Second Chance Animation is an indie AI anime production studio crafting original series powered by self-hosted AI infrastructure. Our flagship series — Mermaid 7 and Steampunk Jones — are now in development.
Marine biologist Stella Stardust discovers seven ancient pendants beneath the Pacific Ocean — artifacts that grant extraordinary power but demand an impossible choice. As Stella assembles her team of Pendant Bearers, she must confront forces that have waited millennia for this moment.
Mermaid 7 is the first entry in The Choice Universe, an interconnected saga of nine series exploring themes of time, love, and conscious choice.
In a Los Angeles rebuilt from the bones of the old world, Detective Jones navigates a city where dark Victorian architectural proportions meet futuristic materials. When his latest case leads him to Rebecca Harwood — a combat clone with no memory of her origins — Jones discovers that the city's gleaming facade hides something far more dangerous than crime.
Steampunk Jones blends the aesthetic DNA of Almost Human, Sherlock BBC, Tron, and Psycho-Pass into a neo-futurist noir unlike anything in anime.
Second Chance Animation is a California-based indie anime studio building the future of AI-assisted animation. We operate a self-hosted distributed compute cluster running open-source AI models to generate anime at indie scale — no existing playbook, no compromise.
Every frame is human-directed. AI is our tool, not our author. We train custom models on licensed reference material, maintain full creative control, and build original IP from the ground up.
Our founder's vision: prove that a single determined studio can produce broadcast-quality anime with AI infrastructure, original characters, and a story worth telling.
Multi-node compute cluster running ComfyUI, Wan 2.1, and custom LoRA models — no cloud dependency.
Every character, story, and world is created in-house. Nine interconnected series planned across The Choice Universe.
AI generates under human creative direction. Every artistic decision flows through our team, strengthening copyright claims.
No other studio combines self-hosted infrastructure, photo-model LoRA sourcing, original IP, and a formal production pipeline at indie scale.
Seven ancient pendants. A marine biologist thrust into a war between light and darkness beneath the Pacific.
In ProductionNeo-futurist noir detective series set in LA 2070. A detective and a combat clone unravel the city's darkest secrets.
In DevelopmentSeven more stories exploring time, love, and conscious choice across an interconnected anime multiverse.
PlannedOur first full episode production test using the Sekirei Cluster and custom character LoRAs.
How we built a distributed AI anime production pipeline from scratch with no playbook to follow.
Introducing the Pendant Bearers — the characters of Mermaid 7 and the actors behind them.
Whether you're a collaborator, press, talent, or fellow creator — we'd love to hear from you. Second Chance Animation is always looking for passionate people who believe in the future of AI-assisted storytelling.
✉ joseph@secondchanceanimation.com ▶ YouTube — Second Chance Animation 💬 Discord Community 𝕏 @2ndChanceAnime