Japanese Studios to Animate Halo

The Los Angeles Times’ blog reports that Japanese anime production studios BONES, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G, Studio 4°C, and Toei Animation have been commissioned by Microsoft to produce an animated anthology film titled Halo Legends. Appleseed movie director Shinji Aramaki will serve as the film’s creative director and direct one of the film’s stories. Microsoft’s 343 Industries, the department in charge of the Halo shooting game franchise, is giving the anime studios free reign over the visual appearance of the animation, but, according to 343 Industries’ creative director Frank O’Connor, “Depending on the studio, we did everything from writing the stories to feeding them with characters and scenarios they could explore.”

A preview trailer will be screened at this weekend’s San Diego Comic Con. The shorts will then be released on the Xbox Live service this fall, followed by DVD & Blu-ray from Warner Bros. early next year.

Source: IGN