An unexpected attraction at Comic-Con – Microsoft are apparently set to unveil a new project fleshing out the backstory of their hugely successful [i]Halo[/i] franchise... seven short films by acclaimed anime directors. An article from the LA Times looks at two studios who want to exercise increased control over ancilliary spinoffs from their successful IPs – as opposed to letting movie studios take the brand name and run. (Ubisoft are also premiering three short films expanding on the backstory to the upcoming [i]Assassin's Creed 2[/i]). The five studios contributing to [i]Halo: Legends[/i] are Bones, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio 4C, and Toei Animation, with previews on Microsoft's Xbox Live service this autumn and a DVD/BluRay release in 2010. Personally? The only downside from my point of view is placing Shinji Aramaki in charge – a fan he may be, but after the creatively bankrupt [i]Appleseed[/i] I hope he remains relatively hands-[b]off[/b]. (And please, for the love of God, let's all forget the horrendous [i]Dead Space: Downfall[/i] ever existed.)
[b]Update:[/b] It seems Mamoru Oshii has indeed joined the talent attached - though I'm not too big a fan I'm still curious to see what he'll make of developer Bungie's universe. Plus GameTrailers have the Halo Legends trailer up for your viewing pleasure - link added below.
Hmmm... don't knock Shinji Aramaki too hard.
The man is a very gifted designer, and as far as directing duties go: he may not be a brilliant author in this regard, but both Appleseeds had several effective sequences. I even thought the second one saw a vast improvement in its character interaction and emotional dynamics.
I don't see him helming a multi-studio effort as a bad thing. My guess is he'll be primarily focusing on keeping the overall look consistent, and hopefully he'll allow the studios to shine with their individual talents.
I admit I'm being facetious to some extent but I honestly really, really [b]hated[/b] [i]Appleseed[/i], to the point I still haven't seen the second. I seriously thought it was one of the worst films I'd seen in years, utterly braindead scripting-by-numbers that completely sucked the life out of Shirow's original. I still think Shirow's over-rated, but there was subtlety and humour in the manga, a playfulness and thoughtfulness the film just killed stone dead. All the fancy mocap in the world makes no difference if your production's that empty of inspiration.
Oh what a quandary! It's certainly a formidable list of quality anime studios (bar Casio- although I like their watches) it's Halo- a franchise I have absolutely no interest in. If only it was metroid: legends I'd be on board! Oh well.
Anime News Network is reporting that Mamoru Oshii is joining Aramaki as one of the project's directors.
More info here.