approach uses rotoscoping for delicate movements, facial expressions, and shifts in body weight while animating hair and clothing through traditional methods. Kadowaki said he avoided storyboard compositions that would expose the weaknesses of rotoscoping, inventing a visual language specific to the film.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"Kadowaki spent five years developing the hybrid rotoscoping technique with a team that was mostly inexperienced in animation. The result is a debut feature that premiered at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight.","twitterPost":"Kadowaki's hybrid rotoscoping took five years to develop with a mostly inexperienced animation team. The result screened at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight.","threadsPost":"Kadowaki's hybrid rotoscoping approach took five years to develop. The team was mostly inexperienced in animation. The result is a debut feature that premiered at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight and now screens at Annecy.","newsletterBlurb":"Kohei Kadowaki's debut feature 'We Are Aliens' premiered at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight and screens at Annecy. The film uses a hybrid rotoscoping approach to capture natural movement, developed over five years with a mostly inexperienced animation team. Kadowaki discusses the visual language and the importance of empathy in the design.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"Cartoon Brew\",\"url\":\"https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/we-are-aliens-kohei-kadowaki-263718.html\",\"title\":\"'Empathy Was Essential': 'We Are Aliens' Director Kohei Kadowaki On Hybrid Rotoscoping, Visual Rhythms, And Childhood Influences\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":4215,"outputTokens":630,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1782562593,"createdAt":"2026-06-27T12:07:44.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-06-27T12:10:24.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-27T12:10:24.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_a498a28e9cb1030d969b1b7a","canonicalTitle":"‘Empathy Was Essential’: ‘We Are Aliens’ Director Kohei Kadowaki On Hybrid Rotoscoping, Visual Rhythms, And Childhood Influences","representativeArticleId":"a_d1b937ce5c7360644ea81341","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[\"We Are Aliens\"],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[],\"studios\":[],\"people\":[\"Kohei Kadowaki\"],\"type\":\"news\",\"domain\":\"anime\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-06-25T17:37:27.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-06-25T17:37:27.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-27T12:10:25.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"Cartoon Brew","url":"https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/we-are-aliens-kohei-kadowaki-263718.html","title":"‘Empathy Was Essential’: ‘We Are Aliens’ Director Kohei Kadowaki On Hybrid Rotoscoping, Visual Rhythms, And Childhood Influences"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":["We Are Aliens"],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":[],"studios":[],"people":["Kohei Kadowaki"],"type":"news","domain":"anime","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":["Kohei Kadowaki's debut feature 'We Are Aliens' took five years from concept to completion, with three and a half years of production.","The film follows two classmates in a rural Japanese town during the Heisei era: Tsubasa, voiced by Ryota Bando, and Kyotaro, voiced by Amane Okayama.","Most of the animators had little or no prior animation experience, so Kadowaki turned to rotoscoping to capture subtle, natural gestures.","The hybrid approach uses rotoscoping for delicate movements, facial expressions, and shifts in body weight while animating hair and clothing through traditional methods.","Kadowaki avoided storyboard compositions that would expose the weaknesses of rotoscoping, inventing a visual language specific to the film."]}