In an interview with Buzzfeed two years ago, American animator Henry Thurlow, who had moved to Tokyo from New York six years earlier, summed up his dilemma. ¡°When I was working as an animator in New York, I could afford an apartment, buy stuff and had time to ¡®live a life,¡¯¡± he said. ¡°Now (in Japan) everything about my life is utterly horrible, (but) the artist in me is completely satisfied.¡±
He¡¯s still here. I tracked Thurlow down in a quiet corner of Nishi-Shinjuku, where he is now in what he calls ¡°the inevitable next iteration¡± of his journey through the anime industry: his own studio.
After grueling stints at domestic veterans Nakamura Productions and Studio Pierrot, where his work went largely uncredited and his advice unheeded, the 32 year-old Thurlow and his creative and business partner, background artist Arthell Isom, 37, founded , with support from Isom¡¯s twin brother in California.
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