Siti Muinah
By Jerome Mazandarani | June 19, 2026
The global animation landscape is undergoing a tectonic shift. For decades, the term "anime" served as a shorthand for a specific cultural export—a medium exclusively nurtured within the borders of Japan. However, at the most recent Cannes Film Festival, a statement from Toei Animation’s general manager, Asama Yosuke, signaled the end of that insular era. "The era when anime was something made only by Japanese people is over," Yosuke told Variety. "From now on, we aim to create entertainment works rooted in local cultures together with creators from around the world."
This is not merely a corporate pivot; it is a recognition of a paradigm shift. Anime has acted as a "Trojan horse" of cultural influence, transforming global perceptions of animation from a children’s pastime into a sophisticated, mature medium for high-stakes genre storytelling. Nowhere is this transformation more visible than in the unpretentious studios of Buenos Aires, Argentina, where a dedicated team is proving that the future of the medium is as much about South American mythology as it is about Japanese technical discipline.
The Genesis of Electro Andes
Deep within an unassuming workspace in Buenos Aires, a group of 100 artists has spent the last 24 months crafting a 30-minute pilot that stands as a definitive rebuttal to the idea that anime is geographically tethered to Tokyo. The project is Electro Andes, an "ethno-cyberpunk" series that blends the high-octane visual language of Japanese sakuga—the term for moments of exceptionally expressive, high-quality animation—with the grit and complexity of South American socio-political reality.
The narrative of Electro Andes is set in the dystopian future of Arcadia Iruyana. It is a world where pre-Columbian gods and Incan iconography collide with a surveillance state defined by resource exploitation and cybernetic augmentation. The pilot follows two brothers, Cal and Pietro, as they infiltrate the depths of a mountain, seeking their missing grandfather. Cal is driven by a thirst for revenge, while Pietro clings to the hope of a reunion. It is a narrative of elegant, timeless simplicity, yet it carries the crushing weight of regional history—colonialism, extractive economies, and the displacement of Indigenous communities for corporate profit.
A Chronology of Ambition: The Road to Annecy
Bellolandia Studio, the team behind this project, has followed a meticulous, multi-year strategy to bring Electro Andes to the world stage. Their trajectory is a case study in how emerging independent studios can navigate the elite corridors of the international animation market.
- 2018: Bellolandia is founded in Buenos Aires (originally operating under the name Arquenciel), establishing its roots as a commercial powerhouse.
- 2019: The studio makes its debut at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where an early project titled Jordan is selected for the official program.
- 2023: Bellolandia returns to Annecy with Electro Andes, using the festival to plant its flag and declare its creative intent to a global audience.
- 2024: The studio pivots to a recruitment-heavy phase, seeking international talent to bolster the pilot’s production.
- 2025: A year of intense, "heads-down" production. The team remains largely silent on the circuit to focus on the technical execution of the pilot.
- June 2026: The studio emerges with the official story trailer, preparing for a world premiere at the MIFA (Marché International du Film d’Animation) Studio Focus Panel on June 26, 2026.
This long-game strategy reflects a sophisticated understanding of how the animation industry actually functions. As the team notes, co-productions are rarely born from a single pitch session; they are the result of years of "relationship building"—the late-night conversations and the gradual accumulation of credibility that turns a local studio into a global player.
The Philosophy of "Sudakuga"
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of Bellolandia’s identity is their self-coined term: Sudakuga. A portmanteau of Sudaca—a colloquial, often derogatory term used to belittle Latin Americans—and sakuga, the Japanese term for the highest level of artistic animation. By fusing a slur with the pinnacle of the craft, the studio has created a statement of intent: they are reclaiming their identity while simultaneously aspiring to the highest technical standards of the global animation industry.
Nacho Malter, director and executive producer at Bellolandia, addresses the controversy that often follows their work with a wry smile: "There’s always a funny controversy about whether we’re doing anime. Tell me about it."
This tension is precisely what gives Electro Andes its unique edge. The studio’s members are not "imitators." They are part of a generation for whom anime was the formative medium of their cultural adolescence. For them, anime is not a foreign language they have learned to speak; it is part of their native DNA.
Supporting Data: The Industrialization of the Scene
While the creative spark is local, the execution is global. During peak production, Bellolandia managed a distributed pipeline across seven countries: Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, Russia, France, Spain, the U.S., and Canada. This model is a far cry from the traditional, centralized animation desks of the 20th century.
Despite the digital nature of their collaboration, the studio made a countercultural decision to re-establish a physical office in Buenos Aires, housing up to 40 people across three floors. "We wanted to bring back the importance of physical space," Malter explains. "The difference in workflow is complete."
This physical infrastructure is supported by a growing regional industry. In recent years, freelance key animators from across South America—Brazil, Peru, Chile, and Mexico—have become standard contributors to major Japanese productions like those at MAPPA and Toei. The "small-scale industrialization" of this talent pool is what has finally allowed studios like Bellolandia to stop simply providing outsourcing services and start reinvesting in their own original intellectual property.
Thematic Depth and Political Weight
Electro Andes avoids the trope-heavy traps of generic dystopias. Instead, it maps its narrative onto the contemporary reality of South America. In 2024, Argentina saw its poverty rate peak at nearly 53%, a crisis exacerbated by policies that rolled back protections for Indigenous communities sitting on land rich with lithium—the very resource required for the world’s transition to electric vehicles.
By weaving this history into the framework of a cyberpunk story, Bellolandia ensures the series carries a narrative weight that would be difficult to emulate in a vacuum. As Malter notes: "Heavy resource exploitation at the cost of the human population and the displacement of communities. Those are elements of our region, but they’re also global, because we’re not the only side of the world where that’s going on."
The series aims for a "spicy PG-13" tone, reminiscent of Studio Trigger’s Gurren Lagann or Kill la Kill. It is action-oriented but avoids the "softened" edges often seen in projects designed by committee. It is, fundamentally, a creator-led work that trusts its audience to handle moral ambiguity and high-stakes kinetic action.
Implications for the Future of Anime
The implications of Bellolandia’s success are significant. If a boutique studio in Buenos Aires can leverage the global anime pipeline to create a high-fidelity, culturally specific original series, it changes the economics of the entire industry.
For European and North American partners, the allure of the "South American anime" scene is growing. Bellolandia is currently prioritizing European co-production, navigating the complex web of incentive structures, talent pipelines, and distribution deals that are required to sustain a series long-term. Their approach mimics the logic of the Japanese production committee—secure an anchor, build the team, and let the work speak for itself.
As we look toward the future, the "anomaly" that Nacho Malter describes—an anime series from South America—is likely to become a new standard. The success of the Electro Andes trailer is a testament to the fact that when technical mastery meets a genuine, localized, and urgent perspective, the geographical origins of the studio become secondary to the quality of the storytelling.
The era when anime was defined solely by the geography of Japan has officially closed. We are entering an era where anime is a global language, and in the mountains of the Andes and the studios of Buenos Aires, the newest, most vibrant dialect is already being written.
Readers interested in seeing the project firsthand can attend an unofficial theatrical world premiere of the ‘Electro Andes’ pilot at Les Nemours Cinema in Annecy, France, on June 24 at 2 p.m. Admission will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Azzam Bilal Chamdy
