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D'Art Shtajio to Produce Anime Episode Based on NBA Player Johnny O'Bryant's XOGeneSYS Comic
posted on by Karen Ressler
Japan-based, American-run animation studio D'Art Shtajio announced on Friday that it is producing an pilot episode for an anime based on NBA basketball player Johnny O'Bryant, Black Panther soundtrack album cover artist Nikolas A. Draper-Ivey, and writer Tre McIntosh's original comic XOGeneSYS.
O'Bryant's creative agency Noir Caeser Entertainment hosts XOGeneSYS and several other comic titles by various creators on its website. Three chapters of XOGeneSYS are available for purchase. O'Bryant is credited as the creator, McIntosh is the writer, and Draper-Ivey provides the art.
Noir Caeser describes the story of XOGeneSYS:
The future has grown into a decadent, overcrowded gang-ridden cesspool. If you're not living uptown, you might as well be dead. Such is the case of Darius Smith, an artistic youth living in the hood, doing his best to avoid trouble and live life. Unfortunately, Darius has a hidden talent – he's an explosive fighter! This makes him the target of many gangs and pits him in many brawls, landing him in the sight of the honorable Timothy Mustafa, powerful prince and owner of one of the most successful XOGeneSYS teams in the country. XOGenaSYS is a successful gladiator sport fought with powered exoskeletons, and Mustafa wants Darius to become the next new fighter! Can Darius become the next champion or will he fall like so many before him?
O'Bryant's stated goal in founding Noir Caeser was "to intertwine Japanese anime culture with African-American streetwear and hip-hop culture." The agency began what it plans to be a yearly comic contest last year. It also launched a Kickstarter campaign last year to fund an animated prologue episode for Primus 7, but the funding was unsuccessful.
Arthell Isom (A Letter to Momo, Blood-C, Gintama), his brother Darnell Isom (Avatar, Pacific Rim, TMNT), and Henry Thurlow (Sweetness & Lightning, Naruto Shippūden, Tokyo Ghoul) established D'Art Shtajio to act as a bridge between the Japanese animation industry and outside markets. In particular, the studio aims to assist foreigners seeking to produce anime-style videos from Japanese studios.
D'Art Shtajio's first project was a pilot episode based on the independently published comic Indigo Ignited by Americans David Pinter and Samuel Dalton. It also produced an anime teaser for Stephane Metayer's Tephlon Funk comic and, most recently, the first half of an original short anime titled "Shojo no Piero" or "The Doll."
