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Mamoru Oshii's VladLove Anime Delayed Due to COVID-19
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The official Twitter account for Ichigo Animation and Mamoru Oshii's new anime series Vladlove revealed on Friday that the series is delayed due to the effects of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The announcement stated that the producers want to protect the anime's staff, and they will announce the new release schedule after it is decided.
The announcement also included the following message from Oshii:
Serialized anime is not a cheaper edition of theatrical anime! I wanted to do something that I can do only with a serialized work. It's been fun to create the first serialized anime in a long while. I'm very interested in how this comedy is received by the audience
The anime was previously scheduled to premiere in fall 2020 and run for 12 episodes.
The anime's main characters are:
Rina Hidaka as mai Vlad Transylvania: A beautiful vampire girl lost in an unfamiliar land. mai is descended from the Transylvania clan, a prestigious vampire family. She is shy and faint-hearted, and can't bite and suck people's blood even though she is a vampire. She was hungry and had no one to turn to, but met Mitsugu, who decided to help her and take her home.
Romi Park as Chihiro Chimatsuri: A beautiful lady who is the Seijumonji High School nurse and the Chimatsuri Blood Research Institute director. Although she is wild and has a potty mouth, she is kind at heart. She becomes interested in mai (especially her blood) and supports Mitsugu. She creates a Blood Donation Club at school and becomes its advisor to gather food for mai and collect rare blood to pursue her own interest.
The new anime will be a slapstick comedy centering on a vampire girl named mai and a high school girl. Oshii noted that the anime "won't have any handsome men (ikemen)," and its story will solely focus on five young girls. He added that he wanted to "seriously tackle a story centering on a girl-meets-girl concept," and teased that mai "feels similar to Urusei Yatsura's Lum."
Mitsugu Bamba is a high school girl who finds meaning in donating blood. She frequently visits a blood bank to donate blood, despite being harshly treated by the nurse. One day, she encounters a beautiful girl who looks like she's from overseas at the blood bank. The pale girl looks like she's about to faint any minute, but then, she starts destroying the blood bank. The girl loses consciousness and Mitsugu takes her home...
Oshii is the executive director and is credited with the original work, and Junji Nishimura (Ranma ½, You're Under Arrest: The Motion Picture, True Tears) is directing the anime. Kei Yamamura (The Next Generation -Patlabor-) is penning the scripts with Oshii. Issei Aragaki (Monogatari Series key animator/episode animation director) is designing the characters.
Daisuke Miyachi is the music producer for the anime. Comic Animation is credited for the production, and Drive is credited for the animation production. Production I.G is credited for production cooperation. Ichigo Animation, the subsidiary of the Ichigo Japanese real estate and energy company, is funding the project to promote its Akiba Cultures Zone retail building in Tokyo's Akihabara district.
Kazuhiro Wakabayashi is the sound director for the anime. Wakabayashi has also worked with Oshii on Patlabor: The Movie, Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade, The Sky Crawlers, Ghost in the Shell, and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.
Frequent Oshii collaborator Kenji Kawai (The Sky Crawlers, Stray Dog, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Patlabor the Mobile Police) is composing the music for the anime. Kanako Takatsuki (Love Live! Sunshine!!'s Hanamaru Kunikida) is performing the anime's theme song as part of the vocal and performance unit BlooDye, who will serve as the "ambassador unit" for the anime. Karin Isobe will also be Takatsuki's "vocal partner" in the unit, and Sayaka Akagi, Ayano Furutaka, and Chisami Itō are also joining the unit.
Source: Vladlove's Twitter account
