on Google Preferred Source Google News Link copied to clipboard By Ryan Epps Published Sep 7, 2026, 11:00 PM EDT Anime The veteran animator on finding beauty in messy, unorganized emotions
Image: Aniplex/CloverWorks Sign in to your Polygon.com account Add Us Add on Google Preferred Source Google News Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Table of contents The Lists The Lists Polygon's most anticipated games of the fall Our 10 most anticipated movies The 10 TV shows we won't miss this season Big Interviews Big Interviews Zach Cregger: What Resident Evil is really about Before 'Mr. Jambo,' Kyle Gordon rocked to Buck Bumble Game On Game On This sexy Fire Emblem-inspired RPG mixes roguelikes, dating sims, and Hot Devils This carnivorous new deckbuilder looks like nothing else in the Slay the Spire era After 2 hours, Gears of War: E-Day's campaign goes brrrr in all the right ways Petit Planet is coming for Animal Crossing's crown Lovecraft meets Snowpiercer in one of of 2026’s biggest surprises Pure Cinema Pure Cinema Exclusive look: Practical Magic 2 recaptures cult status Exclusive: Meet Forgotten Island's hunky blue Prince Mermahn Your Next Read Your Next Read Cemetery Boys returns with a Critical Role bump in exclusive look at the fantasy sequel Atsushi Nishigori has spent much of his career inside the machinery of others' anime. His years at Gainax — the hugely influential studio behind FLCL and Neon Genesis Evangelion — put him in the orbit of creators like Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuya Tsurumaki. He later worked on The Idolmaster , Darling in the Franxx , and Shin Evangelion . But for all the projects Nishigori helped bring to life, there were always other images the creator wanted to put to screen.
With Grotesqqque , CloverWorks’ new anthology film set to release in November, Nishigori finally has a chance to let his imagination run rampant. In a conversation with Polygon, Nishigori unpacked the three wildly different stories at the heart of Grotesqqque , his visual-first approach to animation, and the creative freedom that came with finally making something entirely his own. Ever-present in his mind were the characters and designs he had spent years waiting to bring to life.
“There were always a lot of scenes and character designs that I had wanted to do in the past, and I had just been piling them up inside me,” Nishigori told Polygon through a translator. “I really wanted to bring all of those ideas I had in my mind into this work, so I asked the company to let me make something where I could do whatever I wanted.”
That freedom became Grotesqqque , an original 104-minute anime movie made up of three wildly different stories: an alien comedy, a battle royale centered on girls in a world where morning never comes, and a vampire story set after humanity has long disappeared. The film had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 24, where Nishigori appeared for the screening.
Image: Aniplex/CloverWorks While the three stories of Grotesqqque are different in genre and setting, Nishigori says that contrast is precisely what attracted him to the project. He likes putting opposing ideas next to one another, allowing each to reveal something the other couldn't on its own.
"I think I've always enjoyed combining contrasting themes," he said. In th…