News
Gainax's Uru in Blue to Open Worldwide in 2018 with Short Next Spring
posted on by Egan Loo
Gainax President Hiroyuki Yamaga announced at Anime Festival Asia in Singapore more details about his studio's proposed anime Uru in Blue (Aoki Uru) on Friday. An preview short called "Overture" will be released worldwide next spring, instead of this year as originally planned. The project team members are starting to meet production companies for potential collaboration in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, and the Middle East. The team then aims to release the final anime worldwide in 2018.
Instead of the typical Japanese production committee, Uru in Blue will be produced by Uru in Blue LLP, a limited liability partnership comprised of various investors and partners. This LLP is based in Singapore, and they are currently seeking investors. The projected budget is US$40 million, and Yasuhiro Takeda will be a producer.
Hiroyuki Yamaga is writing and directing the project with designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Both had worked together in the same roles in the 1987 anime film Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honnêamise.
Gainax began plans for Uru in Blue in 1992 with director Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion), writer Hiroyuki Yamaga(Wings of Honneamise), and executive producer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Wings of Honneamise). The project was suspended the following year, with revivals announced in 1998, 2001, and most recently, in 2013.
A CD-ROM titled "Uru in Blue Frozen Designs Collection" was released in 1998 featuring mechanical, character, and background designs, fighter planes designed by Masamune Shirow (Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell) and Kazutaka Miyatake (Yamato, Macross, Dunbine), as well as Yamaga's original screenplay.
