An original character concept art for KTO Anime designed by Eddie Taumoepeau Jobbrack. Photo: KTO Anime
The creators of a first-of-its-kind Polynesian anime series have chosen to use the Japanese animation style to explore the voyaging legends of the Pacific.
Saimone Katoa, who is of Tongan and Samoan descent, is producing a first of its kind Polynesian anime exploring voyaging legends of the Pacific.
The Kotoa'Otua or KTO Anime team includes Katoas brother and cousins.
They began recording the pilot episode in August this year after a decade of brainstorming, writing and designing.
The Katoa brothers started this as an after-work passion project in their mother's garage in 2013.
What started off as just a hobby, with the pair looking for an interesting story to tell, quickly grew into something bigger.
Their grandparents shared the myths and legends of their homeland, inspiring the brothers to start their series off with a Tongan tale.
After thorough research of their family tree, the boys selected the main character originating from their own genealogy.
"The protagonist is Aho'eitu Tu'i Tonga the first, a half Samoan, half Tongan king of the Tongan kingdom," Katoa said.
Saimone Katoa exploring his genealogy. Photo: KTO Anime
The storyline will follow the adventurous monarch as he begins a voyage to explore the Pacific Ocean.
"The pilot series is to represent a Pacific demographic that is ancient and that has never been represented."
Katoa took notes from pop-culture in America where anime is a popular form of entertainment consumed by youth.
He said telling Pacific stories in an in-demand style would ensure the voyaging legends - the indigenous stories of the people of Te Moana Nui o Kiva - were not forgotten.
"The anime itself is to help with enlightening and elaborating the history of where we truly come from and the best medium I know we can do that with is anime. Because it's really about teaching the public and the youth where we come from."
They wanted to represent a diverse demographic and were aiming to collect 3000 stories from patrons across the Pacific Islands.
The Kotoa'Otua anime team aimed to develop and produce the submitted legends as a part of an ongoing KTO Anime series.
"It gives the people a bank of real authentic genealogical stories to really add context to the brand, to really add historical value to the youth and to the public," Katoa said.
"What KTO Anime aspires to do is to gather these stories, these real genealogical stories, their good, their bad, their ugly. That's Anime."
The Katoa brothers are currently in Hawaii where they are applying for Kickstarter funding to cover the costs of producing the rest of the first season which consists of 11 episodes.
They are aiming to release the pilot episode by the end of this year.
KTO Artists draft out scene designs. Photo: KTO Anime