TL;DR: OpenArt Director takes No. 1 in anime video-agent test
TL;DR: OpenArt Director ranked No. 1 overall in Anime on Physion Labs' ARC 1.0 AI Video Agent Benchmark, leading 11 of 19 metrics and all eight human-preference metrics.
The result was announced from San Francisco on September 12, 2026, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance, which reported that OpenArt Director had secured the top overall position in the Anime portion of Physion Labs' ARC 1.0 AI Video Agent Benchmark.
The same announcement stated that Director led 11 of 19 total metrics in the evaluation, a scope that covered 100 prompts and 800 videos assessed by human evaluators.
Director also placed first on all eight human-preference metrics, including emotional intent, composition, pacing and motion quality, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
In addition, Director placed first in animetic language and production quality, described as two of the benchmark's three quality categories, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
The cost comparison was central to the announcement, which said OpenArt achieved the highest overall quality at approximately 15% lower cost than runner-up Anime Agent 1.0 and 58% lower cost than third-ranked InVideo Agent One.
A San Francisco announcement tied to a September benchmark
OpenArt AI, described as an all-in-one AI creative platform and AI video generator, issued the ranking announcement on September 12, 2026, from San Francisco, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
The AP News press-release listing for “OpenArt Director Ranks No. 1 in Anime on Physion Labs’ ARC 1.0 AI Video Agent Benchmark” carries the same September 12, 2026 date and the same No. 1 overall claim, with a publication time of 7:02 AM GMT-6.
OpenArt described Director as its new offering for creating complete, cinematic-quality video through conversation alone, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
The company said Director is intended to enable creators of all skill levels to produce complete video, marking the ranking as what it called the latest milestone in that mission, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
The announcement framed anime creation as requiring expressive characters, purposeful movement and a visual world that stays consistent across scenes, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
It also said each shot needs to advance the narrative while preserving style and emotion, presenting that challenge as the context for Physion’s evaluation of complete productions, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
How Physion ARC 1.0 tested end-to-end anime production
In Physion ARC 1.0, each agent receives a complete screenplay and then plans, generates and assembles the video in a single end-to-end run, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
The evaluation examines whether the final video holds together as a coherent story, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
The Anime evaluation covered 100 prompts and 800 videos, assessed by human evaluators across 19 metrics, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
That testing combined checks of correctness and consistency with head-to-head comparisons of creative quality, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
According to GlobalFeed's analysis of the Physion-Arc 1.0 Anime Track leaderboard, titled “OpenArt tops the anime video ranking, and its rival costs eight times more,” eight agents were run on the same 100 anime prompts and every video was scored on 19 metrics.
The same GlobalFeed analysis reported that agents were tested across three input modes: text only, single reference image and multiple reference images.
Physion Labs said in a September 8 post that it benchmarked frontier end-to-end video agents on approximately one-minute anime creation across text-only, single-reference and multi-reference tasks.
Physion Labs also said the scripts and visual assets used in those tasks were created with real anime directors.
The laboratory said the test measured not only generation quality but the ability to turn scripts and visual references into coherent anime sequences.
Physion Labs described anime as an especially demanding test of video agents, citing character identity, expressive acting, visual style, shot composition, pacing, continuity and storytelling across an entire sequence.
The eight-agent leaderboard behind the No. 1 claim
According to GlobalFeed's analysis of the Physion-Arc 1.0 Anime Track leaderboard, the overall quality and cost-per-video order was OpenArt first, followed by Anime Agent 1.0, Invideo Agent One, Runway Agent 2.0, MiniMax Hub v2.0.2, Luma Creative Agents, Flova 1.0 and Utopai PAI 2.0.
The same analysis listed OpenArt at 77.8 overall quality and $21.3 cost per video.
It listed Anime Agent 1.0 at 75.6 overall quality and $25.0 cost per video.
It listed Invideo Agent One, also styled as InVideo Agent One in the company announcement, at 69.2 overall quality and $50.7 cost per video.
It listed Runway Agent 2.0 at 68.7 overall quality and $10.5 cost per video.
It listed MiniMax Hub v2.0.2 at 68.5 overall quality and $6.3 cost per video.
It listed Luma Creative Agents at 64.3 overall quality and $16.4 cost per video.
It listed Flova 1.0 at 63.8 overall quality and $2.5 cost per video.
It listed Utopai PAI 2.0 at 61.3 overall quality and $20.4 cost per video.
The ranking alone places Invideo Agent One third, but GlobalFeed's analysis emphasized the cost column, noting that Invideo Agent One charges $50.7 per video for 69.2 points while MiniMax Hub returns 68.5 points for $6.3.
That comparison was described as eight times the money for 0.7 of a point, according to GlobalFeed's analysis of the Physion-Arc 1.0 Anime Track leaderboard.
The same analysis noted that Flova 1.0 scores 63.8 at $2.5, presenting a lower-cost option for users willing to trade points for lower per-video cost.
Business Wire via Yahoo Finance reported a narrower cost comparison focused on the top three, stating that no other agent in the comparison achieved equal or higher quality at a lower cost than OpenArt.
Three quality categories explain where Director led
According to GlobalFeed's analysis of the Physion-Arc 1.0 Anime Track leaderboard, the 19 metrics group into three headings: narrative coherence with seven metrics, animetic language with seven metrics and production quality with five metrics.
OpenArt took the overall lead, but narrative coherence was led by Anime Agent 1.0 at 82.9 against 82.3 for OpenArt, according to GlobalFeed's analysis of the Physion-Arc 1.0 Anime Track leaderboard.
OpenArt was ahead on animetic language at 68.6 and production quality at 84.5, according to GlobalFeed's analysis of the Physion-Arc 1.0 Anime Track leaderboard.
That distinction aligns with the company announcement, which claimed No. 1 in animetic language and production quality as two of the benchmark's three quality categories, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
GlobalFeed's analysis described narrative coherence as measuring whether a character stays the same character and whether a prop survives from scene to scene.
It described animetic language as measuring directorial choices including camera, composition, pacing and sound.
The analysis stated that an agent can tell a coherent story and direct it badly, or the reverse, underscoring why category leadership differs from overall leadership.
Business Wire via Yahoo Finance linked Director's detailed strengths to audience experience, citing how characters move, how scenes are composed, how sound supports action and how story emotion comes through.
Objective checks were tight; subjective direction separated agents
The leaderboard labels every metric as objective or subjective, according to GlobalFeed's analysis of the Physion-Arc 1.0 Anime Track leaderboard.
On the objective side, technical coherence for all eight agents sat between 91.8 and 99.3, according to GlobalFeed's analysis of the Physion-Arc 1.0 Anime Track leaderboard.
On audio stability, everyone except the last-placed agent at 48.1 was above 77, according to GlobalFeed's analysis of the Physion-Arc 1.0 Anime Track leaderboard.
The spread opened on subjective metrics, with emotional intent running from 38.6 to 62.9 and audio integration from 31.6 to 67.9, according to GlobalFeed's analysis of the Physion-Arc 1.0 Anime Track leaderboard.
The analysis interpreted that pattern as technical convergence among agents, with separation occurring on direction.
Physion Labs said that when a new agent joins the pool it recomputes results across all 100 prompts because an expanded comparison set shifts subjective scores, according to GlobalFeed's analysis of the Physion-Arc 1.0 Anime Track leaderboard.
That recomputation point means the numbers are relative to the eight-agent pool rather than absolute scores, according to GlobalFeed's analysis of the Physion-Arc 1.0 Anime Track leaderboard.
In its September 8 post, Physion Labs also said Character AI led the objective evaluation while OpenArt took No. 1 overall.
What Director is designed to do for everyday creators
OpenArt launched Director in June, describing it as a new offering that lets anyone create complete, cinematic-quality video through conversation alone, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
With Director, users describe feeling, story, characters, set environments and pacing, and Director generates a complete video with synchronized visuals, voice, music and sound, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
Director can generate up to five minutes of continuous video, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
It maintains consistent characters and style across every scene, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
It supports a variety of formats and genres, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
Coco Mao, CEO of OpenArt, said the mission is to make creativity accessible and that bringing an idea to life should not depend on having a full production team or a large budget, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
Mao also said Director is intended to help more people tell the stories they imagine with control over how those stories take shape, calling the benchmark ranking validation, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
The exact quoted statement was: “Our mission is to make creativity accessible. Bringing an idea to life shouldn't depend on having a full production team or a large budget,” according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
A second quoted portion added: “We're building Director to help more people tell the stories they imagine, with control over how those stories take shape. It's great validation to see Director ranked at the top of this benchmark,” according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
Company background and why cost matters for iteration
OpenArt is an AI creative platform used by millions of creators to bring visual stories to life, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
It was founded by ex-Google engineers and is based in San Francisco, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
The platform serves over 8 million monthly active users, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance and the AP News press-release listing.
OpenArt grew revenue sevenfold in 2025, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
In June 2026, OpenArt launched Director as an agentic tool for conversational video creation, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
The company calls the launch era “Vibe Directing,” comparing it to how “vibe coding” changed software building, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
For anime creators, production budgets influence how much room there is to explore ideas, iterate and develop a story, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
The company presented its quality-plus-cost result as a compelling combination within the evaluated tasks, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.
The announcement directed readers to explore the Physion Labs results and to try OpenArt Director, according to Business Wire via Yahoo Finance.