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Production I.G, Masamune Shirow's Latest Airs in April

The Japanese anmation company Production I.G has announced on Monday Real Drive (RD Sennō Chōsashitsu), the newest "near-future suspense" anime that it and its Ghost in the Shell creator Masamune Shirow will premiere in April 2008 on Japan's Nippon Television.

The story takes place in 2061, 50 years after humanity developed the "Net society" that depended on information networks despite their security issues. To improve security, a new network called Meta Real Network — or "Metal" for short — was developed. People's personal memories are reduced to information and placed within "protected virtual stand-alone organic cyber enclaves called bubble shells" online. The result was a virtual "explosion" of creative freedom as people felt safe enough explore instincts and desires on Metal that they would not otherwise explore in real life. This "friction" between the Metal's alluring lack of restrictions and rules-bound reality led to trouble and incidents that investigators known as "cyber divers" must handle. Masamichi Haru is one such cyber diver.

Crossroad (Ghost Hound, Appleseed: Ex Machina) will contribute to the story's creation with Production I.G and Shirow. Kazuhiro Furuhashi (Le Chevalier D'Eon, Rurouni Kenshin, Zipang) will direct the series with scripts supervised by Junichi Fujisaku (Blood+ director and co-writer of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE The Movie: Princess of the Birdcage Kingdom, xxxHOLiC the Movie: A Midsummer Night's Dream). Manga artist Tetsuro Ueyama (Metal Guardian Faust) will design the characters.

Image © Production I.G/Shirow Masamune © 2008 DNDP, VAP, Production I.G