is an 8-minute-long

original net animation An original net animation (ONA), known in Japan as , is an anime that is directly released onto the Internet. ONAs may also have been aired on television if they were first directly released on the Internet. The name mirrors original video animati ...

written and directed by

Ōtarō Maijō is a Japanese novelist from Fukui Prefecture. Winner of the 19th Mephisto Prize for ''Smoke, Soil, and Sacrifices'', and the 16th Mishima Yukio Prize for ''Asura Girl''. His short story, "Drill Hole in the Brain" was translated into English as p ...

that was released as the first part of

Hideaki Anno is a Japanese animator, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for creating the anime series ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (1995)''.'' His style is defined by his postmodernist approach and the extensive portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotio ...

's Animator Expo. The story follows a girl who is tasked with becoming a dentist for a dragon. A two-part

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

adaptation was aired in February 2017.

Cast

Production

announced the Animator Expo weekly

shorts at the

Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...

in October 2014, with ''The Dragon Dentist'' as its first short. The short was written and directed by

and produced by Tomoyuki Ogata, with Anno and Nobuo Kawakami of

Dwango The Dial-up Wide-Area Network Game Operation, better known by the acronym DWANGO, was an early online gaming service based in the United States. Launched in 1994, it was originally known for its compatibility with ''Doom'', for which it function ...

serving as executive producers. Animation was produced by

Khara Khara can refer to Places * Khara, Iran, a village in Isfahan Province, Iran * Khara-Khoto, the ruins of a medieval city in western Mongolia * Khara, Pakistan, a town in Punjab, Pakistan * Khara, Nepal, a village in Nepal * Khara, Raebareli, a vil ...

and directed by

Kazuya Tsurumaki Kazuya Tsurumaki (鶴巻和哉 ''Tsurumaki Kazuya'') is a Japanese anime director. He was born on February 2, 1966, in the city of Gosen, located in the Niigata Prefecture. He is the protégé of Hideaki Anno, and a longtime animator at Gainax. ...

. Yasuyuki Kosaka served as character designer in collaboration with Yoshimichi Kameda, who served as animation character designer. Yuka Kawai served as

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

under the supervision of Kentaro Akiyama. Hiroyasu Kobayashi provided CGI direction, and Toyotoku Yamada handled cinematography. Shin Inoie produced the anime's special effects. Yoshitaka Koyama composed the series music, while Toru Noguchi produced sound effects under the direction of Toshiharu Yamada. The short was edited by Hidemi Li, and Dan Kanemitsu translated it for the English subtitles. In March 2016,

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

revealed plans to adapt one of the Animator Expo shorts into a television special, but did not reveal which one. In August 2016, the Animator Expo website revealed that the short to be adapted would be ''The Dragon Dentist'', and that the adaptation would be a two-part feature-length anime special. Anno himself will serve as executive producer for the special as well as serving as sound director. Tsurumaki will return as director, while Maijō collaborates on the script with

Yōji Enokido is a Japanese screenwriter and novelist born in Shiga. He has written scripts for ''Sailor Moon'', ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', ''Revolutionary Girl Utena'', ''FLCL'', ''RahXephon'', ''Melody of Oblivion'', ''Ouran High School Host Club'', ''Noda ...

. Shuichi Iseki designs the characters for the special. Animation is produced by Khara.

Release

ONA

The 8-minute long ''Dragon Dentist'' short was first shown at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October 2014, before being posted online with English subtitles on 7 November 2014. The

ONA Ona or ONA may refer to: Anthropology * Ona people, an indigenous people of southern Argentina and Chile ** Ona language, a language once spoken in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego * Ona, a pre-Aksumite culture in Sembel, Eritrea Geography * On ...

, along with the first and second seasons of the Animator Expo shorts, were removed from the series' website on 23 November 2015. Following the announcement of the TV special on 26 August 2016, the short was again made available to

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

until 31 March 2017.

TV special

The first episode of the two-part special premiered on NHK's BS Premium channel on 18 February 2017, and the second episode aired on 25 February 2017. Each episode is 45 minutes long. The special aired dubbed on NHK World with the first episode airing on 17 March 2017 and the second episode airing the next day. The specials are currently available to stream on

HIDIVE Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is Sen ...

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...

has licensed the special for home video distribution in North America.

Reception

Reviewing the first two seasons of Animator Expo for

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

, Kevin Cirugeda recommended the short "with reservations." He praised Tsurumaki's animation, but felt that the story overreached a little bit and attempted to fit too much content into its short runtime, writing that it showed "a glimpse of this fantasy world, but be warned that there's a larger story there that we'll never see." Salvador GRodiles of Japanator thought that the story was "a bit weak" but had interesting visuals, and had "potential" if Maijō were to expand on it.

References

External links

* at Animator Expo * at

* at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon Dentist, The 2017 anime television series debuts 2017 Japanese television series endings 2014 anime ONAs Japanese television specials 2017 television specials 2010s animated television specials Khara Sentai Filmworks NHK original programming Animated television series about dragons Television series set in fictional countries Works about dentistry Fiction about resurrection