Production I.G & Shirow's, 'Ghost Hound'. Yasuomi Umetsu's 'Kite : Liberator'.

Firstly, Production I.G and Masamune Shirow's earlier partnership spawned one of the classic anime films, namely 'Ghost in the Shell' of course, and now they re-team for an adaptation of Shirow's manga 'Ghost Hound'; which actually begins its manga serialisation this month. That's nice - what's more, the Director is Ryutaro Nakamura, the man responsible for the astonishing 'Kino's Journey' (as we know it from the American DVD release; great cheapo set of that out there now) and the legendary oddness that is 'Serial Experiments Lain'. Scripting comes from 'Lain' writer Chiaki Konaka. It's due Fall 2007 - Q4 if you prefer.

Secondly, Yasuomi Umetsu makes a rare appearance with another production based around his 'Kite' franchise. Now, there's two previous incarnations based around this which differ in key aspects. There's the slightly dodgy hentai variant, 'A Kite' as it's sometimes known, a dark two-parter (I think; it's been some time) with hardcore scenes in it, involving a young lady of questionable maturity. Still, it's a damn fine action piece with actually only a couple of hentai moments, in reality. The other incarnation of a character from 'A Kite' comes in the more mainstream (but still orange catsuit-laden) 'Mezzo Forte' TV Series. This new 'Kite : Liberator' looks like the former, and although it's both admirable and vaguely dodgy to admit a liking for that original, I am proud to say I think it's a semi-obscure anime gem.... that's a little bit pornographic.

'Kite : Liberator' Official Site.

I also think brief mentions deserved for Shinchiro Watanabe's new feature 'Baby Blue'; man behind 'Cowboy Bebop'. Upcoming on R1 USA DVD is the classical horror tales series 'Ayakashi', which has a spin-off called 'Mononoke' due this Summer. And since Scott Green gives the superb-looking 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' a good review, I will say I had hoped for subtitles on the Japanese release, now have fingers crossed it will appear in America after winning some decent awards... at the Tokyo Anime Fair Awards; Best Director, Best Script, Art Direction, and Character Design.

'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' Tokyo Anime Fair Awards Details at Variety Asia.
'A Kite' (by Yasuomi Umetsu) Review by Logboy from October 2004 here at Twitch.

[Source : Scott Green's Anime AICN].