Oni: Thunder God's Tale

Production

Daisuke 'Dice' Tsutsumi, after years in the American animation industry, sought a platform to tell a story reflecting his cultural heritage. He conceptualized a project based on Japanese mythology with a modern twist, aiming to shift the common perspective on oni and the notion of good and evil. On October 20, 2022, it was revealed that the story was based on the poetry 'Onari's Lullaby' written by his late mother, Emi Tsutsumi, a poet. The environment was largely inspired by Yakushima in southern Japan, which Tsutsumi and Mari Okada often visited; its forests and vegetation served as references for Onari's neighborhood. On March 4, 2019, Tonko House unveiled the project, titled Oni, as part of its slate alongside Leo and Sleepy Pines. It was revealed as a CGI animated and stop-motion hybrid television series, produced by Tonko House with animation developed by CG studio Megalis and Japanese stop-motion house Dwarf Animation, the latter known for Rilakkuma and Kaoru. Tsutsumi created and directed the series. Test footage was shown at the first Tonko House Film Festival in spring 2019. On November 21, 2019, Netflix announced its collaboration with Tonko House, joining the production board and picking up the series for release. Executive producers included Tsutsumi, Robert Kondo, and Kane Lee, with Sara K. Sampson as sole producer. On June 2, 2022, the series was officially titled Oni: Thunder God's Tale, released as a limited series of four episodes, with Mari Okada revealed as the main writer since 2021. CG studios Marza and Anima joined the animation development.