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Ghost in the Shell Nyūmon Arise Anime Shorts to Air in January
posted on by Egan Loo
A mini program called Kōkaku Kidōtai Nyūmon Arise (Ghost in the Shell Introduction Arise) will premiere on TV Tokyo on January 6 from 25:00 to 25:05 (effectively, January 7 at 1:00 to 1:05 a.m.) The navigation "hosts" of the program are Rojiko and Komako, two cute characters voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro and inspired by the ongoing Ghost in the Shell Arise anime's Rojikoma mecha. Maaya Sakamoto will play a version of the main Ghost in the Shell Arise anime's lead character Motoko.
Rojiko and Komako are original characters who appear in the manga Rojikomanga that is running in Kodansha's Monthly Young Magazine. The manga is set in "Arise Village," the space spontaneously created in the lingering memories of the Rojikoma's servers.
In this spinoff story, "Motoko" is a super-genius hacker who got lost in this space. Rojiko is a clumsy, eyeglasses-wearing girl, while Komako is an older, powerful girl with a "nice body." When Motoko finds herself in a pinch, Rojiko and Komako combine and transform into a Rojikoma.
The Kōkaku Kidōtai Nyūmon Arise program will provide news on the production of Ghost in the Shell Arise. A series of brand-new anime shorts will run in the program from the fourth episode onward. Besides the Rojikoma and Motoko, other Ghost in the Shell Arise characters will appear in this anime.
The first of four 50-minute parts from the Ghost in the Shell Arise anime series premiered in Japanese theaters in June, and shipped on Blu-ray Disc and DVD at retail on July 26. The Blu-ray for the first episode was sold in advance at Japanese theaters when the Ghost Pain installment debuted in June. Kazuchika Kise (chief animation director for Otogi Zoshi, Blood-C: The Last Dark) is directing the series and designing the characters, and Tow Ubukata (Le Chevalier D'Eon, Mardock Scramble) is supervising and writing the scripts. Production I.G is producing the series, and Cornelius (Appleseed: Ex Machina) is composing the music.
Funimation licensed the anime and released the first episode in a special imported edition in August. The company is also offering the special-edition release prior to its typical English-language home video release.
The third episode in the project, "border:3 Ghost Tears," is slated to open in theaters on June 28, 2014.
Source: animeanime.jp
Image © Masamune Shirow, Production I.G/Kodansha, Ghost in the Shell ARISE Production Committee
