Highlights
- Studio Khara, the acclaimed animation studio co-founded by Hideaki Anno, has joined the production of Baahubali: The Eternal War Part 1.
- The project brings together an international production team spanning Japan, France, Scotland, the U.K., and India.
- S.S. Rajamouli said at Annecy that the film series is aiming to deliver a culturally authentic story for a worldwide audience.
Studio Khara, the renowned Japanese animation studio co-founded by Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno, has joined the production of Baahubali: The Eternal War Part 1. The collaboration adds one of the anime industry’s most respected studios to India’s most ambitious two-part animated feature project, set in Rajamouli’s Baahubali universe.
As per Variety, the studio will contribute an animated sequence in The Eternal War Part 1. The studio joined the Baahubali: The Eternal War production team through Japanese production company SlowCurve. The company will coordinate between Khara and international production staff.
The announcement came as the film screened work-in-progress footage at Annecy’s Work in Progress (WIP) program on June 25. The WIP panel highlighted a blend of 2D and 3D animation techniques through the footage, which complements Baahubali: The Eternal War Part 1’s global ambition.
How Does Studio Khara Contribute to Baahubali: The Eternal War Part 1?
The attachment of Studio Khara positions the upcoming film as a prestige production within the Japanese anime industry and gives the Baahubali animated feature a visibility push in Japan. The film’s production is already largely handled by international animation studios, except for one Indian firm, Mihira Visual Labs.
A France-based company, Alcyde, Scotland’s Zaratan, and a U.K.-based animation studio, Aniventure, are attached to The Eternal War Part 1’s production in different capacities. In this team, Studio Khara will produce a dedicated sequence, which has not been detailed.
The segment will be directed by Akira Honma, with character designs by Noriko ITŌ, whose previous work credits include Demon Slayer Infinity Castle and Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. Director Mahiro Maeda, known for Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time and Final Fantasy: Unlimited, also joins as a key contributor.
Rajamouli on the Vision Behind Baahubali: The Eternal War
At the Annecy panel, S.S. Rajamouli said the live-action films' success pushed the team to find new ways to expand the universe beyond what live action allowed. “But in showing those mythology-inspired stories, we were severely limited by the constraints of filmmaking; we were not doing justice,” Rajamouli highlighted at the panel.
He framed the Baahubali: The Eternal War Part film series’ goal is to preserve the films’ Indian mythological background and cultural core while speaking a more universal visual language. He added that the goal was not to make an animation aimed solely at the Indian market, but “for the world stage,” promising audiences that the team would make it “in the best possible way.”
Rajamouli also pushed back on Indian animation’s reputation as children’s content. “Animation offers a canvas with no boundaries,” he wrote on Instagram, underscoring the film format’s importance when The Eternal War’s Annecy selection was announced in April.
This is likely what motivated the assembly of renowned studios across the world, giving the film a global identity through the works of various creative teams. Studio Khara, among others, has built a reputation for combining large-scale action with sophisticated visual storytelling.
Its participation strengthens the film’s international creative credentials while highlighting how Indian animation productions are increasingly collaborating with established overseas studios to compete in the premium animation market. Baahubali: The Eternal War Part 1 is scheduled to release worldwide, including India, in 2027.
