CG-fied Joe Asakura revealed in GATCHAMAN poster

[Update: Forget about the crappy snapshot poster that was taken back in March. Imagi's creative director Felix Ip has posted a better quality version of it and a new illustration at his blog site. Awesome design! The only difference from the old version is the year of release has shifted from 2010 to 2011. I look forward to seeing the rest of the team in their own poster.]

Over the past weekend at the 2009 Tokyo International Anime Fair, someone who attended the event has taken a snapshot picture of a poster on display for Imagi Studios' Gatchaman from the Tatsunoko's booth and posted it up on a Japanese Gatchaman fan's blog. It offers a first CG-fied look at Joe Asakura, the second-in-command of the superhero ninja team and although I'm not all too familiar with the original series, I must say the character design on him looks really cool. For another take on the character design, go here.

As far as I'm aware, it seems the current status of the action animated film remains uncertain. There were reports a few months back on the financial problems affecting Imagi and there is still no official word of a director onboard after Kevin Munroe (TMNT) dropped out during production last year. Personally, my fingers are crossed that the project doesn't fall into development hell and everything pans out.

A release date has been set to 2010.