Japan Government Helps Fund for Budori Gusuko and Blood-C Film

The Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Japanese government announced on Friday that it will help fund five projects for this year's Support Program for International Co-Production, including two anime:The Legend of Budori Gusuko (Gusukobudori no Denki) and the Blood-C film. Tezuka Productions andProduction I.G will each receive 50 million yen (about US$650,000) for the two anime projects.

Tezuka Productions took over Group TAC's The Legend of Budori Gusuko anime film project after TAC's bankruptcy. In 2008, the Group TAC studioannounced plans to revisit the fable by Kenji Miyazawa (Night on the Galactic Railroad). The tale was previously adapted into an 1994 anime film by director Ryutaro Nakamura. At the time, Gisaburô Sugii (Galactic Railroad, Touch) was set to direct the new adaptation for release in 2009. However, after the unexpected death of Group TAC headAtsumi Tashiro and the resulting bankruptcy, production of the new film was halted. The anime and computer graphics company owed about 650 million yen (US$7.7 million) to about 167 creditors at the time of its demise.

Yoshihiro Shimizu, general manager of Tezuka Productions, stated in his interview with Total Licensing magazine that the initial production cost estimate for the anime film was 300 to 600 million yen (US$4-8 million) when Group TAC was set to produce the film. According to Shimizu at the time of the interview, the Tezuka Productions film has found some investors, but still needed about 50 million yen to ensure the film's completion.

The manga creator team CLAMP developed the story and original character designs for the Blood-Canime project based on Production I.G's Blood: The Last Vampire film. This past April, just weeks after the first announcement of the Blood-C anime project, the staff revealed that the project will be both a television series and a film next year. The final episode of the television series ended with an teaser that the film will open on June 2, 2012.

Eight live-action films and three animated projects had applied to receive this year's funds, but only five projects will receive funding. The three live-action films that will also receive funds are CMC'sTenjō no Kaze, Shimensoka's Legend of the T-Dog, and Eurospace's The End.