Halo Anime To Be Announced At Comic Con

Although you won’t be able to see a Halo movie in the foreseeable future, soon you’ll be able to get the next best thing. Halo Legends, a collection of Halo short films from leading anime studios, will officially be announced later today at Comic Con. Some of the studios Microsoft will be working with are Bones, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio4°C, and Toei Animation. This announcement certainly comes as a surprise to me, but it will be great to see how these guys expand the Halo universe even further. A snippet of the official press release is below.

LONDON — July 23, 2009 — A renowned set of storytellers from some of the world’s leading anime studios in Japan are about to take one of the most iconic franchises in science fiction and video games to a new level. Microsoft Corp., in collaboration with some of the most acclaimed anime creators, today unveiled a new project called “Halo Legends,” which will bring the “Halo” franchise and its sweeping sci-fi saga to an entirely new medium, in the form of several original anime short films.

“Halo Legends,” which will officially debut at a panel presentation today at Comic-Con International in San Diego, is being produced by Microsoft’s 343 Industries and features creative direction from anime pioneer Shinji Aramaki, director of the critically acclaimed “Appleseed” and “Appleseed EX Machina” anime features, and Mamoru Oshii, director of the landmark “Ghost in the Shell” movies, with additional production from Joseph Chou of J-Spec Pictures. The compilation will include a series of short stories that explore different times, themes and characters from the “Halo” universe and will be distributed globally by Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. company. Influential studios that are part of the project include the creators behind some of the most popular and celebrated anime to come from Japan, such as “The Animatrix,” “Cowboy Bebop,” “Fullmetal Alchemist,” “Ghost in the Shell,” “Dragon Ball” and more.

Get over to Microsoft’s press page for the press release.