Was there any worry that going anime would make the production unrecognizable as a Halo brand?
Frank O’Connor: The Halo brand is strong enough to survive and even thrive through interpretation. Halo iconography is recognizable in virtually any form. When you look at a Warthog that’s drawn by a Japanese artist or a Spartan that’s animated in a way you’ve never seen it before, it’s still intrinsically Halo. The brand really lends itself to comics and animation beautifully. It withstands all sorts of interpretation and is still recognizable Halo, rather than just diluting and becoming generic sci-fi. The wonderful thing about a completely immersive world like Halo is that it’s not just the visuals that are instantly recognizable. There are so many elements involved in playing the game, including the audio, the music, the sound effects – it’s all part of the experience. When you’ve played these games for six or seven years, and you hear a Warthog engine, you instantly recognize it. So in an episode as distinctly different visually as “The Duel,” it may take a while before you actual
