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Takashi Murakami's 6HP Six Hearts Princess Anime to Air as TV Special on December 30

Tokyo MX revealed on its website that it will air world-renowned contemporary artist Takashi Murakami's 6HP - Six Hearts Princess anime project as a one-hour television anime special on December 30 at 7:00 p.m. JST. The project was first announced as a television anime series.

On Murakami's Instagram account, he explained that the anime will air the first episode in an incomplete state with only the line art for the key animation and background layouts. The episode itself will only run for 22 minutes, with the rest of the hour dedicated to a documentary of the anime's creation, and an apology for the incomplete episode.

He further noted in the Instagram post that 140 background cuts in the episode remain unfinished, and the internal deadline for delivering the backgrounds to him was on Thursday. The deadline for the episode's delivery to the TV station is on Sunday. Seven minutes of CG "fusion cuts" could not be made on time. He said he hopes to release the second and third episodes of the anime some time next year, and to eventually release a complete version of the first episode.

Murakami is credited for planning the majokko (magical girl or magical princess) project, creating the original concept, and directing at Studio Poncotan. The artist mebae (C – Control – The Money and Soul of Possibility, Aura: Maryūinkōga Saigo no Tatakai, Tailenders) is the character designer and animation director. Studio Poncotan's Musashi Miura is serving as CG animation director, and Yumi Nonoichiya is editing. JNTHED, the Tokyo artist who worked on the mechanical designs for Metal Gear Acid and Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops, drew the illustration accompanying the announcement in Bijutsu Techō.

Murakami's main studio Kaikai Kiki posted a promotional video in English and Japanese in 2013:

Six Hearts Princess began as a series of shorts that Murakami created for his Versailles exhibition in France in 2010. He then collaborated with famed make-up artist Shu Uemura on a tie-in anime short to their "Six Hearts Princess" cosmetics line in 2013. The character designer for these previous shorts was also mebae, and JNTHED designed for the 2013 short. The 2013 short featured the theme song "Pink and Black" by virtual idol Hatsune Miku and composer Livetune:

Murakami made his directorial debut on a live-action film in 2013 with Mememe no Kurage. JNTHED collaborated on the art design for that film as well, and he is also working on the art design and mechanical design for the sequel Mememe no Kurage 2.

[Via Kai-You, Hachima Kikō]