From Steambot Studios comes the animated work “Urbance,” which I first profiled on this blog in January of 2013, and have been tracking since, updating you all as progress was made on the project.

At the time of my last post, plans were for it to eventually become a TV series. While they had been working on the project for over 3 years, there was still much to be done, most importantly, money to be raised – which they did successfully in the fall of 2014, via Kickstarter, in the sum of $229,301 CAD (which is about $175,000 US).

A first trailer was released last September, which, as I recall, was met with mostly enthusiasm. Now 6 months later, the pilot episode has been released online by the studio, along with the following message: “Thanks to the amazing support of the Urbance community through the Kickstarter campaign, the Urbance pilot was green-lighted for production in January 2015. The pilot was produced in 9 months between Canada, Japan and France, and ended in September 2015. It was a blessing and a wonderful first experience to work with such an amazing and talented team of artists from all around the world. Yapiko Animation did an incredible animation job, which was led by Hiroshi Shimizu (Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke). On the other hand, the original soundtrack was created by PLAID, a talented duo from UK, as well as many other brilliant music composers: The Tanuki Project, B.Ames and High Klassified. Each one of them instinctively mixed up our vision with their unique color. Lastly, Total casting, Spacesheep and Hifi-Génie also contributed into making this pilot a success. Up until now, the screening was restricted to kickstarter backers and festivals only. We are very happy to finally share the pilot with you. Enjoy the Watch!”

The “Urbance” synopsis reads: In the big city, gender war rises. Sex is prohibited because of a genetic deadly virus. Ruled by hate and anger, boys and girls grow up apart from each other, forming rivals gangs. Among these lost teenagers, Kenzell and lesya will fight adversity and defy all the rules in order to live their love and restore peace.

“Urbance” comes from Canadian director Joel Dos Reis Viegas, made for Steambot Studios (a Canada & USA-based development studio who work in a variety of media platforms, including film and TV).

The pilot is online and is embedded below, so check it out now!