ADULT SWIM
Adult Swim invited Pocko to develop a series of 15-second idents—short, memorable bursts of animation that capture the brand’s unmistakable energy. The brief called for work that was bold and visually arresting: the kind of odd moment that appears between shows and lingers in your mind long after.
To shape this collection, we brought together four Pocko artists whose voices naturally align with Adult Swim’s spirit of playful surrealism: Sawako Kabuki, Ardhira Putra, Andrea Chronopoulos, and Simon Landrein.
SAWAKO KABUKI x ADULT SWIM
Sawako Kabuki approached her Adult Swim ident by taking a mundane, slightly taboo gesture : nose-picking. And pushing it into a surreal, comedic loop that perfectly suits the network’s off-beat sensibility. In her piece, each pick produces tiny human figures that get flicked away, eventually culminating in a strange, snort-like stream of characters that twist together to reveal the Adult Swim logo. Her signature playful grotesqueness and bold physical humour transform a simple action into an absurd miniature narrative. It captures the irreverent, late-night energy that defines Adult Swim.
ARDHIRA PUTRA xTOONAMI
Ardhira Putra’s ident for Toonami channels his signature retro-futuristic aesthetic into a fast-paced, narrative-driven sequence that mirrors the show block’s sci-fi, action-heavy identity. His piece opens with a lone character powering up a machine, unleashing a surge of energy that triggers a cascade of glowing LED panels which is a visual nod to Toonami’s tech-forward universe. The scene then accelerates into a high-velocity spaceship flight, bursting through the atmosphere before plunging into a post-apocalyptic cityscape where a colossal robot looms at the centre. Ardhira’s vibrant palette, kinetic pacing, and love for nostalgic mecha culture come together to create a compact hero’s journey. It concludes with the reveal of the Toonami title. Reflecting the block’s legacy of anime, adventure, and futuristic storytelling.
ANDREA CHRONOPOULOS x SMILING FRIENDS
Andrea Chronopoulos’s ident for Smiling Friends distills the show’s off-beat humour into a tightly framed, cinematic sequence with his trademark graphic clarity. The piece follows a furious biker tearing through deserted city streets before abruptly stopping at a tiny tattoo parlour. Inside, a trembling artist begins inking the biker’s chest that is rendered in Andrea’s hyper-realistic style, as two familiar faces slowly emerge: Pim and Charlie. The tension breaks the moment the tattoo is finished, and the biker shifts from rage to a satisfied smile as the Adult Swim title appear. Andrea’s blend of deadpan storytelling and carefully controlled exaggeration perfectly echoes the show’s mix of absurdity, awkwardness, and dark comedic charm.
SIMON LANDREIN x SMILING FRIENDS
Simon Landrein’s ident for Smiling Friends channels the show’s surreal, darkly comedic spirit through his signature clean lines and absurd visual logic. The sequence unfolds like a living Russian doll: each character emerges from the open mouth of another. Eventually, Glep is spat out and sent flying through the air, only to be abruptly swallowed and chewed by the Smiling Friends building itself. With its looping, understated humour and delightfully strange visual rhythm, Simon’s ident captures the series’ playful, unsettling and off-kilter tone.