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Appleseed: Genesis TV Anime Lawsuits Settled

The entertainment company Wedge Holdings announced on Wednesday that the lawsuits between its subsidiary, the Radix mobanimation anime studio, and the production company Micott & Basara over the Appleseed: Genesis project have been settled. According to Radix, the two companies signed an agreement to produce a television anime series based on Masamune Shirow's Appleseed future paramilitary manga story on March 12, 2008.

Radix mobanimation filed a lawsuit against Micott & Basara on September 26, 2008 over supposedly unpaid production costs for their Appleseed: Genesis television anime project. Micott & Basara ordered a halt in production at the beginning of July 2008 according to Radix.

Micott & Basara claimed that there were no unpaid production costs and the decision to end production of Appleseed: Genesis was unilateral. The company then countersued Radix mobanimation on July 14, 2009 for restitution and compensation due to debts from their suspended project.

Radix consulted with people in charge of handling Micott & Basara's bankruptcy to reach the settlement agreement. The company stated that it made sense to settle because more than three years have passed since the initial lawsuit was filed.

The Appleseed: Genesis television project was unveiled at a stage event at Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008 on March 30, 2008, although the show's exhibitor notes had already revealed the existence of the project earlier that month. The computer-graphics (CG) project would have featured director Romanov Higa (Urda, s TANK S.W.A.T. 01, Catblue: Dynamite), character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto (Macross, Gundam 0080, Gunbuster), and voice actress Romi Paku (Fullmetal Alchemist's Ed, Bleach's Toushiro) as the female main lead Deunan Knute.

The Appleseed manga already inspired an anime video as well as the 2004 computer-animated film Appleseed and its 2007 sequel Appleseed: Ex Machina, both produced by Micott & Basara. The company also began producing the Appleseed XIII anime series, which debuted last June, before it filed for voluntary bankruptcy on April 21, 2011.

Source: animeanime.biz

Image © 2009 Masamune Shirow/Seishinsha Micott & Basara