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A new anime has been born from the pages of Monthly Hero’s, in which are published countless popular manga themed around heroes. The TV anime adaptation of the currently serializing popular manga Sword Gai was announced on Oct. 1. The anime is being jointly developed by character development company DLE and major entertainment company Fields. Because the TV broadcast is still a ways off, the staff and other information is still unknown, but this unique tag team will likely draw interest from both the manga and anime worlds.
Sword Gai is the story of a young man named Gai whose right arm is a sword. Having lost his right arm in an accident, a swordsmith named Amon adapts a demon sword handed down through the generations called “Shiryu” (Death Dragon) for Gai’s arm. Gai, having melded with a demonic weapon, is then drawn into a cruel fate. The story cuts through a new manga world with a dark hero.
The character designer on the series is Keita Amemiya from the Garo series and the well-known Toshiki Inoue from Kamen Rider 555 and * Kamen Rider Agito* created the original manga. The manga was brought together by the extraordinarily sharp artwork of Wosamu Kine. The manga is highly polished, and attention is building around how this will transition to the anime.
DLE’s specialities lie in character development, marketing, and video production. The company’s motto is “Fast Entertainment,” and they focus on quickly creating works with a low cost. However, the development of Sword Gai seems different than anything the company has done before in that there is quite a bit of time between when it was announced and when it will release. For this joint development, DLE and Fields will be pooling their know-how and networks. If DLE, which is seizing on the changing times, and Fields, which specializes in crossmedia developments, can unite, great things are sure to happen.
Both companies are also putting efforts into collaborating on other projects as well. Among them are jointly created anime for release not just in Japan but overseas, as well as games, merchandising, and more.
In 2012, DLE established a U.S. branch called DLE America, Inc. On the other hand, Fields just announced back in July a live-action Hollywood movie project for the Monthly Hero’s work Soul Reviver. Both companies aim to develop themselves in the U.S. market. This unexpected tag team may lead to surprising things from here on.
© HERO’S Inc.
Source: animeanime
