SBJ’s Rio to Get Anime

During yesterday’s “Rio Super Carnival” publicity event, Japanese game developer Tecmo announced that popular mascot character Rio will star in an anime production tentatively titled “Rio.” The female casino card dealer Rio, and associated characters, were designed by Tecmo and debuted in the 2003 pachi-slo (pachinko slot machine) arcade game Super Black Jack, developed by Net. Since her first appearance, Rio has become tremendously popular, appearing in manga, spin-off games including Rio Carnival (2005), Rio Paradise (2007), and Rio 2 -Cruising Vanadis- (2009), collectible figures and other character goods. Rio will also appear in the Dead or Alive Paradise game for the PSP, due out in Japan on April 2.

Considering how popular Rio is, I’m surprised that it took so long for an anime to get green-lit.

Source: Anime News Network