Amin Abbas Dubai

Mehdi Aouichaoui, a French-Tunisian animator who worked on different Japanese anime projects in recent years, was a guest artist at Dubai’s Middle East Film and Comic Con 2020.

In addition to working on major anime projects such as Dragon Ball Super: Broly, My Hero Academia, City Hunter Private Eyes, Space Battleship Yamato 2202 and Canon Busters on Netflix, Aouichaoui also worked on various animated ads and promotions for the likes of Dubai Expo 2020.

Aouichaoui said: “I have been in Japan for almost 4 years now and have worked on different Japanese anime movies and series. I got my experience while I was living there and worked with many passionate people for this industry.”

“One of the main difficulties that animators face in Japan is the amount of work on frames that are being required from them (i.e. 50 shots per month) while it’s less in Europe (i.e. 10 shots per month).”

“The first time I worked for Japan is when I used to work for advertising in Europe then I worked with French-Japanese animation studio where I was asked to start working with Japanese animation,” Aouichaoui explained. “I started with Space Battleship Yamato 2202 by using software for animation as I used to in Europe. But my friend and fellow animator Ken Arto told me that the way of making Japanese animation is different.”

He said that he had to work with time sheets and had to get used to many other steps which took more time than he had anticipated.

“It was very difficult for me at the beginning and I was about to quit, but then I got the opportunity to work with Dragon Ball Super Broly which was a golden opportunity for me,” Aouichaoui said.

“Working conditions in some major anime projects were very hard as we had to work for many hours and slept in the studio to finish the scenes within the deadline,” he added.

Aouichaoui recently returned to France and gives classes at the Gobelins Animation School. He is also remotely working with Studio 4°C for an upcoming project.

“My dream is to work on my own animation work in the future, so I need to gain more skills and work with many Japanese people to reach that goal,” he said.