Our New Year's Top Page is dedicated to our forthcoming 3DCGI animated feature film, Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror, to be released in Japan in summer 2009..
We would like to thank all the people around the world who are supporting Production I.G, and wish all of you a peaceful and prosperous 2009!
]]>"Where do all your childhood treasures go when you grow up?"
Production I.G and Fuji Television Network present a new full length computer graphic animation feature film entitled Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (original title: Hottarake no Shima - Haruka to Maho no Kagami)
Today, American-made 3DCG animation feature films have become a well established and recognized global reality in the entertainment industry. However, budget restrictions and lack of know-how prevented similar productions to become prevalent in Japan so far.
Tokyo-based Production I.G was one of the first animation studios in Japan to recognize the potentiality of the upcoming digital era, and has been dedicating time and resources to the establishment of a fully equipped production environment and a 200 hundred people strong creative and technical team that could support the realization of 3DCG feature-length animated films.
And now, after a 3-year preparation phase, the highly anticipated first project presented by Production I.G's 3D team is going to be a fresh departure from 3DCG animation as we know it today. Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror will inherit the unique expressive style that has made Japanese animation hugely popular around the globe, and at the same time it will pursue a completely different texture from Western style 3DCG animation. While making full use of the
state-of-the-art in digital techniques, I.G aims to entertain you with heart-warming visuals and pioneer a new course of Japanese-made 3DCG animation appealing to the international audience.
The movie will be distributed in Japan by Toho Co., Ltd. and the Japanese theatrical release is slated for summer 2009.
Overview
Your favourite teddy bear. That model kit that took so long to complete. The picture book you used to read over and over again. The shining stone you found that day in the park. Where do all your childhood's treasures go when you grow up? In this story, we meet fantastic creatures that gather all these little objects that fall into oblivion as they are forgotten by their owners when they step into adulthood. These creatures sneak into our world from a different dimension, and unseen by humans, they take all the ditched and forgotten "treasures" into their world. Here, they use their booty to build their own city, a fairy tale-like place called... Oblivion Island!
About the Staff
Screenplay: Hirotaka Adachi and Shinsuke Sato
Probably better known by his alias Otsuichi, Hirotaka Ando is a hugely popular novelist whose works have often been transposed into comics and live action movies, for which he personally wrote the screenplays, such as Goth (2002, 3rd Mystery Grand Prize winner), Waiting in the Darkness (2002) and Zoo (2003). Born in Fukuoka in 1978, he made his professional debut when he was only 17. He's reportedly a big fan of Studio Ghibli's movies.
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1970, Sato is a film director, scriptwriter and video game creator. He graduated from the Musashino Art University, like Satoshi Kon and Ryu Murakami. His directorial debut Ryonai Genshuku (Dorm Austerity) was awarded with the Grand Prix at
the Pia Film Festival 1994. Notably works include, Princess Blade (2001, director and scriptwriter), Yukio Mishima's novel-based Spring Snow (2005, scriptwriter) and manga-based Sand Chronicles (2008, director and scriptwriter), all of them live-action movies. Oblivion Island is his highly anticipated debut in animation.
Naoyoshi Shiotani (director of SICAF 2008 Grand Prize winning Tokyo Marble Chocolate) is joining the production team, too.
© 2009 Fuji Television Network·Production I.G
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Screenplay:
Hirotaka Adachi
Director:
Shinsuke Sato
Animation Studio:
Production I.G
Release in Japan: Summer 2009
Screenplay: Hirotaka Adachi
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Animation Studio: Production I.G
© 2009 Fuji Television Network·Production I.G
Mamoru Oshii's The Sky Crawlers was awarded Animation of the Year at the Japan Academy Prizes.
Started in 1978 and operated by the Nippon Academy-Sho Association with the mission of supporting the advancement and development of cinematic art, technique and science, the Japan Academy Prizes added the Animation Category three years ago, and The Sky Crawlers is one of the five animated movies awarded for this 32nd edition. The jury will confer the Best Animation of the Year during the official ceremony on February 20, 2009 choosing among the five works awarded this time.
Nominated for the Golden Lion at the 65th Venice Film Festival, The Sky Crawlers won three awards at the 41st Sitges International Film Festival (Jose Luis Guarner Critic Award, Best Soundtrack Award to Kenji Kawai, and the Young Jury Award for the Best Motion Picture in the Fantastic Selection), and in Japan it received the Excellence Prize at the 23rd Digital Content Grand Prix and the Jury Recommended Work in the Animation Division of the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival.
Japan Academy Prize official website:
http://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/
© MH/NI,BWDVYHDYCH
This week's Top Page is dedicated to Toppy Topran, the beastman from the Little Bear Tribe as seen in Shunsuke Tada's TV series World Destruction.
Mamoru Oshii's The Sky Crawlers has been awarded Animation of the Year at the 32nd Japan Academy. Read the details here.
Check our info page of World Destructionhere.
Check our info page of Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai here.
I.G announces Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (tentative title), its first 3DCG feature film. Read the details here.
We added the synopsis of the TV series Real Drive episode 8 here.
We added the synopsis of the TV series Blood + episode 34 here.
Air date: June 3, 2006
Kai at last is reunited with Saya, but the girl faints from exhaustion. Kai brings Saya to Glay's home to take care of her, but the enemy is again lurking in the darkness ready to attack...
Script: Michiko Yokote
Storyboard: Tokiichi Kagurazaka
Director: Norihiko Nagahama
Animation Director: Yoshiya Yamamoto
In a world surrounded by "Sand Sea," literally a sea of sand.
Four continents representing the four seasons float in this sea.
Here, the tribes of beastmen rules over the humans.
Kyrie is a young man who works at a restaurant in a small port town floating in the Sand Sea. "Who cares when or how the world ends," Kyrie muttered to himself when he saw an arrest warrant of an organization called the World Destruction Committee, which had been stirring a lot of talk lately. He had accepted life as it came.
One day, a human girl named Morte arrives in Kyrie's town. She is on the run, because she is no less than one of the members of the infamous World Destruction Committee. Morte holds a secret treasure, the Destruct Code, in her possession. This code had the power to destruct the world.
After their encounter, Kyrie and Morte decide to work together. They are then joined unexpectedly by the cool and tough Toppy, a brave beastman from the Little Bear Tribe. The trio set out on a journey to destruct the world.
The trio is followed by Nadja and Li·A from the World Relief Committee, and also by Agan, who delivers anything without fail as long as he's adequately compensated. During their journey, they will meet various humans and beastmen along the way.
What destiny awaits the world comprised of two races?
Is it destruction or relief?
official website (Japanese only):
http://wd.sega.jp/anime/
Air date in Japan: July 7, 2008 ~ September 29, 2008
Format: 13 x 30'
© SEGA/WD Project
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Original story / Development:
SEGA
Director:
Shunsuke Tada
Series Composition / Screenplay:
Masahiro Yokotani
Character Design:
Keita Matsumoto
Music:
Yoshihiro Ike
Sound Director:
Toshihiko Nakajima
Sound Supervisor:
Masafumi Mima
Animation Producer:
Rui Kuroki
Animation Production:
Production I.G
Production:
WD Project
Kyrie Illnis:
Mamoru Miyano
Morte Urshela:
Maaya Sakamoto
Toppy Topran:
Toru Furuya
Li·A Dragnail:
Yu Kobayashi
Nadja Grev:
Daisuke Ono
Agan Mardrus:
Hiroyuki Yoshino
Air date: May 27, 2008
A strange rumor is spreading on the artificial island: people are reporting of a mysterious girl that nobody knows or has ever seen before. Sota begins to investigate. Meanwhile at Minamo’s school, students start to tell scary stories about a ghost appearing in the building. During a swimming lesson, Sayaka saw a mysterious girl who drifted in water. And when Yukino went back to the school to pick-up something she forgot to take home, her arm was seized by a white hand in a supposedly empty hallway. Who is the ghost? As Sota arrives on the spot, they all start with the “ghost hunting.”
Script: Yoshiki Sakurai
Storyboard: Nanako Sasaki
Director: Nanako Sasaki
Animation Director: Hiraku Kaneko
Original Concept / Screenplay:
Mamoru Oshii
Director:
Mizuho Nishikubo
Character Design:
Kazuto Nakazawa
Animation Director:
Kazuchika Kise
Art Director:
Shuichi Hirata
Color Design:
Kumiko Yusa
3D CGI Director:
Makoto Endo
Director of Photography:
Hisashi Ezura
Editing:
Junichi Uematsu
Sound Director:
Yota Tsuruoka
Animation Studio:
Production I.G
This week's Top Page is dedicated to Miyamoto Musashi, as seen in the forthcoming Mizuho Nishikubo movie Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai.
Check our info page of Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai here.
Naoyoshi Shiotani's directorial debut, Tokyo Marble Chocolate is Jury Recommended Work at the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival. Read the details here.
Mamoru Oshii's The Sky Crawlers is Jury Recommended Work at the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival. Read the details here.
Mamoru Oshii's The Sky Crawlers is premiering in LA and NY. Read the details here.
Mamoru Oshii's The Sky Crawlers is going to have its Near East premiere at the 5th Dubai International Film Festival. Read the details here.
Read the fourth and last part of our interview with The Sky Crawlers screenwriter Chihiro Ito here.
I.G announces Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (tentative title), its first 3DCG feature film. Read the details here.
The creative team of Ghost in the Shell, Innocence and The Sky Crawlers resurrects the legendary swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi on the big screen!
Overview
Maverick filmmaker Mamoru Oshii is the mastermind behind the original concept for this project, in collaboration with Production I.G - the team that brought you cutting edge anime such as Patlabor: The Movie (1989), Patlabor: The Movie 2 (1993), Ghost in the Shell (1995), Innocence (2004) and The Sky Crawlers (2008).
This new full-length feature film entitled, Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai (Japanese title: Miyamoto Musashi - Soken ni Haseru Yume) is slated in Japanese theaters for summer 2009.
Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) was an unrivalled swordsman in the days when internal wars in Japan had virtually ended. Nevertheless, he wrote a master treatise on military strategy, The Book of Five Rings and sought "the way" to enlighten his spirit and cultivate his mind. But could this image have been manufactured by the generations that followed...?
Mamoru Oshii will take on an unusual portrayal of this legendary and aloof warrior, between spectacular duels and a tragic life in pursuit of greatness. With The Book of Five Rings as his guide, Oshii will unsheathe the true vision of the greatest swordsman in Japanese history! Medieval chivalry, horsemanship, swordsmanship and the essence of The Book of Five Rings will be pure entertainment!
The impressive production staff includes director Mizuho Nishikubo (also known by his alias Toshihiko Nishikubo) who has worked on numerous Oshii films including Ghost in the Shell (1995), Innocence (2004) and The Sky Crawlers (2008). He also directed the TV series Otogi Zoshi and Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato. Kazuto Nakazawa, director of the mind-blowing animation segment in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) and creator of innovative characters as seen in Samurai Champloo (2004), will design the characters for Musashi. The animation is supervised by Kazuchika Kise, the chief animator in Ghost in the Shell, Innocence and Blood: The Last Vampire.
official website and trailer (Japanese only):
http://musashi-souken.com
MAIN STAFF
Original Concept / Screenplay: Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, The Sky Crawlers)
Director: Mizuho Nishikubo (Innocence, The Sky Crawlers, Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato, Otogi Zoshi )
Character Design: Kazuto Nakazawa (Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Samurai Champloo, Asience: Hairy Tale)
Animation Director: Kazuchika Kise (Ghost in the Shell, Blood: The Last Vampire)
Art Director: Shuichi Hirata (Innocence, xxxHOLiC - A Midsummer Night's Dream, Asience: Hairy Tale)
CG Animation: Makoto Endo (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Le Chevalier D'Eon)
Animation Studio: Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, The Sky Crawlers)
© 2009 Production I.G/Musashi Production Committee
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Mamoru Oshii's The Sky Crawlers has nominated Jury Recommended Work in the Animation Division of the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival (2008).
Seven Production I.G works received recognitions in the past editions. In 2000, Blood: The Last Vampire (director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo) was awarded with the Animation Division Grand Prize, and in 2002, Episode 2 of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (director: Kenji Kamiyama) received the Excellence Prize in the same category. In 2004, both Innocence (director: Mamoru Oshii) and Otogi Zoshi (director: Mizuho Nishikubo) were nominated Jury Recommended Works. In the 10th edition, I.G was double awarded with Solid State Society (Jury Recommended Work, Animation Division) and the bisque doll reproducing D'Eon de Beaumont (from Kazuhiro Furuhashi's TV series Le Chevalier D'Eon), appointed Jury Recommended Work in the Entertainment Division. In the 11th edition, Kenji Kamiyama was greeted with two Jury Recommended Work recognitions forSolid State Society (for the second consecutive year) and Guardian of the Spirit. This year, The Sky Crawlers was nominated Jury Recommended Work together with Naoyoshi Shiotani's Tokyo Marble Chocolate.
Started in 1997, the Japan Media Arts Festival is a "Contest" that praises creative media art works utilizing the latest expression technology, and it is also a "Festival" that supports creative activity and broadly presents various art works. At the same time, the event is promoting the development of media arts in Japan by providing the opportunities of appreciation, such as Exhibitions and Sanctioned Events.
Japan Media Arts Festival official website (English available):
http://plaza.bunka.go.jp/
© MH/NI,BWDVYHDYCH
Tokyo Marble Chocolate, the bittersweet romantic comedy directed by Naoyoshi Shiotani, has nominated Jury Recommended Work in the Animation Division of the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival (2008).
Seven Production I.G works received recognitions in the past editions. In 2000, Blood: The Last Vampire (director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo) was awarded with the Animation Division Grand Prize, and in 2002, Episode 2 of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (director: Kenji Kamiyama) received the Excellence Prize in the same category. In 2004, both Innocence (director: Mamoru Oshii) and Otogi Zoshi (director: Mizuho Nishikubo) were nominated Jury Recommended Works. In the 10th edition, I.G was double awarded with Solid State Society (Jury Recommended Work, Animation Division) and the bisque doll reproducing D'Eon de Beaumont (from Kazuhiro Furuhashi's TV series Le Chevalier D'Eon), appointed Jury Recommended Work in the Entertainment Division. In the 11th edition, Kenji Kamiyama was greeted with two Jury Recommended Work recognitions forSolid State Society (for the second consecutive year) and Guardian of the Spirit. This year, Tokyo Marble Chocolate was nominated Jury Recommended Work together with Mamoru Oshii's The Sky Crawlers.
Started in 1997, the Japan Media Arts Festival is a "Contest" that praises creative media art works utilizing the latest expression technology, and it is also a "Festival" that supports creative activity and broadly presents various art works. At the same time, the event is promoting the development of media arts in Japan by providing the opportunities of appreciation, such as Exhibitions and Sanctioned Events.
Japan Media Arts Festival official website (English available):
http://plaza.bunka.go.jp/
© 2007 Production I.G / Project Tokyo Marble Chocolate
