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Wares -Beyond- Novel Gets Animated Promotional Video

Asahi Shimbun Publications will release Yusuke Nitta's Wares -Beyond- novel, the first installment in a reboot project for the Wares franchise, with illustrations by Haruna Gōzu in Japan on December 7. The novel has an anime promotional video project in the works, and the video will debut during a livestream presentation on Sunday.

Design company Shindosha ran a crowdfunding campaign for the Wares -Beyond- animated promotional video from February to April and exceeded its base goal of 2,500,000 yen (about US$22,300) and its stretch goals for a Blu-Ray Disc release and voice acting. The project ultimately raised 3,000,440 yen (US$26,763).

Shindosha will present the livestream, titled "Fukuyama Jun no "Wares" tte Nani??" (Jun Fukuyama's 'What is Wares??'). As the title implies, the livestream will be hosted by Jun Fukuyama and will explain the Wares franchise and its reboot project to newcomers. Fellow voice actors Ayako Uemura and Nozomi Nishida will also appear in the livestream along with freelance announcer Nozomi Yuzuriha.

Shodensha revealed a rough cut from the promotional video by animator Masami Ōbari. The company also shared two screenshots.

The "alternate world robot fantasy" franchise originated with writer Satoshi Chiba and illustrator Takehiko Itō's first Wares 1092 novel in 1988, and spawned video games, comics, merchandise, and Hobby Japan's Wares Blade tabletop roleplaying game series. The staff describe the recent crowdfunding project as the "first step" in a dream to create an anime for Wares 1092 and Wares Blade.

The reboot project is seeking to court new fans and creators with a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial license, which allows others to freely use the the title for non-commercial reasons. Wares -Beyond- will get a comic adaptation in Japan and Taiwan next spring. The novel itself is also slated for release in Taiwan next spring.

Source: Mantan Web

Thanks to iyane agossah for the news tip.