Amin Abbas Dubai

‘Saving Mr. Halloween’ is the latest horror-themed animated short released by Middle East-based animation studio Crazy Piranha’s Managing Director, Amer Kokh.

Kokh said that the horror animation was inspired by Japanese anime, incorporated with his own personal “style and standards.”

“I’m obsessed with fantasy and I wanted to create my own universe and set my own rules there. The combination of different styles in it makes it stand out,” he said. “I’m planning to make it a web series very soon and we are currently working with great writers on the scripts.”

Kokh previously worked on many Emirati animated series such as Shaabiat Al Cartoon and Amoona.

Kokh said he started working in animation when he was still studying at law school in 1998.

“I was in Law school but have been drawing all my life. I remember the first project was an educational cartoon for schools. I worked there for seven years, then I opened my own company CRAZY PIRANHA,” he added.

“The first animated cartoon we made was called ‘SAMURAI LOVE GOD,’ a cartoon series for Comedy Central. It was a comedy series and was super fun to work with, we had celebrities for voice over too,” Kokh said.

The animation studio’s founder explained that the biggest challenge the company faced was bringing family-friendly animation to the Middle East.

“Most of the people here relate animation to kids, the series we worked on was for all ages and we had to work extra hard to convince the audience of it and make them love it. It was a huge success causing the beginning of the animation industry in Middle East,” he added.

Kokh said he found inspiration for his work in his favorite childhood anime, Akira.

“I’m now hooked on DoroHeDoro as the character design and story twist is marvelous. I also loved Samurai Champloo because it was a new approach in Samurai anime,” he said.

Speaking about his upcoming projects, Kokh said: “Right now we are working on a kids show for Majid TV channel called ‘JAMOOL,’ it’s a silent adventure series about a camel who is learning about himself and other animals.”

“Also, we are developing a big series, Comedy Adventure, which will be out in the first quarter of 2021 along with a mobile shooting game,” he added.