#Shonen Jump+’s World Maker App & Netflix Announce “Kiichi no Ayamachi” as Winner of Short Anime Contest

Shonen Jump+’s World Maker storyboarding app announced earlier this week that Hikari‘s “Kiichi no Ayamachi” (translated as “Kiichi’s Error” in English) storyboard was awarded the grand prize for its short anime film contest, which is co-sponsored with Netflix.

Hikari will receive a 500,000 yen (US$3,264) cash prize, and their storyboards will be turned into an anime that will be produced by Netflix.

“Kiichi no Ayamachi” follows a cheerful middle school girl named Aya, who meets a young oni boy named Kiichi. Kiichi feeds on human emotion, but as he spends time with Aya, he begins to realize the true depth of what these emotions are all about. 

Other nominated creators for the short anime film contest include Sydney Katonbo‘s “Uchujin wa Boshi o Kaburu Daro ka,” Usagi‘s “Arisugawa-san to Arisugawa-san,” Gyusuke‘s “CLOVER,” Sanmonzake‘s “Zombie no Furi de Ikinobiru,” and Yokan‘s “Henshin Hero!” All the creators were recognized as honorable mentions, and each will receive a 10,000-yen (US$65.00) Amazon gift card.

The World Maker app was first launched by Shueisha and Shonen Jump+ on July 12, 2023. The app allows users to create thumbnail draft layouts for manga or storyboards for animation, live-action series, films, and commercials. Users are able to draft the page layouts or use the provided templates in the app, while also having the ability to adjust and drop provided characters and other graphic elements. They can also enter dialogue, add effects, and publish the final results.

The app also claims to use machine translation to translate the thumbnails and storyboards into 17 languages, including English, Chinese, Korean, and French.

Source: World Maker Official Website, World Maker Official Twitter