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7th Animax Award Winner 'Shoka' to Debut in March
posted on by Egan Loo
The "Shoka" (Calligrapher) anime project will premiere on Japan's Animax anime channel on March 27 — more than 18 months after writer Kenji Saidō won the Grand Prize in the 7th Animax Awards with its script.
The action story is set during the turbulent years of the shogunate, as dark forces try to undermine the shogun's power in Edo-era Tokyo. Shirō Sumiya is the leader of the "Way of the Paper Drawing" clan which captures the chaos of the struggles with rapid brush strokes. Sumiya is summoned to Edo, and his disciples, who have extraordinary powers in their secret drawing techniques, become part of the ensuring battles with giant drawn creatures.
Animator Makoto Yamada (You're Under Arrest, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion) directed and storyboarded the project at Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell, Jin-Roh) with character designs by Hirokazu Kojima (Shikabane Hime: Aka). Background artist Hiromu Itou (Blood+, Noein - to your other self) is overseeing the art direction, while acclaimed composer Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell films, Death Note films, Eden of the East) scores the soundtrack.
The Animax channel televised the completed anime for the 5th Animax Award winner, Akari Tsukino's "Yumedamaya Kidan," and the 6th Animax Award winner, Hayato Takamaga's "Takane no Jitensha (Takane's Bike)," in November of 2008. The 2nd Animax Award winner, Yuuko Kawabe, eventually co-wrote the Ergo Proxy and Mahō Shōjo Tai Arusu: The Adventure anime. The 4th Animax Award winner, Ikuko Yoshinari, recently created a manga for Shueisha's Ribon shōjo magazine.
