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Higanjima Vampire Manga Gets Net Anime Shorts

Higanjima X, a short anime adaptation of Kōji Matsumoto's vampire manga franchise Higanjima (Nirvana Island), will debut on the YouTube streaming service this Saturday, October 15. Each of the 12 anime shorts tells a self-contained, stand-alone story. The episodes adapt key scenes and dialogue from the manga with some original elements added.

Text: At long last
Text: Higanjima
Text: is being adapted into a short anime
Text: Higanjima X
Text: Starts streaming on YouTube on Friday, October 15!!*

* The video lists October 15 as a "Friday" instead of Saturday.

Each episode has only one voice cast member, who voices all of that episode's character roles. The voice cast is also changing every few episodes; Shō Hayami is voicing all the character roles in the first three episodes, before another voice cast member takes over for the next set of episodes.

October 15 is also the opening date of Higanjima Deluxe, the second live-action film based on the manga franchise. The movie's visual effects supervisor Mitsuhiro Taniguchi is serving as executive producer and series script supervisor on the new Higanjima X anime. Ryūsuke Aoike (Kami-Usagi Rope's second director) is directing and writing the anime at Tetra and Fever Creations. Misaki Ōhira is designing the characters.

A second live-action television series adaptation of the manga franchise also premiered in September and ended on Monday.

The story of the original manga follows a manga named Akira, who is in the midst of the final battle between the human race and vampires. He only has 47 days until Japan is turned into an island of vampires.

The original 33-volume Higanjima manga inspired a live-action film in 2010. Funimation released the film under the title Higanjima: Escape From Vampire Island on home video in North America in 2011.

Matsumoto then launched the sequel manga Higanjima: Saigo no 47-Hiai (Nirvana Island: The Last 47 Days) in 2010, and the first live-action series based on the sequel premiered in Japan in 2013. Matsumoto ended the 16-volume manga in July 2014.

The new TV drama and film project was then announced in August 2014. The announcement at the time had said that the new projects would also adapt the Higanjima: Saigo no 47-Hiai manga. The original announcement stated that the television series would continue where the first series left off, and characters such as the Master would make an appearance. The resistance would also be introduced. The 2014 announcement had stated that an "unprecedented amount" of over two hundred million yen (about US$1.9 million at the time) was spent on the production of the show.

Matsumoto has since launched the Higanjima: 48-Nichigo... (Nirvana Island: 48 Days Later...) sequel manga in August 2014, and Kodansha published the ninth volume on October 6.

Source: Comic Natalie