Trigger teams up with top-talent studios and Bump of Chicken for a 40-year love letter to the entire Transformers franchise.
The very first Transformers animated TV episodes premiered in 1984, but you don’t last four decades as an entertainment franchise without reinventing yourself a couple times along the way. So when anime production house Studio Trigger was approached by toymaker Takara Tomy about making a special 40th anniversary Transformers anime short, odds are the first question they had to ask themselves was “Which part of the franchise are we going to show?”
And Trigger, being an anime studio known not just for their artistic talent but their raw passion for all things cool-looking, arrived at the best answer possible: all of them.
Titled Transformers 40th Anniversary Special Movie, the video, posted to Takara Tomy’s official YouTube channel, is a love letter to the whole franchise. Naturally the Generation 1 versions of Optimus Prime are prominently featured, but the animators haven’t forgotten about later arcs and spinoffs such as Beast Wars or Armada. They take a moment to salute the live-action Hollywood films too, and there’s even a shot that includes designs from Battle Beasts, which in Japan was called BattleFormers and was a periphery Transformers series.
As a hype video for the franchise, it’s incredibly effective. If you’ve ever had even a passing interest in Transformers, you’re sure to find a callback that puts a smile on your face, and if you’re anything less than a completely dedicated completionist who’s already seen everything the franchise has to offer, there’s likely to be something in the video that you’re seeing for the first time and reacting to with “Whoa, that looks cool! I should go check out that series too!”
In addition to Trigger, a number of other high-profile, high-talent anime studios worked on the short, including Production IG, Madhouse, and Studio Colorado. The music is provided by another famous creative partner, J-rock band Bump of Chicken, who’re big enough Transformers fans that a few years back they made their own Transformers-themed happy birthday message to surprise one of their members with during a concert, though the song used for the 40th anniversary video, “Mayday,” is from 2007.
Sadly, Takara Tomy’s video appears to be region-locked to Japan. Holding on to hope in the face of adversity is a recurring theme in Transformers, though, and I’m sure that outside-Japan fans will be able to find a way to watch it if they don’t give up.
Source: YouTube/タカラトミー via Anime News Network/Crystalyn Hodgkins
Images: YouTube/タカラトミー
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s actually shocked he didn’t see Masami Obari’s name in the credits.