Virgin Punk
| Virgin Punk | |
 Key visual featuring Ubu Shinsui | |
| ヴァージン・パンク (Vājin Panku) | |
|---|---|
| Created by | |
| Anime film series | |
| Directed by | Yasuomi Umetsu |
| Produced by | Ryuusuke Suzuki |
| Written by | Yūya Takahashi |
| Music by | Yoshiaki Dewa |
| Studio | Shaft |
| Released | June 27, 2025 – scheduled |
Virgin Punk (Japanese: ヴァージン・パンク, Hepburn: Vājin Panku) is an upcoming original anime film series created by director Yasuomi Umetsu and animation production studio Shaft. It is directed by and features character designs by Umetsu, with Yuji Honjo and Yuki Funagakure serving as art directors, Yūya Takahashi writing film scripts, and Yoshiaki Dewa composing the music. The first part, Clockwork Girl, is set to be theatrically released in June 2025.
Characters
[edit]Clockwork Girl
[edit]- Ubu Shinsui (神氷羽舞, Shinsui Ubu)
- Voiced by: Saki Miyashita[1]
- Mr. Elegance (Mr.エレガンス, Mr. Eregansu)
- Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi[1]
- Luis Gaudi (ルイス・ガウディ, Ruisu Gaudi)
- Voiced by: Taku Yashiro[1]
- Maggy (マギー, Magī)
- Voiced by: Rui Tanabe[1]
- Tommy J (トミー・J, Tomī J)
- Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto[1]
- Ayano Andriette (乃愛・アンドリエット, Ayano Andorietto)
- Voiced by: Fūka Izumi[1]
- Vespa (ヴェスパ, Vuesupa)
- Voiced by: Sumire Uesaka[1]
List of films
[edit]| Episode | Release date |
|---|---|
| Clockwork Girl | June 27, 2025 |
Creation
[edit]Pre-production
[edit]The project began in late 2014 following the end of Umetsu's previous (and final) work with studio Arms, Wizard Barristers.[2] Umetsu was interested in directing a project at Shaft because he liked the company's work when he was hired to direct the opening for And Yet the Town Moves, directed by longtime colleague Akiyuki Shinbo. Umetsu came up with three different concepts and presented them to Shaft president Mitsutoshi Kubota, who selected the Virgin Punk project. In 2015, with Virgin Punk approved, Umetsu was asked to direct the opening for Shinbo's and Naoyuki Tatsuwa's Gourmet Girl Graffiti anime and worked with Shaft production manager Ryuusuke Suzuki, whose work impressed Umetsu and thus he recommended Suzuki to be the producer of Virgin Punk. That same year, writer Yūya Takahashi joined the project following the cancellation of a separate work, and the screenplay was finished in 2016.[3]
From the beginning, Kubota insisted that Umetsu wasn't bound by Shaft's usual "directing manual" that was based on Shinbo's style of directing, and both he and Aniplex encouraged him to direct the work in his style and as he saw fit. Umetsu brought on several of his previous collaborators and acquiantances to work on the project: art designer Shinichi Yokota had worked with Umetsu on Wizard Barristers, and he believed Yokota had a talent for said design work; he had met sub-character designer Keita Matsumoto while doing work for Production I.G; prop designer Naoko Kouda worked with Umetsu on Galilei Donna; main animator Shinya Takahashi is a veteran collaborator of Umetsu's; and he met main animator Maho Kandou when she was still employed by Pierrot+. Main animator Genichirou Abe was provided by Shaft, whom Umetsu humored to be "Shaft's treasure" (シャフトの至宝). Producer Suzuki called in art directors Yuuki Funagakure and Yuuji Honjou.[3]
Production
[edit]The animation production process for Virgin Punk began in 2018.[3] Umetsu made few appearances on any anime for several years beginning from the production process, and mainly showed up for key animation work to some of Shaft's other titles including some outsourced work to help Kouji Matsumura (another friend of his from Pierrot+ who had joined Shaft and had been promoted to episode director at the company); and also directing the opening to Shinbo and Hajime Ootani's Pretty Boy Detective Club (2021) as the first indication of his project at the company.[2] Kubota gave the "Umetsu team" (most of whom were already involved with Virgin Punk) the name of "Shaft Umegumi" in the credits as a reference to Umetsu's own work.[2] The project was officially announced in September 2024 at Aniplex Online Fest,[4] with the first part scheduled to be released on June 27, 2025.[5]
Animator Daniela Padilla Barquero, a former employee of Shaft who continued to work with the company, noted Virgin Punk's high-level of detail orientation and considered it to be one of her most challenging projects. Although she considered her own work to be relatively minimal, she stated that it took a month of work to complete one second of the animation.[6]
See also
[edit]- Kite, 1998 anime OVA by the same director
- Mezzo Forte, 2000 anime OVA by the same director
Notes
[edit]Works cited
[edit]- Newtype (February 10, 2025). Newtype March 2025 (in Japanese). Kadokawa Shoten.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g Pineda, Rafael Antonio (March 21, 2025). "Yasuomi Umetsu, Shaft's Virgin Punk Original Anime Reveals Cast for 1st Story". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
- ^ a b c Umetsu, Yasuomi (September 17, 2024). 次回監督作品・解禁です [My Next Directorial Work: Now Revealed]. FC2 Blog (in Japanese). Retrieved September 17, 2024.
- ^ a b c Newtype 2025, p. 92.
- ^ Cayanan, Joanna (September 16, 2024). "Aniplex Unveils Virgin Punk Original Animation Series by Director Yasuomi Umetsu, Studio Shaft". Anime News Network. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
- ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (February 10, 2025). "Yasuomi Umetsu, Shaft's Virgin Punk Original Anime Debuts 1st Story on June 27". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 10, 2025.
- ^ González, Melissa (May 7, 2025). "Tica Daniela Padilla brillaen la industria del anime en Japón" [Costa Rican Animator Daniela Padilla Shines in the Japanese Anime Industry]. La República. Retrieved May 20, 2025.
External links
[edit]- Official website (in Japanese)
- Virgin Punk (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
 | This anime-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
