While many anime series owe a lot to their dedicated fan bases, creators of the Crunchyroll ecchi series Onimai: I’m Now Your Sister! just received more support than they ever expected.According to a tweet from series director Shingo Fuji, fans reached out to his staff at Studio Bind asking how they could support the production team, to which Fuji replied with a link to an Amazon wishlist for the fledgling studio’s office. Fans immediately responded with a tremendous outpouring of gifts, most of which appeared to be food and other essential supplies for Fuji and his staff. The director posted images of the incredible haul of goodies ordered for them by fans from across the globe, stating how overwhelmed and grateful he was for their generosity.RELATED: RUMOR: Avatar Studios' First Animated Film May Have Found Its Title

Studio Bind Hits the Anime Scene

Onimai is only the second series produced by Studio Bind, their first being the isekai series Mushoku Tensi back on 2021. Founded in 2018, Studio Bind is a relatively new player in the Japanese animation industry, which is a difficult position to be in with heavy hitters like MAPPA and Wit Studios scooping up many of the most promising new projects on the market. With only one project under their belts, Studio Bind lacks the resources of bigger companies like Studio Orange or Ufotable, which makes the contributions of their fans all the more meaningful.

Another factor in the generous response from Onimai fans has less to do with the size of Studio Bind, and more to do with its industry. It has become public knowledge in recent years that the working conditions of anime staff are abysmal, with overwork and poor compensation rampant. The most prominent example was that of MAPPA, where Attack on Titan director Teruyiki Omine spent 72 hours straight working on the series before finally going home to rest. The issue stretches to the manga publishing industry as well, with the staff of Tokyo Revengers unionizing after being burnt out and underpaid. While the working conditions at Studio Bind are unknown, stories about the grueling work of animation production staff were likely fresh in the minds of fans reaching out to Shingo Fuji.

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The delightfully off-beat Onimai anime centers on an otaku named Mahiro Oyama, who is inadvertently transformed into a young girl through an experiment by his scientist younger sister Mihari. Thus, Mahiro is forced to navigate his new life as a middle school girl in a sci-fi twist on the slice-of-life genre.

Onimai: I’m Now Your Sister!'s first season is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

Source: Twitter