This is a bold creative gamble—using AI to translate sensory experience into visual art. Ryo Nakajima frames it as revolutionary: 'The story of sake engages all five senses,' and this hybrid format brings audiences closer to experiences traditional filmmaking cannot reach.
Insiders are watching closely—the animation industry is deeply divided on AI-assisted production. Toonz produces over 5,000 minutes annually; their partnership with Supersub signals they're betting big that AI can enhance rather than replace human artistry in documentary storytelling.
Deal unveiled at Annecy Animation Film Festival. Directed by Riki Ohkanda, exec produced by Ryo Nakajima. Uses AI-assisted rotoscoping and 3D Gaussian Splatting developed in-house by Supersub. Targets festival circuits in 2027 after MIFA 2025 presentation.
The sake industry faces mounting pressures—declining domestic consumption, aging brewers, shifting global tastes—and this documentary asks whether tradition can survive modernization. Whether AI is the answer remains to be seen, but someone at Annecy clearly thinks it's worth a shot.
Move over, traditional documentary filmmaking—there’s a new experimental format in town, and it smells suspiciously like fermented rice. "The Taste of Water," an animated feature documentary tracing Japan’s sake history, culture, and uncertain future, has just been unveiled at the Annecy Animation Film Festival through a partnership between India’s Toonz Media Group and Tokyo-based Supersub LLC, and industry observers are already raising their eyebrows. The film, directed by Riki Ohkanda with executive production from Ryo Nakajima, follows what the creators describe as a road-movie structure divided into five distinct chapters: sake fundamentals, its historical trajectory, its deep entanglement with Japanese culture, the pressures currently threatening the industry, and potential futures for this centuries-old beverage.
The documentary builds its entire inquiry around one provocative question—what does it mean for a great sake to taste like water? It’s the kind of philosophical hook that could either elevate this project into something genuinely transcendent or leave audiences scratching their heads in confusion. What really sets "The Taste of Water" apart from conventional documentaries is its production methodology.
Live-action footage gathered throughout Japan gets transformed into anime-influenced visuals using AI-assisted rotoscoping and 3D Gaussian Splatting—volumetric rendering technology—both developed entirely in-house by Supersub. This hybrid workflow, the creators insist, is specifically designed to convey sensory and emotional dimensions of sake culture that traditional documentary formats allegedly cannot capture. "The story of sake is a story that engages all five senses," Nakajima explained at Annecy.
"Through this unique combination of live action, animation, and AI-assisted visual transformation, we can bring audiences closer to experiences that cannot be expressed through traditional filmmaking alone." This collaboration marks the latest chapter in Supersub’s relationship with Annecy, where they first appeared when their previous feature "Who Said Death Is Beautiful?" received official selection status back in 2024. "The Taste of Water" subsequently appeared at MIFA 2025 as part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s exhibition program at that event.
Toonz Media Group brings considerable production muscle to this partnership—their annual output exceeds 5,000 minutes of animation content, and they’ve previously co-produced features including "Bartali’s Bicycle" and "Zombie Town." Viswanath Rao of Toonz framed the AI element as a deliberate artistic choice rather than mere technological novelty: "Artificial intelligence is one of the most discussed technologies in the creative industry today, yet there are few examples of its thoughtful application in storytelling.
With 'The Taste of Water,' we are demonstrating how AI can work alongside artists and filmmakers to create new forms of expression." Gulshan David, VP of feature films at Toonz, was equally bullish about the market potential: "Animated feature documentary is one of the most exciting and underserved spaces in the international market right now. We're here at Annecy to find the right partners to take it there together." The film is currently targeting festival circuits in 2027, which gives creators roughly a year to perfect their experimental approach before facing the scrutiny of critics and audiences who may or may not be ready to accept sake served with an AI twist.
