The 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival was held in Annecy, France, from June 9th to 15th. The anime work Get on! Kyoto City Subway (Chikatetsu ni Noru / 地下鉄に乗るっ) was exhibited at the “Japan Annex Booth” at the concurrent MIFA market and introduced as an Indie Anime.

During the exhibition, Gyorai Eizo inc., the company in charge of the animation production of Get on! Kyoto City Subway, also went to Annecy to promote the work. In this article, KYOTO CMEX speaks with Mr. Ryota Sano, the representative of Gyorai Eizo and the creator of the anime of Get on! Kyoto City Subway, about his experience there. We will also explore the future of that work not just as an anime, but as a piece of content.

Before You Read: What is Get on! Kyoto City Subway?

“Get on! Kyoto City Subway” is the rallying cry for this promotional content featuring the Kyoto City subway and City Bus support characters: the three close childhood friends Uzumasa Moe, Matsuga Saki, and Ono Misa; Moe’s older sister Uzumasa Rei; Misa’s older brother Ono Ryo; and Jujo Takeru.

In 2015, Gyorai Eizo launched a crowdfunding campaign to create a short anime. It became a hot topic across various media, raising ten times the initial goal of 1 million yen. This effort led to the completion of the short anime Get on! Kyoto City Subway. This anime is available on YouTube now! 

What is the object of MIFA “Japan Annex Booth”?

This booth exhibition came after Gyorai Eizo applied to a project planned by the Visual Industry Promotion Organization (VIPO), a non-profit organization, and was selected through a screening process. This project was conducted as part of a subsidy program by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Fifteen works were selected to introduce Japan’s outstanding indie anime and creators to the world. The goal is to acquire work and funding across borders and to hold business negotiations with overseas anime business professionals.

The Motivation to Apply for

After the COVID-19 Pandemic

“Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was frustrated that we didn’t have the opportunity to carry out the various plans we had in mind for Get on! Kyoto City Subway“, Mr. Sano mentioned in another article (Japanese). The vibrant international connections that once existed had been severed. He was actively seeking a foothold to expand overseas again, not just for Get on! Kyoto City Subway, but for his company as a whole.

“The application was as simple as filling out a designated form, so it was easy”, said Mr. Sano, who applied for this work casually. However, once the exhibition was confirmed, there were many tasks, including booking flight reservations and hotels, as well as translating and re-editing the work.

Arriving in Annecy

Located in southeastern France near the Swiss border, Annecy is a city of scenic beauty. Mr. Sano flew from Haneda Airport (Tokyo) to Geneva, via Frankfurt, and then took an hour-long bus ride to his final destination. Surrounded by historic architecture and the stunning Lake Annecy, the reality of the moment sank in: Get on! Kyoto City Subway was venturing out into the world.

Ryota Sano, the representative of Gyorai Eizo

He also fully enjoyed the culture la terrasse of France, dining and relaxing outdoors. When asked to share photos, he provided many. Noting that despite the festival, the city had few Japanese or even Asian visitors, giving it the atmosphere of a European resort town.

What was Evaluated about Get on! Kyoto City Subway?

in MIFA booth

This time, Mr. Sano submitted several other animations planned and produced by Gyorai Eizo in addition to Get on! Kyoto City Subway, but they were all rejected. Also, despite there being many other applicants besides his company, why was Get on! Kyoto City Subway chosen?

According to VIPO’s press release, the application requirements were as follows:

• Be a Japanese indie anime creator/company and be motivated to work with overseas partners.

• The main purpose of participation is overseas PR and sales.

• The rights for the videos to be screened on-site must be cleared.

• Must cooperate with a questionnaire and hearing about business results conducted after the event.

Even though VIPO has not officially disclosed its selection criteria, Mr. Sano believes the anime’s special status played a key role.

The Unique Power of Local Content

Karasuma-Oike Station in Kyoto

First, while Get on! Kyoto City Subway is a professional short animation, it uses characters from the Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau, a public transportation system. A character-driven project officially tied to a public entity like a transportation system is a rarity on the global stage. After more than a decade, the work and its characters have become familiar to Kyoto. This, combined with the global recognition of “Kyoto,” gives the content a power that resonates far beyond the city’s borders.

Second, the anime work of Get on! Kyoto City Subway was produced with the support of crowdfunding. At a time when crowdfunding was still uncommon in Japan, the project to create a short anime gained large support of many sympathizers and achieved a great success. The background this anime has that united creators and fans created a work together is different in nature from either commercial or private works. This gives the work a unique value derived from its distinctive origins.

Furthermore, the influence of past international evaluations, such as the Get on! Kyoto City Subway being exhibited at the British Museum, is also conceivable. The application condition that “the main purpose of participation is overseas PR and sales” may have struck a chord with the screening committee.

Mr. Sano believes that those background of Get on! Kyoto City Subway were comprehensively evaluated. Today’s anime is not just for entertainment; various forms have become famous, such as music videos and animated adaptations of novels. However, the anime Get on! Kyoto City Subway is a clear departure from them. Anyway, it would be great if it was seen by the selectors as a unique and deep project from Kyoto.

“I think they evaluated the point that it’s an anime work born from local content (go-touchi / ご当地) more highly than the quality and content of our anime work as a video”, said Mr. Sano. He feels a sense of accomplishment in the fact that the complex background, rather than the superficial aspects of the work, was praised.

Delight and Concern at the Business Event

Spreading the World about Get on! Kyoto City Subway

A monitor was set up in the exhibition hall, and the anime was played on it in a simple format. Although it was not on a large scale, Mr. Sano told that he could appeal works of Gyorai Eizo and Get on! Kyoto City Subway to many visitors with a booklet.

“In fact, I can hardly speak English, but I proactively approached people saying plain English like ‘This is my company!’. Then I introduced and explained our works with showing them the booklet, everyone gave me a favorable reaction. So, I asked, ‘Do You Know Kyoto?’ and got responses like ‘I know it’ or ‘I’ve been there’. I really felt the power of Kyoto’s name recognition, a city Japan is proud of”, said Mr. Sano. He attached a QR code for the English-subtitled version of the anime video released on YouTube to the booklet, allowing many foreigners to learn about it.

Facing the Language Barrier

“However”, he added, “It was a shame that there was only one interpreter from VIPO, and it was difficult to time our contact with visitors”. Among the many exhibitions of non-verbal anime works such as music videos, there was the language barrier to explain the outline of Get on! Kyoto City Subway, which has the high-context of background.

Mr. Sano also said that he was anxious until he arrived because there was not much advance information about the exhibition during the preparation period before leaving for France. However, he told that by actively taking the initiative, he could return to Japan gaining a certain level of success.

Mr. Sano’s own strengths are his ability to take action and his love for the content, more than anyone else, as an creator of anime of Get on! Kyoto City Subway. The passion he had when he wrote the proposal for this anime adaptation in 2016 is still burning now.

Aiming to be a “Glocal” IP

France is a country that has a close relationship with the Japanese culture. Many Japanese works are imported. The environment for creation would also be prepared, with Bande Dessinée, the equivalent of Japanese manga, for instance.

Having witnessed the global anime market in Annecy, Mr. Sano realized a new insight for Get on! Kyoto City Subway. It is the possibility of it becoming a “glocal” IP, which this work that delves deeply into the “local” aspect of Kyoto can directly appeal to the “global” fans.

“Just as the technology of an unknown small factory in Japan is actually highly evaluated overseas, people around the world may discover the value of Get on! Kyoto City Subway that has not been conveyed to the public yet”, says Mr. Sano. Rather than tuning and modifying this content to global standards, the work itself, which depicts daily life in Kyoto, may become a global value.

Conclusion: Discovering Get on! Kyoto City Subway in the World

“The Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau is not an IP company, as you know, it’s a public transportation institution. It’s natural for them to prioritize eliminating deficits and take measures against overtourism. Moreover, the person in charge of Get on! Kyoto City Subway changes every few years. It is difficult to ask for continuous motivation there”, Mr. Sano expressed his anguish while showing his understanding.

However, the fact that the anime of Get on! Kyoto City Subway was selected as one of the works Japan is proud of in the MIFA “Japan Annex Booth” after a rigorous screening process gave Mr. Sano more confidence than anything else. The project as a work is beyond what Gyorai Eizo or Mr. Sano alone can manage. A new light is now beginning to shine on the stalled project. This external validation may be the very force needed to move the project forward again. Mr. Sano could rediscover what he can fulfill his role.

Meet Get on! Kyoto City Subway in KYO-MAF 2025!

The journey continues at KYO-MAF, western Japan’s largest manga and anime event, held on September 20th (Sat) and 21st (Sun), 2025!

Join Mr. Sano for a special talk at the main venue, Miyako Messe. He will share more about his experiences and reveal the latest news about the future of Get on! Kyoto City Subway. Don’t miss it!

Check it out!