From New York to India: Unique cartoon series blends comics and anime aesthetics

The cartoon show is based in a fictional town called 2-Land

A group of three thieves are on the run in the fictional city of 2-Land. Within moments of their robbery, they're knocked out one by one. As the camera pans up from the rod pinning a thief down to the ground, we meet our hero; dressed in a navy-blue suit, a cap worn backwards, slick, long hair and a tiger-striped body. This new generation hero is half tiger half human, or as New York-based show creator and writer Jason Lewis likes to call him, a Huminal.

Lewis' comic series Tuland High debuted with its first episode on September 30. The series is created by a seven-member team of Indian animators, spearheaded by Byculla-based animation director Jazyl Homavazir. "I have been working with American indie creators for over six years now. One of them put me in touch with Lewis, and I resonated with his passion. After I designed an anime opening and a promo [that he loved] for the series, he convinced me to do an entire episode. At that time, I wasn't sure, but it all worked out," Homavazir shares, adding that the team took nearly four months to bring this episode to life.

DRIP is a modern superhero who borrows from the urban hip-hop culture

Describing the vision behind the story, Lewis remarks, "This series will feel novel and familiar at the same time. We call it ‘newmiliar'. It has the familiar feel of a superhero action-cartoon with its positive and helpful messages, but it also introduces characters from an entirely new species that are a blend of urban and hip-hop influences on the genre."

Giving us a quick peek into the episodes to follow, Homavazir says, "At the forefront of the show is our flagship superhero, DRIP [Do Right Inspire People]. He's a teenager in high school who has assumed the role of the city's protector. But he has help from some very unlikely sources." Armed with punchy and witty dialogues delivered with sass, DRIP, AKA DJ at school, has all the elements to be popular among the young demographic. "Everything takes place in the fictional city in America. The characters are called Huminals; born from a mixture of human and animal DNA. This idea allows us [as creators] to explore our creativity with designing characters. Also, who doesn't love animals?" the writer adds.

Jazyl Homavazir and Jason Lewis

"This is more a cartoon show than an anime series. However, we are doing our best to deliver visuals that entice the audience [six years and above] by giving them the feel of an anime using action-packed sequences and compositing. We have our fingers crossed and hope that it grows further," Homavazir and Lewis sign off.

Log on to: 2Land on YouTube; 2landcomic on Instagram