One year ago, the teaser pilot for KILLTUBE shook the internet with its out-of-the-box animation and ambitious goal of creating a film with collaborators from all over the world. In the upcoming 2026 film, the Edo period has continued into the 2020s, and people are bound to a class hierarchy that they can only climb up by winning fights on livestreams, known as “duel streaming.” Anime Trending had the opportunity to talk to director Kazuaki Kuribayashi (Kizumonogatari film trilogy web production assistant, Dark Gathering promotion staff) and animation producer Fuko Noda (Yuri!! on Ice, Dorohedoro animation producer) on the development of their ever-expanding vision.
This interview was conducted through an interpreter and has been edited for clarity. Questions submitted by Audrey Im and Melvyn Tan.
Anime Trending: It’s been one year since the pilot for KILLTUBE dropped. How much has the project changed since then?
Kazuaki Kuribayashi: So, within this year, the project’s been moving into good shape, especially with the people, the colleagues, and the comrades we’ve [established] on this journey. The pilot was a good way for us to understand the image of KILLTUBE in the audience’s eyes. It’s starting to come into shape with the help of worldwide support. Many people have contacted us after the pilot.
Why is CHOCOLATE Inc. making something like KILLTUBE? What’s the objective of this project?
Kazuaki Kuribayashi: As CHOCOLATE Inc., we wanted to aim for a long, movie-styled anime with 90 minutes of pure global acceptance and historic creation that leaves a mark in the industry. We noticed that trends are deeply rooted in the social media world — a lot of content is expendable, very fast. The studio wanted to create something that has a lot of longevity and lasts for a long time.
This is Kuribayashi-san’s first time working on a feature-length anime film, while Noda-san has helped produce several anime titles in the past. How did your differing backgrounds shape your collaboration and work dynamic?
Kazuaki Kuribayashi: My background is being a director of advertisements, and through that job, I’ve met a lot of people with different careers and different members of the industry that support [this vision]. I believe this [experience] is my backbone and my weapon to bring value into society. Going into the new industry of anime and putting that [experience] into animation, I had reached out to Noda-san in order to obtain information on the know-hows within the industry, to evolve and create the movie that is KILLTUBE.
Fuko Noda: In a nutshell, I’ve found great inspiration from meeting fun and new creators and connections, and joining CHOCOLATE with Kuribayashi-san. KILLTUBE has opened my eyes to new innovations from within the industry. I have 18 years of experience in animation, but even now, I’m still meeting creators with new art [styles]. Meeting Kuribayashi-san and being on this team has been a cool way for me to update myself as a producer while finding new methods of creation. It’s fun, new, and innovative!
In contrast to the isolation characteristic of the Edo period, your team is actively looking to collaborate with people from all over the world. What do you hope to learn from this sort of extensive collaboration?
Kazuaki Kuribayashi: The challenge is not to create something that exists in the mind, but to actually break that and find new possibilities within it. I mentioned to the staff that creation is experimental, is about exploring a lot of potential avenues and then finding new meaning within that. Luckily, having these global partners for collaboration makes it very interesting and eye-opening.
Your list of “108 experiments” includes some really specific goals (like “Solicit action direction ideas from stick-figure creators”). Where do you typically get your creative inspiration from?
Kazuaki Kuribayashi: I’ve been meeting a lot of collaborators, and I find a lot of inspiration from different layers of creativity. For example, even things like weapons could inspire a character design. Or, a design could start off simple at first, but then I’m inspired to put that design all over the walls of an [architectural building] within the film. So I find different avenues of inspiration from each creation.
Fuko Noda: Similarly, I find a lot of inspiration within new collaborations and new findings that occur in this process. By having other people send in ideas, I can find new breadths of creativity within them. [In this way, we’re] changing the foundational concept of how things come about, or how things are created. Even seeing something like a simple drone or a vehicle that’s moving through the city! Seeing different ideas can expand your creativity.
Kuribayashi-san, you’ve previously directed other projects at CHOCOLATE Inc. that have a similarly immersive video-game aspect to their animation, like a sparkling drink rollercoaster ad. What about this style of storytelling fascinates you?
Kazuaki Kuribayashi: At a young age, manga, anime, and games were a very foundational part of my youth — games being especially very strong, as you have pointed out. My hobby was buying cheat sheets or manuals of games before they were sold, looking through these manuals, and imagining what kind of world that game would have. That kind of excitement I felt from the bottom of my heart, and it’s something that is still in what I create today.
We touched on this a little bit already, but Noda-san, how was your experience at CHOCOLATE Inc. different from your past environments, since it’s not a standard animation production studio? How are you carrying out your animation producer role?
Fuko Noda: Simply put, it’s very fun, and I value my time there working with the crew. Leaving my previous studio and working at a new studio means I’m still building to where I want to be. But by crossing fields with different industry members and being with CHOCOLATE members, I’ve been able to have great conversations and exchange [information] from those different cultures, such as [working on] a live-action film versus an anime film. Regardless, joining CHOCOLATE is just part of my goal to create something. I love sharing that [goal] with others, and I think I definitely feel that in this new place.
Recently, some animation shorts were revealed on YouTube featuring one of KILLTUBE’s characters, Rui! Could you talk about the planning that went into developing the animation style in those shorts?
Kazuaki Kuribayashi: I think you can tell in the spirit of KILLTUBE, but Rui is kind of an experimental character for us. We value creating palatable and digestible [animation] through our crossover of traditional anime with CGI anime. So again, Rui was like an experiment to us. We’re taking things that we liked within the Rui short-video content and then bringing them into the main movie as well.
As KILLTUBE prepares for release, how would you like audiences — especially international fans — to receive and interpret the film?
Kazuaki Kuribayashi: I strongly believe that this film can only be created from Japan, especially with the fact that it’s ingrained in our culture of the samurai or traditional culture. Yet, I believe that we are able to bring new breadth and a new generation of creativity, as a new Japanese traditional culture.
Fuko Noda: We would like for fans to anticipate the new release and to be excited, especially about KILLTUBE’s characters, the universe, and the story. Everything is very immersive, all without borders, so we really just want [audiences] to feel excited.
Want the latest on KILLTUBE? Check out the latest trailer, key visual, and main cast announcements unveiled at Anime Expo 2025.
