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Hakuhodo, Director Kenji Kamiyama Start Anime Firm (Updated)

Hakuhodo DY Holdings, the parent company of the ad firm Hakuhodo, and director Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Eden of the East) established Steve N' Steven — a new consulting firm for planning and producing animation in advertising and other areas — on Friday. Steve N' Steven has 30 million yen (US$360,000) in capital, and Hakuhodo DY Holdings holds a 51% stake in the new company. Hakuhodo DY Media Partners have 32%, while Kamiyama has 10%.

Shōichi Furuta, formerly of Hakuhodo, serves as a representative director and the president of the new company, and Kamiyama is a representative director; both share the role of chief executive officer. Tomohiko Ishii, the producer of Eden of the East and The Sky Crawlers, serves as a company director and a producer.

The new six-person company already has orders from clients. The new company aims to eventually take 10 to 15 orders a year — not just in Japan, but from overseas as well.

While most advertising on television and other venues have been live-action, the financial news source Nikkei notes that it is getting easier to depict the near-futuristic image of new products with animation techniques as opposed to live-action. Nikkei also notes that Japanese animation techniques have a strong reputation overseas.

Kamiyama just debuted a 3D anime short called "Xi AVANT" with stereoscopic 3D screenings of his Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society film this past weekend. The short is a tie-in with the NTT Docomo mobile phone network's next-generation Xi service.

Source: Nikkei, animeanime.biz

Update: "Xi AVANT's" online and theatrical debut has been pushed back from the end of March to April 9.