There's That One Cool Studio... ◉3

         Still in Asia, which is where we’ll remain until the end of this series, but a bit further down, this time we’re looking at animation produced in South Korea.

         Born in October 2010, Studio Mir takes its name from the Russian space station MIR (meaning ‘peace’) and, with it, its lesson of “advance through collaboration”. And, interestingly enough, that seems to be precisely what this company has yearned to achieve throughout its history. As a matter of fact, a big part of Studio Mir’s work is a result of international collaborations. While this studio has been part of a fair number of productions such as The Boondocks (for the fourth season), the staff is known especially for their work in the pre and main production of the American series The Legend of Korra — sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender.

         Having started working on the first season of The Legend of Korra in February 2011 — worth to note how shortly that is after the studio’s foundation — the company was asked to carry on and animate the following season soon enough, by the end of the same year. The popularity the show received has Nickelodeon extending its contract with Studio Mir to give continuation with the animation for their captivating story in April 2013.

         Rich in action scenes, the high standard in animation technique Studio Mir’s work on Korra’s tale reflects also seems to let show the fun the staff must have had in the entire process, and it’s always a good feeling to see signs of the satisfaction a production brings its creators.

        There’s more to this studio than The Legend of Korra, though. Studio Mir’s skills didn’t go unnoticed, to the point where they have reached out to productions even in the fields of game and live-action film. To illustrate such an instance, there’s the title Asura Online, a MMORPG by Tencent Games based on the Chinese novel Journey to The West.

         I think the way Studio Mir’s 2D animation slipped in with the CG format of the original game quite successfully, and even with unexpected — in a positive way — results. It also makes clearer the studio’s artistic style, which is subtle enough to go unnoticed to those who have only viewed one of its productions.

         This style of theirs takes an amusing turn with their promotion film — Road to The Cup — for the World Championship Finals of League of Legends, Riot Games’ popular online video game. Studio Mir’s own popularity went up through the roof with this project developed for the length of 6 weeks (pre and main production), especially remarkably outside Korea.

         Finally, I believe I should leave a shout-out for Studio Mir’s other projects, namely Fucking School (I’m not joking, though the working title is F School), where the studio’s artistic decisions on how to portray political satire is, in my opinion, outstanding —

Dat Obama.

— and Floresta, looking promising with its detailed fantasy theme.