Its not often that anime fans have the opportunity to watch a feature-length production come together in real time. Despite the growing popularity – dare I say, ubiquity – of anime worldwide, the Japanese animation industry itself is more often than not frustratingly opaque, much to the consternation of passionate aficionados and casual audiences alike.

So its all the more exceptional that Sunao Katabuchi, the director of Black Lagoon and In This Corner of the World, has been so generous as to share in-progress animation and full-on pilot video for his upcoming film The Mourning Children with the world. Last Wednesday, the YouTube Channel for Katabuchis studio Contrail began streaming a pilot-video for the movie, in addition to three videos featuring an ensemble of storyboards and reference videos.

Though not much is known about the premise of The Mourning Children, the film will be set in Kyoto during the 10th century amidst a terrible plague that has swept across the region. The real-life literary figure Sei Shōnagon, who is best known for authoring a collection of essays and musings known as “The Pillow Book,” will be a prominent character in the story, if not the films main protagonist.

I cannot overstate how remarkable it is to see these materials made public, especially considering the film is still in production. Katabuchi has been working on The Mourning Children on and off since 2017, going so far as to establish Contrail in 2019 to produce the film alongside MAPPA CEO Manabu Ohtsuka, who serves as the companys representative director. The relationship between MAPPA and Katabuchi goes way back, with MAPPA founder Masao Maruyama having created the studio with the explicit purpose of producing 2016s In This Corner of the World.

The Mourning Children still doesnt have a release date, but from what weve seen of the film so far, I wager itll be worth however long it takes to complete. Sometimes, you just gotta give a man time to cook.