Fan Animations Are Awesome

On May 17th, 2024, Studio ECLYPSE released the first trailer for their upcoming fan animated adaptation of Berserk’s Black Swordsman arc. In less than one day, it amassed over 1.5 million views on YouTube, with nearly 200 thousand likes and a comment section full of overwhelming support for the project. You can check it out in the link here; I’d highly recommend you do, the work on display there is incredibly impressive.

I had intended on writing this article before that trailer dropped. Studio ECLYPSE was still going to be a point of discussion, but not to a great extent. Originally, I was just going to share my feelings of hope and optimism, using them as but one example.

Now that we’ve seen what they’re working on, however, they’ve become the central crux of this discussion. After a display like that, how could I not? With one three minute video, they exemplify every single point I was planning on making.

Well, at least they’ve made my job easy.

Fan animations are some of my favorite online videos. They’re such a fun way for people to express their feelings on existing works. From animated parodies to adaptations to simple love letters, they’re a great way for up and coming independent animators to flex their muscles and put something on their reels.

Studio ECLYPSE’s work is far and away the most ambitious I’ve ever seen. A full-blown adaptation of Berserk’s first arc, with a full production team of talented indie animators. All come together for this project because high budget studios won’t try their hand at it, and because they love the material. It’s an amazing display of talent and passion and I for one cannot wait to see the final product.

Not that all fan animations need to be so ambitious. Sometimes it’s just fun to watch the shorter, goofier animations. While not nearly so massive, they’re every bit as creative and impressive.

A recent example I really live is the Rock The Dragon Animation Jam by SmallButera. It’s a collaboration effort, re-animating the iconic Dragon Ball Z English opening of old. Some shots are silly, like those worked on by Worthikids. Others lean into the more serious tone of the original show, like the shots done by Nas Pasha. Every shot is really impressive, and the whole thing is a great love letter to the late Akira Toriyama.

While on the subject of Dragon Ball, there’s another incredible one called LEGEND – A DRAGON BALL TALE by STUDIO STRAY DOG, which you can find on Agent Mystery Meat‘s YouTube channel. It’s an action-heavy re-imagining of Dragon Ball in which the team went absolutely hog wild. Check it out, it’s super cool!

Speaking of badass action, one of my favorites is done by Tom Barkel, who participated in the aforementioned animation jam. A few years back, he did some work on an animation depicting Eren Jeager of Attack on Titan fame going toe-to-toe with DBZ’s Vegeta. Silly as that might sound, Barkel absolutely sold the idea. Sadly, I wasn’t able to find a complete version, but even his WIP shots are super impressive! You can check them out right here.

By the by, he’s a professional animator who worked on shots for The Owl House, Rise of the TMNT, and Lego Monkie Kid. Dude puts out some super impressive work.

Some of my favorite fan animations are mini-adaptations of their subject matter. A lot of fantastic stories are either adapted poorly or ignored completely by official big budget releases. Thus, the fans take the material into their own hands. We’ve already talked about Studio ECLYPSE and their jaw-dropping work, but there are tons of smaller, equally impressive examples!

A recent example I really like is this Witcher fan animation from Lihtar Studio. It’s a fifty-second tribute to ‘A Grain of Truth,’ one of my favorite short stories from the first book in the series. They even used a darker Disney-like style to capture the twisted fairy tale tone of the original work! It’s incredible!

If only Netflix were so respectful of the source material…

Going back to Berserk, I’d be remise not to mention the incredible Guts VS Rosine fan animation by markReymer. While we may never get a proper adaptation of the Lost Children arc, this animation at least sets out to bring the amazing final battle to life. With the help of Paul Owen‘s cover songs, it almost feels like a high budget professional work!

Sometimes these fan animations can simply take a funny bit and adapt it into a silly animated format. Such as the excellent work of Brandon Turner. I especially love this one from OneyPlays. They add an extra layer of charm and humor to the already hilarious wiles of these creators.

Speaking of OneyPlays, it would be a crime not to mention the Totally Tubular Collab LOTR video. The playthrough of a text-based LOTR adventure game was already hysterical. But with the combined talent of dozens of creative animators, they took the entire video and made it into an episode of a mixed-media absurdist comedy! I still come back to it every few years for a hearty laugh!

This one article can’t do the subject justice. There are so many amazing animations from incredible animators celebrating their favorite things. YouTubers, video games, anime, movies and TV, books, they’re everywhere. Trying to cover them all in one place is simply impossible.

There’s also another kind of fan animation. But, uh, I’m not going to talk about those. For obvious reasons.

I will say this: they can be concerningly impressive.