Japanese ADK Emotions and Toronto’s Guru Studio have signed a co-development deal to produce The Ora Chronicles. Aimed at six to 11 year olds, the new action-adventure series revolves around five middle school girls whose destiny is to defeat a great evil that resides in the Earth’s core.
According to Guru VP of creative development Rachel Marcus, the show is a unique blend of Japanese anime and western visual styles and storytelling.
This is the first time Guru has ever signed a co-development deal with a Japanese company. Guru (producer on Netflix’s True and the Rainbow Kingdom and Disney Jr.’s Pikwik) will manage the international distribution, whereas ADK Emotions (Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters and Beyblade), will be handling all the merchandising and licensing rights.
Japanese animation style has been getting popular amongst kids and streamers too, with Netflix picking up several anime titles and entire catalogue from Studio Ghibhli; Hulu partnering with Funimation to grow its anime content and also HBO Max picking up Studio Ghibli films in the US.