A Kyoto studio best known for painting backgrounds is about to lead a series of its own. The Hollywood Reporter reported on Saturday that Creative Freaks is “leading the production” on Sentinel 6, described as an “Afro-futurist sci-fi adventure anime,” with former NBA player Michael Carter-Williams and NFL player Jamaal Williams serving as executive producers.
The hire is unusual because Creative Freaks has never been credited for animation production before. It is a background art studio, and a respected one, but leading a full anime is a different job.
The studio
Creative Freaks was founded in 2014 and has worked on background art for Spy×Family, Synduality: Noir, Ya Boy Kongming!, Chainsaw Man, several entries in the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime, Kaiju No. 8 TV 2 and Dragon Ball Daima, among many others. In 2023 the company’s website announced it had launched its own animation production division. It also runs studios in Tokyo, where that division is based, along with Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the project was “taken out to two dozen animation production studios” this year, with Creative Freaks winning the bid.
The project’s history
Sentinel 6 dates back further than the recent headlines suggest. Jamaican-American writer Pat Stout and the late Asa Palmer created the franchise in 2019 through their production company Sable Kudzu Entertainment LLC. The company ran a Kickstarter for a trailer in December 2021, which raised US$18,706 against a US$15,000 goal by January 2022. The trailer was posted in December 2022, animated by Bulgaria- and Germany-based Chase A Cloud Studio.
Palmer died in 2025. Later that year, Carter-Williams and Williams fully funded the pilot. Talent manager Sam Goff is also an executive producer, and LeSean Thomas, whose credits include Yasuke and The Boondocks, wrote the pilot and is serving as a consulting producer.
Story and format
The show follows Saint Dubois, a star student-athlete who is days away from attending the Blik program and following in the footsteps of his favorite athlete. A last-minute recruitment by Ranē Bogle, combined with family trouble, derails the plan. Instead of starting at his dream school, he has to fight the talented and intimidating Ali Washington for the role of Lead Stryker. As the two travel the world with Ranē playing Blik, they meet Kalani Walker, Chafalumisa and Zhu Sianing. Under the guidance of Sankofa, an Earth resident of more than 600 years, the six heroes come to understand their destiny: to protect the planet from Krath Mudaak, described as the root of all evils.
The series is planned for 11 or 12 episodes running 30 minutes each, with an English-language version first. Current cast members include influencer King Vader, whose real name is Dominique Barrett, along with Jamaal Williams and dub actor Cedric Williams.
Why it matters
Anime production is increasingly a global business, and this project shows how far the money and the talent can travel. Two pro athletes and a Western creator team are backing a Japanese studio on a project that will launch in English. That arrangement would have been rare a decade ago.
It also puts real weight on Creative Freaks. Backgrounds are one piece of a production, and the studio has spent years being the dependable support act. Sentinel 6 asks it to run the whole machine. Whether a company that grew up painting scenery can carry a 12-episode series is the open question, and how it answers that will say something about where studio roles are heading.
For more on studios taking on new roles, see our coverage of Sony Pictures’ Crunchyroll Storyworks division.
Source: Anime News Network
Featured image: Promotional still for the Sentinel 6 project, via Sable Kudzu Entertainment / Anime News Network.
