Oh Cirno, you’re such a ⑨

Source: Gizmodo

Starting next year, the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts will have something that’s long overdue for an otaku-rich country: a two-year graduate degree in anime production–the first for a non-private institution in Japan. Courses will be taught by full-time professionals from the anime world including Koji Yamamura, and students will leave with two or three full-fledged works under their belt.

Wow, just…wow. I’ll admit that I think this was a long time coming, but to see it being offered by an official university and not a private organization just blows my mind. I’ve heard of universities offering isolated courses on the history, production, etc. of anime and manga, but to see an entire program dedicated to studying it bewilders me.

It is interesting in that it provides a well defined path for people who want to enter the anime industry, but what worries me is that last line: “students will leave with two or three full-fledged works under their belt”. Considering the amount of potential applicants this program may have, the ratio of crap:not crap (note, not even good, just not crap) will be overwhelming. God help us if they make it onto the air. On the flip side, you can argue that it may spawn some really creative stuff.

So, anyone planning on signing up?

Edit*I guess writing articles at ~2:00 a.m. in the morning isn’t a great idea, I didn’t click through and read the full article. Thanks to bluemist for pointing out that only 16 students will be admitted to the program per year, and they will most likely be people already established in the industry, making all my above points moot ;_;

~ Shirukii ~