Keisuke Ito and Tou Enjou's "Empire of the Corpse" to be adapted into a theatrical anime by Noitamina!　Produced by Ryotaro Makihara of "Hal" and WIT STUDIO

Noitamina has announced the theatrical anime adaptation of "Empire of the Corpse".

This is one of the second noitaminamus movie projects to be adapted into a theatrical anime based on the novel by Keisuke Ito, who died prematurely in 2009 at the age of 34. Following the previously announced "Slaughterhouse Organ" and "Harmony," it is based on "Empire of the Corpse," which won the 33rd Japan Science Fiction Grand Prize Special Award. The story is set in London at the end of the 19th century, which has undergone an industrial revolution and is now in the throes of life, a complete change from the near future depicted in "The Slaughterhouse Organ" and "Harmony". It is set in a cyberpunk urban setting where "corpses" are utilized as a new labor force through "corpse resuscitation technology," which is said to have been developed by Dr. Frankenstein in the previous century. The film depicts the adventures of John Watson, a former medical student who became Sherlock Holmes' partner, around the world accompanied by Friday, a corpse.

The film is directed by Ryotaro Makihara, who made his theatrical directorial debut with "Hal," an animated film delicately depicting a love story between a robot and a human, and WIT STUDIO, the studio behind "Shinkage no Kyojin. The film will be released in 2015.

In addition, it has been decided that redjuice will participate in both "Slaughterhouse" and "Harmony" as a character draftsman. The visual depicting Watson and Friday the Corpse has also been released.

Ryotaro Makihara, director of "Empire of the Corpse
I am one of the fans who have been looking forward to seeing Keisuke Ito's works made into a film someday. I have been looking forward to the release of "Empire of the Corpse" ever since I heard that Mr. Enjo was going to write a sequel to it. The Empire of the Corpse" is a fascinating mix of Mr. Ito's problematic setting and Mr. Enjo's cool and sometimes naughty writing, and I read it while feeling (and imagining) the relationship between the two.
The "story" of the two souls has now materialized around my desk and is piled up as a bundle of video paper.
The "spirit" (anima) is given and "moved" (motion). I am working hard every day, feeling the inevitability of the mysterious link between animation and works of art, and the way they are passed on from literature to images in different forms of expression.

Comment from redjuice, character designer for "Slaughterhouse Organ," "Harmony," and "Empire of the Corpse
I have been given the great responsibility of working on three works with completely different world views at the same time. I was given the great responsibility to work on three works with very different worldviews at the same time. I hope to create a picture that will reach the hearts of as many people as possible, and that it will serve as a catalyst for them.

Comment from Koji Yamamoto, Chief Producer
Why are people born and where do they go? Where did the novelist try to reach by bequeathing his story?
We hope that the spirit of the novelist's search for something will be present in the film as well. I hope that the stories left behind will shake people's hearts.



(C)Project Itoh & Toh EnJoe / THE EMPIRE OF CORPSES