Children of Ether, Crunchyroll’s first ever original short, written and directed by LeSean Thomas (Boondocks, Cannon Busters) dropped on the Crunchyroll site exclusively for subscribers. Children of Ether follows Rhonda, a woman with mysterious powers and a supernatural connection who is in search of her past while trying to stay alive in a dystopian future run by rival gangs, warring factions, and magical unknown elements.

First announced at New York Comic Con 2016, Thomas teamed up with several anime heavy hitters such as character designer Hiroshi Shimizu (Michiko and Hatchin), storyboard director Shingo Natsume (One Punch Man), animation director Yûichi Takahashi (Gatchaman Crowds Insight) and animator Mitsuo Iso (Neon Genesis Evangelion) to produce Children of Ether. The animated short along with exclusive behind-the-scenes creation footage will screen before the first full-length episode of The Ancient Magus’ Bride. Written by Aya Takaha (Psycho Pass) and directed by Nohiro Naganuma (Yowamushi Pedal, Death Note).

What I think makes Thomas’ Children of Ether so significant is that not only is he an African-American artist and director who worked exclusively with a Japanese team to create Children of Ether, the main character, Rhonda, is also woman of color, a rare image in the world of anime. In addition, Children of Ether could be considered Thomas’ official anime directorial debut. Although in 2015 Thomas successfully funded a Kickstarter for the pilot of another series, Cannon Busters, and created a trailer for the series, only backers have been given access to the pilot for the show and at the time of this writing, the animated pilot has not been announced yet as a full series.

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@theblerdgurl is a commercial video editor by day and comic book reading, anime watching, TV live tweeting,  K-Pop listening, blog writing, geek gurl by night. She is on a mission to shine a light on indie, female and comic artists of color and highlights them and their work on her blog theblerdgurl. She currently lives in a century old brownstone in Brooklyn with 2 cats who plot her demise daily. You can also find her on twitter, facebook, instagram,  tumblr  , youtube and soundcloud.