Mechagirl

Mechagirl is an upcoming American computer-animated action comedy film produced by Universal Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is directed by Audel LaRoque and co-directed by Charlotte Jackson, from a screenplay by LaRoque, Jackson, and Casey Crowe based on an original idea by LaRoque and Roy Kobayashi. The film stars the voices of Kimiko Glenn, Darren Barnet, Charlyne Yi, Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, George Takei, Maya Erskine, Ken Jeong, Gedde Watanabe, Keith Cooke, and Michelle Yeoh. Taking place in a futuristic Japan where anime and manga characters ("mangas") and people co-exist, it tells the story of a young manga girl who seeks out a group of other mangas to help her become a heroic mech warrior in Manga City, while dealing with a ruthless businesswoman who despises juveniles.

Development on Mechagirl began in 2018 after LaRoque and Kobayashi, both anime and manga fans, pitched the idea to Universal in late 2017. The animation, design, and themes drew inspiration from various anime and manga series such as Sailor Moon, Doraemon, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Bubblegum Crisis, while the inspiration for the film's titular protagonist mostly came from the characters Peni Parker from Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and D.Va from the video game Overwatch (2016), the former also voiced by Glenn. John Debney, a longtime frequent collaborator with LaRoque, composed the film's score, with voice acting being done remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mechagirl is scheduled for theatrical release in the United States on September 23, 2022 by Universal Pictures.

Premise
Set in a futuristic Japan where anime and manga characters ("mangas") and people co-exist, Rakki Fukuda is an aspiring young manga girl who dreams of becoming a famous and heroic mech warrior named Mechagirl to fight against the forces of evil just like what her father used to do. But upon arriving at the Sugoi Corporation in Manga City where mangas get approved for their talents, she nearly gets rejected by its arrogant CEO Akira Sugoi, who does not want to let juvenile wannabes become popular and thinks they are not mature enough to become heroes. Rakki, along with her best friend Fumiko Suzuki, bands together a group of other mangas in Manga City by forming an alliance to help her achieve her goal.

Voice cast

 * Kimiko Glenn as Rakki Fukuda / Mechagirl, an optimistic teenage manga and aspiring mechanic who attempts to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a famous mech warrior just like her father Akio.
 * Darren Barnet as Kenji Kaneko / Samurai Senpai, a teenage manga samurai who is Rakki's partner.
 * Charlyne Yi as Fumiko Suzuki, a tomboyish otaku who is Rakki's best friend.
 * Awkwafina as Kawaii Kat, a cute, anthropomorphic anime cat who is Rakki's animal sidekick.
 * Sandra Oh as Akira Sugoi, the menacing and ruthless CEO of Sugoi Corporation who despises juveniles.
 * George Takei as Bani, a chibi rabbit swordsman manga.
 * Maya Erskine as Aiko, a cute, pink-haired manga schoolgirl who transforms into a magical girl.
 * Ken Jeong as Haipa, a hyperactive manga who masters martial arts and is Baku's brother.
 * Gedde Watanabe as Baka, a dim-witted yet friendly and supportive manga who also masters martial arts and is Haipa's brother.
 * Keith Cooke as Akio Fukuda, Rakki's father and a retired mech warrior.
 * Michelle Yeoh as Yoko Fukuda, Rakki's mother.

Additionally, Jason Ritter, John Cho, and Chris Kattan have been cast in undisclosed roles. Other anime characters who appear in the film include Sailor Moon, Doraemon, Astro Boy, several Pokémon, Goku from Dragon Ball, Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service, Hamtaro, Izuku Midoriya, Ochako Uraraka, and Tsuyu Asui from My Hero Academia, Saitama from One-Punch Man, Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto, Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece, Haruhi Suzumiya, Reimu Hakurei from Touhou Project, and Vocaloid's Hatsune Miku. Godzilla also makes an appearance as well.

Development
After finishing work on Lix (2017), director Amy McNeill and producer Roy Kobayashi were approached by Universal Animation's CEO Chris Meledandri, presenting them an idea for a new feature film. The duo then brainstormed two separate potential ideas for a feature; McNeill's idea, envisioned as a coming-of-age comedy, revolved around the Universal Classic Monsters (which eventually became Tracy), while Kobayashi's proposed concept centered around a teenage girl living in a futuristic Japan who tries to blend in with the other anime and manga characters, given the fact that Kobayashi was born Japanese and grew up with anime and manga. Although the initial intention was to have McNeill direct the film based on Kobayashi's idea, McNeill turned down the offer to direct as she was too busy working on her own idea, and instead passed the project to Audel LaRoque, who was still directing Computeropolis: The Deep Web (2018) at the time. It turned out LaRoque, also an anime and manga fan, had been interested in developing a film influenced by anime for a long time since he started working at Universal Animation, stating that the work of Hayao Miyazaki had made him "mind blown and change my life and career forever". He and Kobayashi later wrote a treatment and pitched their concept to Meledandri and chief creative officer Michael Wildshill, who both became impressed and agreed to greenlight the film although Wildshill was at first wary of the idea, worrying that it was too close in tone to Woo La La (2009), a similar Universal animated film with references and homage to Japanese culture. Despite Wildshill's concerns, Meledandri was enthusiastic.

The film was developed under the working title of ''Go! Mecha Squad''. LaRoque was announced to work on an upcoming Universal animated feature film on May 29, 2018. Very little info about the film was released to the public until July 25, 2018, when it was announced that Universal had begun development on an original animated film reportedly titled Mech-Girl, which was being written and directed by LaRoque and would pay homage to various Japanese mecha anime and manga. The film is LaRoque's eighth directorial feature film after Liche's Wish (1990), Ghost Vision (1995), Paint World (1999), the first two and fourth films in the Computeropolis series, and Quest (2012), as well as Universal Animation's first original feature film since Lix. Meledandri and Kobayashi would also produce the film, with Wildshill executive producing.

Further details were revealed a year later at the 2019 Annecy International Animated Film Festival that June, when Wildshill, Meledandri and Universal Animation president David Stainton revealed that the film, now officially titled Mechagirl, would be using an art style similar to anime and manga, and that it would feature a number of other anime references and cameo appearances by anime characters, in a manner similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), the Toy Story series, Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and its sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), The Lego Movie series, and Ready Player One (2018), as well as Universal's own Computeropolis series.

On February 17, 2021, Universal revealed further more details about Mechagirl, including its protagonist, a young teenage girl, being named Rakki Fukuda. It was also announced that Casey Crowe and Charlotte Jackson, former writers of the Disney Channel animated series Star vs. the Forces of Evil, joined LaRoque to co-write the screenplay, with Jackson serving as co-director, while McNeill would serve as an executive producer alongside Wildshill. According to McNeill, despite being busy on other projects, she still wanted to get involved in the film since she liked the idea.

Casting
On February 17, 2021, Kimiko Glenn was cast in the film's lead voice role as Rakki Fukuda. On March 23, 2022, other voice cast members were announced; these include Darren Barnet, Charlyne Yi, Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, George Takei, Maya Erskine, Ken Jeong, Gedde Watanabe, Keith Cooke, and Michelle Yeoh. Following the release of the film's first trailer in May 2022, it was revealed that Jason Ritter, John Cho and Chris Kattan had been cast in supporting roles.

Animation, design, and influences
The design for the film is mostly based on Japanese anime and manga such as Sailor Moon and Doraemon. To capture these anime influences, hand-drawn 2D animated effects were added atop the 3D animation with the use of Universal's Furrow, a software tool and technique created for the 2D effects and for allowing the animators to move the lines around the character rigs. Furrow had been previously used in the Universal animated short Neon (2018), as well as Computeropolis: Webcation (2021).

According to LaRoque, the inspiration of Rakki Fukuda mostly came from the character Peni Parker from Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), also voiced by Kimiko Glenn. He also cited the following mecha anime Neon Genesis Evangelion and Bubblegum Crisis and the character D.Va from the video game Overwatch (2016) as the main inspirations for Mechagirl. Production of the film shifted to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Music
On September 1, 2021, LaRoque confirmed on Twitter that his longtime frequent collaborator John Debney would be composing the film's score, marking his tenth collaboration with Universal Animation and the sixth time he would score a film directed by LaRoque.

Marketing
The teaser poster of Mechagirl was unveiled on March 23, 2022, revealing the design of the protagonist Rakki Fukuda. It received acclaim from internet users due to Rakki's physical appearance, gaining popularity which led to a series of fan art, cosplay, memes, and erotica; she was often referred to as "Universal-chan". Nick Valdez of ComicBook.com compared Rakki's popularity to that of Resident Evil Village character Lady Dimitrescu as well as the unofficial Samsung virtual assistant "Samsung Sam".

The first trailer premiered on April 25, 2022 at CinemaCon, and was later released online on May 19, which revealed a number of references and characters who made cameos from various anime and manga. Jordan Hoffman from Vanity Fair compared the trailer to Disney's Wreck-It Ralph franchise and preceding Universal animated film Computeropolis: Webcation (2021). The film's first-look footage was screened as a work in progress at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 13, 2022. The second trailer was released online on June 29, 2022, later attaching to the theatrical release of Minions: The Rise of Gru on July 1.

Bandai announced that it had signed a deal with Universal to produce toys, action figures and other merchandise based on Mechagirl. Good Smile Company will also produce a series of Nendoroid and figma toys based on the film under license from Universal.

Release
Mechagirl is scheduled to be theatrically released by Universal Pictures first in France and the Netherlands on August 31, 2022, and later in the United States on September 23. It will be streamed on Peacock 45 days after its theatrical debut in the United States. The film was originally scheduled to be released on November 5, 2021, but was temporarily removed from the release schedule when Computeropolis: Webcation took its November slot. It was then moved to December 21, 2022, and later to March 3, 2023, before eventually shifting forward to its current September 2022 release date. In theaters, Mechagirl will be preceded by The Early Bird, a five-minute short film featuring Woody Woodpecker which had previously been screened at the 2022 Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 13.