TOKYO -- Nippon Television pic production chief Seiji Okuda detailed the net's future collaboration with toon house Production I.G. at a Thursday PR event at the Tokyo Anime Fair.
Okuda was at the fair to celebrate the upcoming release of NTV-I.G. toon co-productions "The Sky Crawlers," a feature-length air battle thriller by toon auteur Mamoru Oshii; and "Real Drive," a sci-fi suspense series based on a comic by Shirow Masamune of "Ghost in the Shell" fame.
According to Okuda, NTV intends to develop its partnership with Production I.G. beyond the net's terrestrial strand to "nearly all media platforms," including pay webcasts on the Gyao site, broadcasts on the Animax toon specialty channel, mobile vid clips, novelizations and Kodansha toon mag Shukan Magazine Z, which is skedded for an April launch.
"We intend to expand the potential of one product 100 or 1,000 times through various media," Okuda said.
"Real Drive" will bow on NTV on April 8, while "The Sky Crawlers" is penciled in for a summer release by Warner Bros. Japan.
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