hace 6 horas
3
When Devil May Cry, an animated TV bid acceptable successful the satellite of the Capcom video crippled of the aforesaid name, launched connected Netflix successful April 2025, it debuted 4th connected the streamer’s planetary TV chart. The communicative of demon hunter-for-hire Dante (voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch) was fun, funny, and action-packed. With a communicative driven by Indian-American showrunner Adi Shankar’s passionateness for the project, Devil May Cry was rapidly renewed for a 2nd play that dropped connected Netflix this month. The concealed condiment that helped Shankar execute his Devil May Cry vision? An animation workplace connected the different broadside of the satellite called Studio Mir.
“They're the champion of the best,” Shankar tells IGN. When helium started improvement of the project, Netflix gave him 4 choices of studios to enactment alongside. “I had a speech with my executives, and they were like, ‘Look, this is gonna beryllium a winning combo, you and [Studio Mir]. Because they volition execute.’” And that is precisely what happened, with the idiosyncratic directors who enactment astatine the South Korean workplace capable to bring to animated beingness “whatever I propulsion astatine them,” says Shankar, noting the scope successful scene-type crossed Devil May Cry’s 2 seasons truthful far.
While Korean animation has yet to interruption done arsenic a recognized taste export successful the aforesaid mode arsenic K-drama oregon K-pop, Studio Mir’s estimation arsenic a consummate collaborator for planetary productions has been steadily and consistently proven implicit the past decennary and a half. The South Korean workplace was built successful portion from the monolithic occurrence of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which was mostly animated successful Korea. Industry seasoned Yoo Jae-myung was an animation manager connected the Nickelodeon task astatine JM Animation, and decided to commencement his ain workplace alongside Han Kwang-il and Lee Seung-wook successful 2010.
They decided to telephone the institution Studio Mir aft the Soviet abstraction station, which gets its sanction from a Russian connection that translates to English arsenic “peace,” “world,” oregon “village.” “Studio Mir was made based connected the acquisition of abstraction presumption ‘Mir,’ which is ‘advance done collaboration,’” states the company’s YouTube page.
South Korea’s History of Animating Iconic American Series
Studio Mir’s archetypal task was Avatar spinoff The Legend of Korra, and Yoo tells IGN that the rubric was a “founding task and a landmark rubric that played a important relation successful introducing america arsenic the marque to the North American animation industry.” This brand-centric instauration was notable because, successful 2010, South Korean animators were often inactive seen solely arsenic contractors cleanable for “below the line” enactment alternatively than creatives successful their ain right.
America has a agelong past of outsourcing animation enactment to overseas studios with little labour costs. While U.S. animation outsourcing has included Mexico, Czechoslovakia, Japan, Canada, India, and the Phillipines, South Korea has been a large outsourcing determination for the U.S. animation manufacture implicit the past 50 years. In the 1990s, Animation World Magazine estimated that 30% of the world’s animation was being done successful South Korea. Iconic American bid similar The Simpsons, Arthur, Ren and Stimpy, SpongeBob Squarepants, The Animaniacs, My Little Pony, Batman: The Animated Series, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers person been partially animated successful Korea.
Building disconnected of the spot Yoo developed with Nickelodeon portion making Avatar: The Last Airbender, helium launched Studio Mir. “
Avatar: The Last Airbender, which was primitively broadcast from 2005 to 2008, represented the opening of a displacement successful U.S. studios’ mindset towards and enactment process with Korean animators (a displacement progressively buoyed by the uptick successful outsourcing crossed American industry, but that’s different article). Show creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino fought with Nickelodeon executives to get their Korean collaborators much originative leeway.
“In the animation industry, we person what’s called ‘an indication,’” Yoo explained successful a 2013 interrogation with Arirang TV. “An denotation contains accusation connected each scene, giving instructions connected each good detail, including the question of the characters arsenic good arsenic however and erstwhile they should move. This really makes the animated characters’ movements look robotic. So, erstwhile we were asked to enactment connected the aviator movie of Avatar: The Last Airbender, we asked the producers to scrap the indicator due to the fact that it prevents america from making the movements look natural.” They got approval, and the remainder is animation history.
Building disconnected of the spot Yoo developed with Nickelodeon portion making Avatar: The Last Airbender, helium launched Studio Mir. “[Legend of Korra] served arsenic the instauration for Studio Mir’s distinctive accumulation methodology, which integrates the full pipeline from pre-production done animation accumulation portion drafting from the strengths of the American, Korean, and Japanese animation industries,” Yoo tells IGN. “Since then, we person continued to refine and germinate our workflows with each caller project, but the halfway doctrine of our pipeline inactive traces backmost to our acquisition connected The Legend of Korra.”
From Devil May Cry to X-Men and Beyond: The Scope of Studio Mir
Subsequent projects Studio Mir has taken connected see The Boondocks, Voltron: Legendary Defender, The Death of Superman, Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts, Harley Quinn, Dota: Dragon’s Blood, My Adventures with Superman, X-Men ‘97, Star Wars: Visions’ “Journey to the Dark Head,” and The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. In the process, they person collaborated with galore of the world’s large amusement companies, including Sony, Dreamworks, Netflix, The Lego Group, Warner Bros., DC, HBO Max, Marvel, Disney, Toho Animation, Crunchyroll, Paramount, and Nickelodeon.
“The originative scenery has changed tremendously for america implicit the past 15 years, and the benignant of elaborate ‘indications’ has go a happening of the past,” says Yoo, erstwhile asked to bespeak connected that 2013 interview. “Today, we are fixed overmuch greater originative spot and state to lend ideas passim the accumulation process.” Studio Mir signed a five-year accumulation enactment woody with Netflix successful 2019 that Yoo calls “one of the biggest turning points” for the company, allowing “a beardown instauration of communal originative respect” to build. “Our artists’ voices are genuinely valued passim the originative process successful an situation wherever they consciousness a existent consciousness of originative agency,” says Yoo of Studio Mir’s relation arsenic a collaborator.
Studio Mir EVP Lee Seung-wook says that the institution typically works connected 4 to 5 “long-term projects”—e.g. diagnostic films and animated series—at once, overlapping crossed antithetic stages of production. “On average, determination are usually 2 to 3 projects successful development, astir 2 projects successful animation production, and 1 to 2 projects successful post-production simultaneously,” Lee tells IGN. Studio Mir besides works connected shorter-form projects “if the ideas are thing we judge successful oregon are funny in.” Past shorter-form projects person included a promotional abbreviated for the League of Legends World Championship Finals and a abbreviated featuring Tottenham Spurs striker Dominic Solanke.
Earlier this month, Studio Mir launched a virtual K-pop radical called B:DAWN. The task combines K-pop and animation and is portion of the company’s efforts to research “new forms of confluence with different originative fields and [to] proceed investing successful R&D.” The absorption connected probe and improvement is captious successful an manufacture that is becoming “increasingly analyzable and demanding arsenic assemblage expectations proceed to rise,” according to Lee. “As a result, each caller task requires a caller originative and method benchmark, and successful bid to conscionable those expectations, we often find ourselves rethinking oregon adjacent rebuilding the mode we traditionally enactment and taking connected wholly caller challenges.”
Yoo says Studio Mir has developed “a flexible enactment flow” to grip the clip quality betwixt Seoul and Los Angeles. (Seoul is presently 16 hours up of Los Angeles, and volition beryllium 17 hours up erstwhile Daylight Savings Time ends.) Studio Mir holds video meetings with U.S.-based teams during Korea’s greeting and astatine the extremity of Los Angeles’ enactment day. The teams support successful interaction via email the remainder of the time. “Interestingly, the clip quality tin besides enactment to our advantage,” says Yoo. “By sharing enactment astatine the extremity of our concern day, our partners successful the U.S. are often capable to reappraisal it archetypal happening the adjacent greeting [when they commencement their day] and supply feedback by the clip we statesman enactment again successful Korea the adjacent day. In galore ways, this creates an astir continuous accumulation and connection cycle.”
A dedicated squad of in-house translators and interpreters is integral to Studio Mir’s work, facilitating connection betwixt Korean and English, Japanese, Chinese, and different languages erstwhile needed. “Because truthful overmuch of our connection revolves astir originative materials specified arsenic scripts, storyboards, and designs, we judge translation indispensable spell acold beyond simply converting from 1 connection to another,” says Yoo. “It is integral to our workflow that our translators person a heavy knowing of each project.”
For Devil May Cry, Studio Mir “took complaint of the full accumulation process, from ocular improvement done pre-production (including storyboards and design), animation, and post-production,” explains Lee, noting that astatine slightest 150 in-house unit and unit members were assigned to the project. (With freelancers and partners, Lee estimates the full astir 200.) “We started by establishing the ocular connection for the characters and the world, and handled the designs, storyboards (animatic) and animation crossed some seasons, including some accepted 2D and CG animation.” Australia’s Powerglove helped make the series’ score, but each dependable mixing and post-production was done successful Korea.
'We judge translation indispensable spell acold beyond simply converting from 1 connection to another. It is integral to our workflow that our translators person a heavy knowing of each project.'“
When asked astir the biggest animation challenges successful Devil May Cry Season 2, Lee points to the large-scale enactment sequences featuring Argosax successful the finale episodes. “We person a bid of monolithic battles to tackle, including Dante and Vergil facing disconnected against Argosax, arsenic good arsenic the climactic confrontation betwixt Argosax and Mundus, each portion the brothers navigate the chaos created by these towering forces,” says Lee. “It was a situation we took on, arsenic it gave america an accidental to truly propulsion and refine our enactment choreography and method capabilities, bringing those moments to beingness successful the astir dynamic and visually compelling mode possible.”
The Future of Korean Animation
While Korean dramas, film, and popular euphony person recovered planetary designation successful caller years, Korean animation has yet to scope the aforesaid pinnacle—perhaps, successful part, due to the fact that of the industry’s past and contiguous arsenic a determination for outsourcing alternatively than home production. While KPop Demon Hunters has recovered unprecedented success, the animated movie is an American accumulation – alternatively than a Korean 1 – that draws profoundly connected Korean culture. In 2022, Studio Mir created a Korean-language animated play for Netflix called Lookism; based connected a fashionable webtoon of the aforesaid name, the bid didn’t interruption retired globally successful the mode galore K-dramas do. Last year, Korean animator Han Ji-wan’s sci-fi romance Lost successful Starlight was released connected Netflix to small fanfare.
Yoo and Lee place Studio Mir’s enactment connected the Star Wars: Visions occurrence “Journey to the Dark Head” arsenic a task successful which “we consciously explored Korean civilization and aesthetic sensibilities.” Directed by Park Hyeong-geun, the occurrence centers connected the improbable concern betwixt an optimistic mechanic named Ara and a disillusioned young Jedi named Toul arsenic they effort to crook the tide of a galactic war. Yoo and Lee hold that, since Star Wars itself was primitively inspired by Eastern civilization and philosophy, they wanted to reinterpret that beingness done a Korean lens:
“We tried to incorporated Korean aesthetic and creator sensibilities passim the wide ocular connection of the project, not lone done the artwork itself, but besides done the music, affectional tone, and storytelling. That said, aft completing the project, we inactive felt determination was country for america to propulsion those ideas adjacent further.”
Yoo says the deficiency of planetary designation for Korean animation is “something I find unfortunate,” but helium has anticipation this volition change. “While Korea has not yet produced an animated rubric with the benignant of planetary interaction arsenic KPop Demon Hunters oregon different K-content has, I bash judge there’s plentifulness of accidental up and we’re actively moving toward that future,” helium says. “As for Studio Mir, if our travel implicit the past decennary has been astir gathering our originative strength, accumulation expertise, and planetary experience, I consciousness that present is the clip for america to make and contiguous our ain archetypal works based connected the acquisition and capabilities we person accumulated implicit the years.”
Studio Mir presently has respective animated adaptations based connected large Korean IPs successful development, including 1 based connected wuxia enactment webtoon Gosu and 1 based connected Children of the Rune, 1 of Korea’s astir iconic phantasy caller series. “It is existent that the Korean animation manufacture is presently facing a play of stagnation,” says Yoo, “but I judge that erstwhile we person thing that genuinely connects with audiences astir the world, the manufacture arsenic a full volition people regain momentum. We anticipation Studio Mir tin service arsenic the starting constituent for that change.”
As for whether oregon not Studio Mir projects should number arsenic Korean animation, Yoo says that is thing for the assemblage and critics to decide. “Just arsenic ‘anime’ tin nary longer beryllium defined oregon claimed by immoderate peculiar radical of creators, I judge that genres and originative identities are not determined by those who marque them,” helium says. “They are shaped implicit clip arsenic audiences travel to admit and clasp them.” Yoo says that moving connected American oregon different overseas productions alternatively than home projects “is not thing that weighs heavy connected our artists,” adding: “Whether a task is successful Korean oregon different language, we judge that originative enactment carries its ain meaning and worth beyond connection oregon nationality.”
Perhaps it helps that Yoo has seen truthful overmuch alteration since Studio Mir launched much than 15 years ago, and successful the clip earlier that. “Perceptions astir Korean animation and the relation of Korean studios person gradually evolved, but I deliberation our mindset has evolved arsenic well,” says Yoo. “Rather than being discouraged by those antagonistic perceptions, we person stayed focused connected the enactment itself and connected raising the prime of what we marque arsenic creators. And we judge that the assemblage volition people travel to admit and admit the artistry and originative publication down the work.”
In the meantime, Lee says the radical astatine Studio Mir person been excited astir the merchandise of Devil May Cry Season 2, and are looking guardant to the merchandise of The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, which Studio Mir besides worked on. The animated sequel movie to Avatar: The Last Airbender is presently slated to beryllium released connected Paramount+ successful October.
As Shankar reflects connected the merchandise of Devil May Cry Season 2, helium hopes that helium has played a relation successful bringing much respect and popularity to animation arsenic thing much than children’s amusement successful the West. “I deliberation the enactment I've done oregon been a portion of implicit the past decennary has helped make the ecosystem, which has created much of the opportunities [for animation],” helium says, referring to erstwhile projects similar The Guardians of Justice and Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix. “But, you know, successful a batch of ways, Studio Mir predated it. It was similar they were acceptable erstwhile the satellite caught up.”
English (CA) · 
English (US) · 
Spanish (MX) · 
French (CA) ·