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Abel Góngora

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Abel Góngora
Born (1983-07-30) July 30, 1983 (age 41)
Barcelona, Spain
NationalitySpanish
Occupation(s)Animator, director
Years active2006–present
Known forStar Wars: Visions - T0-B1
Websitehttps://www.sciencesaru.com

Abel Góngora (born July 30, 1983) is a Spanish animator and director known for his work with the Japanese animation studio Science SARU.[1] Having joined the studio as one of its first employees,[2] Góngora serves as the head of Science SARU's digital animation department and has specialized in the use of Adobe Animate.[3] In addition to his work as an animator, Góngora has also served as an episode director for promotional episodes of the American series OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes,[4] and as the director of T0-B1, a short film segment of the Disney+ anthology project Star Wars: Visions.[5]

Early life

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Góngora was born in Barcelona, Spain, and grew up in the town of Elche. As a child, he developed a love of drawing comics and aspired to someday own a shop where he could sell them.[6] He studied animation and graduated from the Technical University of Valencia.[7]

Career

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Work with European studios

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Góngora began his career in Europe, joining the Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon in 2006.[7][8] He initially served as a location designer and later became an animator, working on the television series Skunk Fu! (2007–2008).[8][9] In 2007, Góngora moved to the French animation studio Ankama,[8] where he worked as an animator on the initial seasons of the company's Flash-animated series Wakfu (2008–2012).[9] During his time at Ankama, the studio opened a Japan-based subsidiary, Ankama Japan, and relocated a group of 25 European animators to the Tokyo studio to work with a team of Japanese artists.[10] Góngora was one of the animators who temporarily moved to Tokyo; while there, he worked with director Masaaki Yuasa, who would later co-found Science SARU.[7] After Ankama Japan closed in 2011,[11] Góngora returned to the main Ankama studio in France. However, he remained in touch with Yuasa and his producer associate Eunyoung Choi, and following the foundation of Science SARU in 2013, joined the new company.[7][8]

Work at Science SARU

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Góngora was one of the first five staff members to join Science SARU, including Choi and Yuasa.[2] An admirer of Yuasa since his work on the animated series Kemonozume (2006),[12] Góngora was eager to work with him due to his distinctive artistic aesthetic and directorial style.[1] Unlike other Japanese animation studios which have focused either on traditional hand drawn animation or computer animation, Science SARU prioritizes the use of 'digitally assisted animation' which combines hand drawn and digital animation using programs such as Adobe Animate; an advantage of this production method is enabling efficiency with a small team.[3][13]

Góngora began his work with Science SARU on the studio's first project, an episode of the American Adventure Time animated series entitled Food Chain (2014); he served as one of three animators on the episode.[14] He next served as a digital animator on the television series Ping Pong the Animation (2014);[9] Science SARU provided 'digitally assisted' animation production services,[15] while Tatsunoko Production served as the primary studio.[16] Góngora made his directorial debut with a trio of promotional episodes for the American animated series OK K.O.!: Let's Be Heroes (2015–17).[4] A later directing assignment was the creation of the second opening credit sequence for Garo: Vanishing Line (2017–18), which Góngora also storyboarded and animated.[17] Thanks to these early experiences, Góngora quickly became the leader of digital animation at the studio, eventually becoming the studio's lead digital artist.[3] As the studio transitioned to larger projects, Góngora served as the head of digital animation on Science SARU's feature film productions Lu Over the Wall (2017) and The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl (2017), the Netflix series Devilman crybaby (2018), and the feature film Ride Your Wave (2019).[9][17] In 2020, Góngora won praise for his creation of the opening credit sequence for Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (2020),[18] which subsequently inspired internet memes,[19][20] received over 10 million views on Crunchyroll's official YouTube channel,[21] and was nominated for Best Opening Sequence at the 2021 Crunchyroll Anime Awards.[22]

In July 2021, Góngora was announced as the director of T0-B1, a short film segment of the animated anthology project Star Wars: Visions (2021). The film centers on a droid who dreams of becoming a Jedi, and pays homage to the classic art style of Osamu Tezuka, the innovative manga creator, director, and artist who helped define the look of Japanese animation. Upon joining the project, Góngora was presented with a unique opportunity: the ability to create, with "almost no limitation," a story within the Star Wars universe that could represent his visual and narrative interests. Ultimately, Góngora settled on merging the visual style and sensibility of Japanese animation of the 1960s with the live-action feature film traditions of the 1970s, which the original Star Wars Trilogy represented.[23] The film was released worldwide on Disney+ on September 22, 2021.[5][24] The Star Wars: Visions anthology as a whole received universal acclaim,[25] and T0-B1 was the subject of particularly strong praise,[26][27][28] with Juan Barquin of The A.V. Club heralding the film as "charming, heartbreaking, and inspiring all at once, and proof that a short film can hold more weight than some of Star Wars’ features themselves."[29]

In January 2022, it was announced that Góngora would serve as director for an anime adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels for Netflix.[30]

Works

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Year Title Format Director Storyboard Artist Digital Animation Supervisor Digital Animator Location Designer Notes
2007–08 Skunk Fu! TV series Yes
(episodes 14-26) 		Yes
(episodes 1-11, 13-26) 		[9]
2008 Wakfu TV series Yes [9]
2014 Adventure Time: Food Chain TV Episode Yes [14]
Ping Pong The Animation TV series Yes [9]
Crayon Shin-chan: Intense Battle! Robo Dad Strikes Back Feature Film Yes
("Giant Hiroshi Robot Battle" sequence) 		[17]
Yo-kai Watch: The Movie Feature Film Yes [17]
2014–15 Garo: The Animation TV series Yes
(opening credit sequence 2) 		[17]
2015 Song of Four Seasons Music Video Yes [31]
Crayon Shin-chan: My Moving Story! Cactus Large Attack! Feature Film Yes
(animation assistance) 		[17]
2016–17 OK K.O.!: Let's Be Heroes TV series
Promotional Episodes 		Yes
(episodes 1, 4, 8) 		[9]
2017 The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl Feature Film Yes
(Flash animation chief) 		[9]
Lu Over the Wall Feature Film Yes
(Flash animation chief) 		[9][17]
2017–2018 Garo: Vanishing Line TV series Yes
(opening credit sequence 2) 		Yes
(opening credit sequence 2) 		Yes
(opening credit sequences 1 & 2) 		[17]
2018 Devilman Crybaby Original Net Animation Yes
(episode 3) 		Yes
(Flash animation chief) 		Yes [17]
2019 Ride Your Wave Feature Film Yes
(Flash animation chief) 		[9][17]
2019–20 Super Shiro Original Net Animation Yes Yes
(episodes 1-2) 		[9][17]
2020 Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! TV series Yes
(opening credit sequence) 		[17]
2021 Star Wars: Visions - T0-B1 Short Film Yes Yes [5]
2023 Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Original Net Animation Yes [32]

References

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  1. ^ a b Miró, Francesc (February 15, 2020). "El amor está en el agua, una fábula japonesa deliciosamente animada con talento español". eldiario.es (in Spanish). Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "INTERVIEW: Science SARU Co-Founder Eunyoung Choi & Eizouken!". Anime Trending. December 10, 2019. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Shukla, Ajay (May 21, 2020). "How Science SARU Animation Studio is Redefining the Japanese Animation Industry". Adobe Inc. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Jones-Quartey, Ian (February 5, 2016). "OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo Original Short: KO". Tumblr. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2021.[self-published]
  5. ^ a b c Loo, Egan (July 3, 2021). "Star Wars: Visions Anime Shorts Reveal Studios, September 22 Disney+ Launch". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  6. ^ Roces, Pablo R. (September 23, 2021). "Abel Góngora, el director español tras la versión anime de Star Wars que soñaba con un quiosco para vender cómics". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d Freire, Juan Manuel (February 17, 2020). "Abel Góngora: un animador barcelonés manda en Tokio". El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d "Abel Góngora | LinkedIn". LinkedIn. Retrieved August 11, 2020.[self-published]
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Abel Góngora - IMDb". IMDb. Archived from the original on March 30, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  10. ^ Ettinger, Benjamin (July 24, 2010). "Wakfu bonus ep". Anipages. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  11. ^ "Breaking Walls with the Power of Love Interview with Eunyoung Choi, VP of Science SARU". Chinese Film Market. October 25, 2018. Archived from the original on July 13, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  12. ^ "「夜明け告げるルーのうた」のフラッシュアニメーションを作り上げた2人のCGアニメーターにインタビュー". Gigazine (in Japanese). June 9, 2017. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  13. ^ Cardine, Kyle (January 24, 2020). "INTERVIEW: Science Saru Co-Founder On Yuasa's Habit of Googling Himself". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  14. ^ a b "Annecy Archives 2015 - Food Chain". Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  15. ^ "Science SARU - Works". Science SARU. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  16. ^ "Ping Pong (TV)". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 4, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Abel Góngora". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  18. ^ Cardine, Kyle (February 12, 2020). "The Anime Opening Inspired By Drake Memes". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  19. ^ Dennison, Kara (January 15, 2020). "Move Over, Blend-S—The Eizouken! OP is Twitter's Latest Meme". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  20. ^ Ashcraft, Brian (January 24, 2020). "Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken Has A Catchy Song And Endless Memes". Kotaku. Archived from the original on February 26, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  21. ^ Fobian, Peter (January 7, 2021). "FEATURE: The Top 10 Anime OPs of 2020 According to YOU!". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on January 29, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  22. ^ Loveridge, Lynzee (January 15, 2021). "Crunchyroll Announces Nominees for 5th Annual Anime Awards". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  23. ^ del Castillo, Berta F. (September 23, 2021). "Star Wars: Visions con uno de sus directores, el español Abel Góngora, y esa apuesta por el anime clásico". eCartelera (in Spanish). Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  24. ^ "Anime Expo Lite: 20 Things We Learned from the Star Wars: Visions Panel". Lucasfilm. July 3, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  25. ^ "Star Wars: Visions - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. September 22, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  26. ^ Han, Angie (September 22, 2021). "Disney+'s Star Wars: Visions: TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  27. ^ Hale, Mike (September 21, 2021). "Review: What if Star Wars Really Were Japanese?". The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  28. ^ Lowry, Brian (September 21, 2021). "Star Wars: Visions Review". Empire. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  29. ^ Barquin, Juan (September 21, 2021). "Star Wars: Visions overflows with unique stories and gorgeous animation". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  30. ^ Kit, Borys (2022-01-07). "'Scott Pilgrim' Anime Series in the Works From UCP, Netflix (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  31. ^ @sciencesaru (July 29, 2015). みんなのどうよう 夕やけ小やけ〜うたいつぎたいうた〜「四季の歌」担当しました。どこかで見かけましたら、どうぞよろしくhttp://sp.columbia.jp/prod-info/COBC-6772/…演出ウニョン、アニメーション ホアンマ、アベル (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 30, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021 – via Twitter.
  32. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (August 16, 2023). "Netflix's Scott Pilgrim Anime Has an Official Teaser and a Full Series Title". IGN. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
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