What has Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse co-director Peter Ramsey been as much as not too long ago? Properly, he directed episodes for each Ahsoka and The Mandalorian season three, and has been serving as assistant director and producer on quite a few excessive and medium-profile initiatives, each animated and live-action. Up subsequent, he is embarking on one thing totally completely different alongside Afro Samurai studio Gonzo Ok.Ok.
The information arrived by way of Selection, which shared all the main points on the initiatives they’re cooking alongside some shocking names.
First up, Ramsey will exec. produce and co-write the screenplay for Ripper, “a live-action/anime hybrid function set in post-WWII Japan” which “tells the story of two detectives searching down a serial killer who took the lives of the ladies that every of them beloved.” The undertaking was created by N Lite’s Head of Manufacturing Samantha Inoue Harte and co-writers Paul Alvarado-Dykstra and Rafael Antonio Ruiz. On high of these names, Viola Davis and husband Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions is connected to provide alongside N Lite and Gonzo Ok.Ok.
The second undertaking is Hotaru, a “swashbuckling sci-fi/fantasy journey sequence about two star-crossed magic-wielding warriors certain by love and grief,” in keeping with N Lite. Ramsey will govt produce, with Inoue Harte, Alvarado-Dykstra, and CEO Christiano Terry credited as creators.
“I’m excited to collaborate with N Lite on a undertaking that’s deeply private. The shared experiences of Black and Japanese individuals in Japan throughout WWII is a historic and cultural intersection that we’ve not but seen on display. It’s additionally an unbelievable time for anime as an entire, and as a real lover of the medium, I’m wanting to create one thing that has by no means been executed earlier than,” teased Ramsey. The expertise concerned additionally cited a handful of Gonzo’s previous work, comparable to Afro Samurai, Hellsing, and Full Steel Panic! as inspiration. Whereas each Ripper and Hotaru are nonetheless within the very early levels, it appears that evidently anime fanatics ought to count on tons of DNA from Gonzo’s “legacy titles.”
N Lite is a Black-owned multimedia firm “led by a various veteran workforce of executives from HBO, NEXTEL, Boeing, and McKinsey & Co.” that handles the manufacturing and distribution of properties throughout movie, TV, merchandising, publishing, and shopper items. The corporate is now ramping up partnerships and inner initiatives whereas additionally working a studio in Tokyo.
The thrilling announcement comes at a time when anime’s position in mainstream popular culture is just getting greater within the Western world, so seeing collaborations comparable to this one turn into one thing tangible that might be influenced by artists from everywhere in the world is nice to see. Extra like this, please!