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Ghost in the Shell: Arise Anime's Details Outlined (Update 2)
posted on by Egan Loo
The staff of the Ghost in the Shell Arise anime announced the details of its project on Tuesday. The project will consist of four 50-minute parts.
The first part, "Ghost Pain," will run in Japanese theaters for two weeks starting on Saturday, June 22. There will be advance Blu-ray Disc copies with a bundled scenario book available at participating theaters for 8,000 yen (about US$85). There will also be paid streaming of the project, at least in Japan. The general retail release of the first part's Blu-ray Disc and DVD will be on July 26.
Series composition and scriptwriter Tow Ubukata confirmed during the broadcast that the show will be a prequel series featuring Motoko when she was younger.
The staff also announced the show's cast:
Maaya Sakamoto as Mokoto Kusanagi
Kenichirou Matsuda as Batou
Tarusuke Shingaki as Togusa
Tomoyuki Dan as Ishikawa
Takurou Nakakuni as Saito
Youji Ueda as Paz
Kazuya Nakai as Borma
Ikkyuu Juku as Daisuke Aramaki
At the beginning of her voice-acting career, Sakamoto provided the voice of the pivotal little girl who speaks the very last line in the first Ghost in the Shell film.
The presentation also streamed a trailer for the series.
The text in the trailer is as follows:
A.D. 2027
Her name is Motoko Kusanagi
Attached to the Army's 501st Secret Unit
Heavily CyborgEgo
Memories
Hope for the futureWhat proves who I am?
It all begins here
A manga adaptation, Ghost in the Shell: Arise Sleepless Eye (Nemuranai Me no Otoko), will debut in the April issue of Kodansha's Monthly Young magazine on March 13. Newcomer Takumi Ōyama will draw the series, and Jun'ichi Fujisaku will write the story. Fujisaku previously worked on the screenplay for both seasons of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Fujisaku also worked on the screenplay for Blood+, Otogi Zoshi, Appleseed XIII, and Real Drive.
During the hour-long presentation, Production I.G co-founder Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Satoshi Endō from Kadokawa ASCII Research Laboratories Inc., and Takeshi Natsuno, professor at Keio University's Graduate School of Media and Governance, spoke about the science and technology of the Ghost in the Shell franchise, and discussed how today's technology is not too far off from the technology featured in the series.
Update: Added additional information from presentation and embedded official video.
Update 2: The official website also updated with more staff announcements.
Mechanical Design: Takayuki Yanase
3DCGI: Orange
3DCG Director: Eiji Inomoto
Art: Bamboo
Art Director: Yusuke Takeda, Takaaki Mashiki
Art Setting: Hiroshi Kato (Totonyan)
Prop Art Setting: Naoki Arakawa
Photography Director: Kouji Tanaka
Sound Director: Yoshikazu Iwanami
Editing: Junichi Uematsu
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