The “Road of Vengeance” team began the challenge of making this series prior to the pandemic that hit the world in March of 2020. When the lockdowns hit, rather than shut down the production and “wait out the storm”, the experienced producers, crew and artists rallied together to figure out ways to remain in production. The task, seeming insurmountable at times, proved doable and ultimately, successful. In hindsight, the ability to remain productive was crucial to surviving some exhausting, difficult and strenuous times where work was a welcomed focus.

The series created an international work flow that stemmed from the creatives in Hollywood, California to over the Canadian border to Toronto for design and layout and then across the oceans to Pune, India for the animators to bring the show to life. The FLUX pipeline kept the workflow going while many participated remotely throughout the pandemic. Several hundred people worked thousands of hours to bring “Road of Vengeance” to life.

The technical side of creating “Road of Vengeance” is unique in that custom software was written to render 3D geometry into a more traditional 2D animation style. Special code was written allowing the design department to paint in where they wanted shadows cast giving them great flexibility in creating the graphic look of the series.

Great attention was paid to the art direction in terms of design and color so that all the 3D animated characters and props seamlessly blend into the richly colored and exquisitely designed backgrounds, creating a unique and bold look for the land of Asuka and the world of “Road of Vengeance”.

Much like the characters in the series, the team behind the scenes met their challenges with the same fierce determination that Guan and Rika use to thwart the zombies, monsters and dark magic–always ready for the next challenge!