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TMS Entertainment has announced that Shotaro Ikenami’s Onihei Hankacho series, which has sold around 27 million copies, will receive an anime adaptation in 2017 in honour of the franchise’s 50th anniversary. The first visual for the anime which will be titled Onihei has also been released and features the show’s protagonist, Oni no Heizo (Heizo the Demon).
Heizo is reborn in anime form as a tall, stylish guy!
The new anime adaptation is produced by Masao Maruyama who began his career at Osamu Tezuka’s Mushi Productions before heading up Madhouse. Still going full steam ahead at over 70 years old, Maruyama then set up production company MAPPA along with studio M2 which was founded in the spring of 2016. With a career spanning half a century and including such well-known movies as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars, Maruyama has built a high profile presence for himself even outside of Japan. Shigeru Miya of Buzzer Beater and Lupin III: Green vs. Red will be taking up the directorial reigns.
The Ikenami Office had this to say on the announcement of the anime project:
“Even though Onihei Hankacho continues to pick up readers 50 years after the beginning of the serialisation, an anime adaption at this juncture is surprising but also very exciting. We are looking forward to seeing a new kind of Onihei world which can only be accomplished in an anime.”
Comment from Masao Maruyama:
“We won’t fail the original story, but we won’t just blindly follow it either. We’re going to bring out all of its appeal as an anime! The game is on. Onihei will have the refinement of the classic period piece but also the more expansive performance style the genre is known for. Whilst making sure the period detail is spot on, the anime will also have a modern kind of elegance. Of course, there will be a lot of dynamic action and unprecedented scenes too! Eliminating everything that gets in the way, we aim to create a beautiful, never-before-seen universe. We’ve all fallen under Onihei’s spell and if we can forge ahead focussing on Ikenami’s world continuing to follow the subtleties of human nature whilst chasing out the bad, we can make the kind of period piece that you can only see right now and that anyone can enjoy.”
Creative Team
Original Novels: Shotaro Ikenami
Production: TMS Entertainment
Animation Production: Studio M2
Producer: Masao Maruyama
Director/Character Designer: Shigeru Miya
■ About Onihei Hankacho
*Onihei Hankacho* is a series of period piece crime novels by Shotaro Ikenami set in the Edo era and following the adventures of Heizo Hasegawa as he investigates and judges cases of theft and arson. The first chapter was published in Bungeishunju’s OoruYomimono magazine in 1967, and in total 135 stories (and one special bonus) had been published by the time the series ended in 1989. Onihei Hankacho has so far been adapted into various other media including manga, live action drama, and stage shows and remains a hugely popular franchise.
■ Original Author: Shotaro Ikenami
Born in Asakusa, Tokyo, in 1923, Shotaro Ikenami retired from a role in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to devote himself to writing in 1955. Alongside writing plays for the stage as part of the new “Shinkokugeki” theatre movement, Ikenami won the coveted Naoki Prize for literature in 1960 with Sakuran. In 1977, Onihei Hankacho won the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize which celebrates historical novels, and Ikenami then went on to win the Kikukan Award in 1988. Ikenami also enjoyed success with many other series including Kenkaku Shoubai, Sono Otoko, Sanada Taiheiki, and Shikakenin - Fujieda Baian, before passing away in 1990.
©Office Ikenami, Bungeishunju, TV Series Onihei Production Committee
Source: @Press
