URBANCE welcomes readers to Neopolis, a futuristic neon‑drenched city where physical desire has become deadly. A mysterious virus has infected every human at birth, making intimate contact between the sexes instantly fatal. To survive, society enforces absolute abstinence and segregation: boys and girls are raised apart, conditioned to fear, even hate, one another. A colossal wall cuts the city in two, and entire youth cultures have evolved in isolation, fueled by tribal identity, coded fashion, and explosive street‑clan rivalries. But a new underground drug, N‑Dorphin, which is rumored to bypass the virus’s lethal effects, begins circulating through the streets and destabilizes the fragile balance of power in Neopolis, igniting turf wars and paranoia as factions scramble for control. Kenzell and Lesya, two teens from opposite sides who defy the rules and risk everything to cross the divide, are caught in the crossfire. Together, they uncover a conspiracy far bigger than any clan feud, and their forbidden alliance becomes a spark in a city ready to explode.
“I have been a big fan of this project since I first saw it. Love the characters, the color design, and the animation… Damn, how did you guys do that? So damn slick.” — ROBERT VALLEY (Designer / Animator / Director on Love Death & Robots, TRON: Uprising, Motorcity, Aeon Flux, Beatles: Rock Band)
“With Urbance, Joël not only opens another door into the high-end space of the TV animation lexicon, he shatters it. Like Fat Albert, The Boondocks and Black Dynamite before it, Urbance introduces a world that reflects the diverse, fast-paced one we live in and not a manufactured one. ” — LESEAN THOMAS (Creative Producer / Supervising Director on The Boondocks, Black Dynamite: The Animated series, Yasuke, Cannon Busters)
“The character designs and the colors of Urbance are incredible. There is a charm that I don’t have in my designs and I would love to develop.” —HIROSHI SHIMIZU (Animation Director / Character Designer on Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, Michiko & Hatchin, Space Dandy, etc)
“With Urbance, I had the chance to discover an uninhibited Western project offering a large freedom of expression in both story and designs. It’s pure dynamite in the animation industry, and we definitely need to support it!” —EDDIE MEHONG (CFO / Art Director at Yapiko Animation / Animator on Space Dandy, Macross Frontier, Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, MFKZ)
The URBANCE Saga is 828 pages of cyber-slick, dynamic adventure. Fans can collect the complete series as a set of four premium 6×9” softcover books featuring the full URBANCE story in dynamic black‑and‑white artwork with full‑color opening sequences in every volume. The series is also available as a pair of deluxe limited edition hardcover collections. In addition to the deluxe editions of URBANCE, the Kickstarter campaign features limited boxed sets of either the hardcover editions of softcover library, an exclusive 48-page sketchbook, a 10th Anniversary edition of the sold-out 168-page GENESIS OF URBANCE Production Art Book, the sought-after 2014 URBANCE Animation Dōjinshi, a limited-edition resin statue, and more.
