Anime is getting a distinctly Indian makeover. Indian microdrama and vertical entertainment app founded in 2025 Canvas, is set to launch Project Maya, billed as India’s first original short-form anime series, in the first week of October.
The Hindi-language series has been 12 months in the making, bringing together 30 Indian animators and creators from across the country. At its heart is a question with a long history but a very current answer: what did independence mean to Indians nearly a century ago, and what does freedom mean to a younger generation today?
Project Maya explores that generational shift through Indian characters, landscapes and cultural references. Built for mobile viewing, the series will tell its story through short episodes, pairing the visual language and emotional pull of anime with a narrative rooted firmly in India.
The series is being created by Otaku Bharat, an Indian short-form anime studio that brings together animators and artists to develop original anime properties based on Indian stories, characters and landscapes.
The series will debut in Hindi on the Canvas app before being dubbed into English and regional Indian languages, giving the project a wider route into both Indian and international markets.
Adding a familiar voice to the mix, voice actor Sanket Mhatre, known for voicing Ben 10 and several other popular animated characters, has lent his voice to the series. Netflix former head of anime Rob Pereyda, is associated with the project as executive producer. Its leadership team includes chief technology officer Mehul Kumar, an IIT alumnus, and chief of operations in India Vishad Tiwari, a former IRS officer.
Canvas co-founder and CEO Abhinav Singla shared, “India has one of the most passionate anime audiences in the world, but the stories watched here are still largely created outside the country. This series has been developed by Indian animators, voiced by Indian artists and built around a question that is deeply relevant to us. What did independence mean to people a century ago, and what does it mean to a young Indian today?”
Anime has moved well beyond its niche-fandom roots in India, becoming an increasingly visible part of youth culture. Yet original Indian anime remains a relatively young ecosystem, with international titles still dominating the market. Project Maya aims to test how far an Indian-rooted anime property can travel without losing its local soul.
“30 animators and creators worked on this series for nearly a year. That investment of time matters because we did not want to simply place Indian names and locations inside a familiar format. The ambition was to develop a visual world and story that felt Indian at their core. The planned regional-language and English versions will help us take that story to audiences beyond its original Hindi release,” added Singla.
For Canvas, the project also marks a step beyond the usual microdrama playbook of relationships and family conflict. The platform is developing short-form content across animation, comedy, documentary, food, travel and lifestyle as it broadens its mobile-first entertainment slate. The company is also producing around 10 shows in New York as it expands its international creator and production network.
With Project Maya, Canvas is putting Indian creators behind an anime-shaped lens and asking a deceptively simple question: what does freedom look like when the generation answering it has changed? October may offer the first frame of that answer
