Katsuhiro Otomo should need no introduction - the father of Akira created a magnum opus that created an explosion of interest in Japanese animation, but now he's created a new studio called Oval Gear to bring about his passion project, a sci-fi feature called Orbital Era.
The Oval Gear website features an image of a cosmonaut carrying a skateboard across what looks like a CGI landscape, which suggests he may be intending to mix the two as he did with his 2004 release, Steamboy.
Legacy seems to be an element to the new venture, as the site states:
We are pleased to announce that manga artist and film director Katsuhiro Otomo has established an animation production studio "OVAL GEAR animation studio" at Oval Gear Co., Ltd.
This studio was established with the aim of passing on the visual expression and authorship that Katsuhiro Otomo has cultivated over many years to the next generation, and to disseminate new animation works to the world.
Currently, the studio is already working on a new title. We will inform you of the details of the work as soon as it is ready.
The recent success of the Akira theatrical run shows that Otomo is still a vibrant voice in Japanese animation, so any project that allows him creative freedom is to be welcomed, While the site may be working on a project already, it's still recruiting animators and production staff, so it will be interesting to see which talents the studio can acquire and how that might affect the output in the future.
With thanks to Richard Durrance for pointing me in the direction of Film Stories for this information.
