BBC Studios Kids & Family is developing a new anime-inspired comedy series with the working title Children Vs Battle SuperStars as part of its first-look deal with London-based prodco Blink Industries. 

This 2D-animated series (22 x 22 minutes) will target eight- to 12-year-olds and follows three ordinary kids who compete in a martial arts tournament against the world’s strongest fighters. The creative duo behind the show are Remus Buznea and Kyriaki Kyriakou, who worked on Rick and Morty, Primal and Risk of Rain, and also wrote and directed the 2014 animated short Dateless. 

Buznea and Kyriakou say their inspiration for the toon was kids constantly beating them in online fighting games. This motivated them to explore new comedic ways to deconstruct common anime and fighting genre tropes, such as a mystery fighter appearing midway through the tournament to defeat the heroes. 

This is the first project to come out of BBC Studios’ first-look agreement with Blink, which was signed last June in a two-year deal. The two companies have already worked together on a variety of other kids projects, including the 2023 2D-animated short film Peter and the Wolf and 2019’s puppet miniseries Teddies (five x two minutes). 

BBC Studios is showcasing Battle SuperStars to clients and potential buyers for the first time at this week’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival.