K-Content News

Sloth Neul goes to China : Animation moves hearts at a slow, slow pace
  • October 05, 2018
Sloth Neul goes to China: Animation moves hearts at a slow, slow pace

Ours is an age of speed, and we live at a breakneck pace, as if slowing down would kill us. But in this whirlwind pace of life, a remarkable animation preaches ‘the slow life,’ touching and comforting tired hearts. Introducing [Slow Slow Sloth Neul] (hereinafter Neul the Sloth), produced by cultural contents creators 7 Sloth Studio.

The corporate philosophy of 7 Sloth Studio is ‘the slow life.’ CEO Seong Woong and Director Ryu, Jin-ho are the key players behind the [Sloth Neul]contents business, which aims to help us who live in this hectic age to relax and find peace of mind. CEO Seong is in charge of company operations including international cooperation, while Director Ryu is charged with animation and character productions

‘Sloth Neul’ features characters inspired by endangered species. Neul and his friends live in a rooftop shack atop a five-story building, amid a fast-paced patch of urban jungle. One has to ask why they chose to personify animals like a sloth, an armadillo, and an anteater.

“Before 7 Sloth Studio was established, I worked on commission. Around the winter of 2009, after a company dinner, I went home to my rooftop shack and turned on the TV. They were showing a sloth shelter on the National Geographic channel. The narrator said ‘it’s intriguing how these slow and innocent sloths get by in this dangerous and lightning-fast forest.’ I saw all of us in those sloths, and that’s how we came to design a character based on a sloth.”

Director Ryu added “I started looking into other animals to develop characters from, and found this whole order of animals called the Xenarthra, which were endangered. That’s how we ended up with ‘Neul’ the sloth, ‘Al’ the armadillo, and ‘Gil’ the anteater - they were out of the ordinary, and we liked them right away.”

“It was a sort of rebellious spirit that drove us to make characters out of endangered animals. We found it appealing that these characters wouldn’t be our everyday dogs or cats, and lived a lifestyle that goes against what the world typically requires of us.”

The sloth is an endangered species that inhabits the tropical rainforests of South America. It is almost motionless, and ever so slow when it does move - so slow, in fact, that moss or even plants are known to grow on them. Strangely enough, they have managed to survive in the rainforest, a world ruled by the law of the jungle.

‘Sloth Neul,’ whose motto is ‘rediscovering what is truly valuable in life through slowness and peace of mind,’ was made possible with funding from the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). The animation has been a beneficiary of multiple KOCCA programs, including the Korean creative character development support program in 2013, the regional character development support program from 2014, the pilot production support program in 2015, the new media animation production support program of 2016, and the Korean animation episode production support program of 2018.

As CEO Seong remarks, “We focused on receiving state funding by applying to KOCCA programs, rather than relying on corporate or private investment. This is because we didn’t want outside funding to sway us and keep us from planning and producing the animation they way we had originally planned.”

“An animated series takes a lot of money to develop in the early stages. It’s not easy for a company to take a look at intangible drawings on a piece of paper and judge whether or not a project will be successful. This is why it's difficult to get funding. We found the state was more about equal opportunity than profits, though. We presented our proposal to KOCCA and they agreed to provide funding, allowing us to move ahead as planned and do what we wanted.”

With funding from KOCCA, 7 Sloth, which was a small, single-episode animation team at its inception, has now become an established production company. The team has produced a total of four short films, receiving awards on 17 occasions at film festivals the world over and showing their work at more than 60 invitational screenings.

In particular, ‘Sloth Neul’ was shown on KBS 2TV as a 10-part animation series from December 7, 2017 to February 8, 2018, receiving rave reviews. The series focuses on the characters of Neul the sloth, an out-of-work bum; Al the armadillo, a convenience store worker; and Gil the anteater who works for a pest control company, as they go through fun and laughter-inspiring stories. Neul and his friends’ lives are not the most plentiful, but they find happiness in their own unique ways. They teach us to look back on our own lives, and remind us how important rest and peace of mind are.

[Sloth Neul] has recently received some 10 billion Won in investment from a Chinese investment company, and is about to make inroads into China. J.Bugs, which is in charge of the character business for 7 Sloth, signed a contract in May with ‘UaeUchwi Culture and Communication Corp. (深圳市友爱友趣文化传播有限公司)’,, an investment and marketing company based in Shenzhen, China for publication rights (IP) and new media telecasting of ‘Sloth Neul.’

Through the contract, J.Bugs will be establishing a joint venture (JV) company to receive some 60 million Won (approximately 10 billion Won) in investments in China. The JV will jointly produce a total of 52 short-film animations, and the works will be telecast on some 600+ online video platforms in China.

CEO Seong explained “The JV has made it possible for Neul to enter the Chinese market; 7 Sloth will be in charge of producing the animations, while the business end of things will be handled by J.Bugs and our Chinese investor.”

Neul’s first entry into a foreign market signals the start of 7 Sloth’s business in characters that give audiences a sense of ‘rest and peace of mind.’ The main characters of productions to come, like Neul, will also be endangered animals geared toward rest, the small pleasures in life, and life lived at a slower pace.

CEO Seong sounds quite stoic as he describes the process: “We had a very rough time developing Neul. There were times we had to send our staff home without their paychecks. Things still haven't changed much, but we want to see what lies down the road for this production that we created. We want to see if we made the right call.”

Director Ryu added, “To stay true to what you really want to do and ultimately accomplish it, and not be swayed by money in the process, you need to be resolute. It’d be great if I can continue to work in the animation business, which I love, while maintaining the character of Neul.” We wish Neul, his friends and 7 Sloth the best of luck as they remind us how much happier living life a bit slower can make us.