Character Design for Imagi's GATCHAMAN revealed?

by Al Young, August 9, 2008 10:00 AM

It's been a Gatchaman sort of week here on Twitch with the arrival of the screen shots from the CG superhero animated film, just a few days ago. Over at Butterboom.com, there is a single artwork of the five member "Science Ninja team", taken from an Imagi sales flyer for the Gatchaman licensing company. For comparison of the original character design, go here. Whatever or not this is the actual design used in the film is undetermined at this point. Nevertheless, its still an awesome design and atleast it give the fanboys something to discuss while they wait for the next news update. Also on Butterboom.com is a description of an early teaser trailer from last year but whats shown in there has probably been scraped when director Kevin Munroe left during production due to creative difference.

3 Comments

by kenshiro7, August 9, 2008 10:54 PM

If that is how the Science Ninja Team looks in Imagi's Gatchaman...the film will be worth the wait, even if the film does not arrive in theaters til 2010. Hopefully Gatchaman will be a hit, so there can be more than one film.

by Al Young, August 9, 2008 11:52 PM

I sure hope so too, Kenshiro7. The current state of animated films in US has often been limited to the typical cartoony talking anthropomorphic (insert X animal or object) we see time after time again. There is nothing wrong with this, actually I just saw Kung Fu Panda and I like it for what it is but I always believe animation as an art form has so much more to offer. There is a big misconception that animation in North America is a clean, funny genre for the whole family to enjoyed. Imagi is one of the few studios out there willing to think out side of the box and do something edgy that appeals to the mature audience. Thats why I been Imagi's biggest cheerleader since day one. I would like to see the studio do well so they can continue to produce projects of this type. Another animated project that caught my eye is Heavy Metal, an animated anthology from Blur studios that contains various science fiction and fantasy stories with mature subject matter including violence and nudity. I was disappointed to hear that the project was put on hold because Paramount felt it was "too risqué for mainstream audiences", yet Paramount didn't have any problem with giving the A-okay to Beowulf.

Back to the topic of Gatchaman, I never been a fan since I'm not familiar with the show but the artwork and screen shots have already sold me. The visuals looks stunning and unique. It seems the project is in limbo right now since its without a director and I also heard Paul Dini (writer for Batman; TAS) is no longer attached too. We probably won't see it release in 2009.