Ghost In The Shell Director Creating New Anime Series, Coming 2020

Ichigo Animation, a newly-established animation studio under Japanese real estate and clean energy production company Ichigo, has confirmed that it’s teaming up with legendary filmmaker Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, The Sky Crawlers) to release a new anime series.

Ichigo Animation, founded on April 4 of this year as a subsidiary of Ichigo, will produce Oshii’s new series, which is slated to broadcast and stream in spring or early summer of 2020 in Japan, according to Anime News Network. Oshii–who has developed the concept over the past decade–will be credited for the original story and scripting, and will serve as the project’s chief director.

Oshii is also serving director on an animated film adaptation of Baku Yumemakura’s sci-fi series Chimera. However, Chimera currently has no release date, and it’s unclear if Ichigo Animation has any involvement with the project.

Oshii is most known for the Ghost in the Shell series, most notably directing 1995’s Ghost in the Shell, 2004’s Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (which he also wrote the screenplay for), and 2008’s remake Ghost in the Shell 2.0. He also provided the story concept for 2004’s Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG TV series.

In addition to animation, Oshii has contributed to live-action adaptions such as directing and writing Garm Wars: The Last Druid and The Next Generation: Patlabor. He was also a special consultant on 2008’s Wii combat flight simulator The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces.

Marvel Has More Fantastic Four On The Way With A New Special Series

The Fantastic Four are a bit of a hot button issue over in the MCU these days, thanks largely to the mysterious Phase 4 and the recent Disney buyout of 20th Century Fox placing the team’s film rights back in the potential MCU lineup. But the comics are, thankfully, a different story. After their triumphant return from their extended post-Secret Wars absence, the F4 have been holding down their own ongoing series and reestablishing themselves as Marvel’s first family.

And there’s more on the way. Announced earlier today, Marvel will be publishing a brand-new “special series” centered around the Fantastic Four created by Gerry Dugan and Greg Smallwood called Fantastic Four: Yancy Street. Set within the main continuity of the Marvel Universe and following events laid out in their current ongoing book, Yancy Street will be a chance for the team to explore their own history and relationships with one another as they settle back into their old neighborhood.

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In the spirit of last year’s Web Of Venom special series, Yancy Street will be a series of quarterly specials that afford the team the time and space to deal with some of their classic villains and settings in the spirit of their originators, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. The first issue will feature The Thing pitted against vintage villains, The Terrible Trio.

Created back in 1961, the Fantastic Four were Marvel’s first official superhero team, pre-dating both the X-Men and the Avengers. A team of scientists and friends exposed to mysterious extra-dimensional radiation that gave them fantastic (get it?) powers, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Human Torch, and The Thing remain some of Marvel’s most beloved and well-recognized superheroes to this day. Their current ongoing series was launched in 2018.

Fantastic Four: Yancy Street #1 hits shelves on August 21.