A television anime adaptation of Hideo Okuda's Kūchū Buranko (Trapeze) short story collection has been green-lit.
The collection is Okuda's second book featuring the psychiatrist protagonist Ichirō Irabu and his various patients. The story takes place in modern Japan, where people visit “doctor of neurology”, rather than therapists. Dr Ichiro is an eccentric neurologist with an injection fetish, an Oedipus complex and a green Porche, known for making patients much worse before they get better.The title refers to the first story about a circus artist who can no longer perform.
The book won the prestigious 131st Naoki Prize in 2004.
The TV anime adaptation will premiere in October in Fuji TV's popular late-night Noitamina timeslot. For the project, director Kenji Nakamura will reunite with his Ayakashi - Samurai Horror Tales (Bakeneko) and Mononoke character designer/chief animation director Takashi Hashimoto at Toei Animation. It will be structured in 11 episodes, each of them running for half an hour.
Now this is a fresh breeze of style over the usual anime. Promises to be entertaining change in both story and art. Here is the official website for the anime, which was just lunched not so long ago.
