Much like The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight before it, Halo Legends ‘ due out Feb. 16 from Warner Home Video ‘ will feature seven animated episodes set in the universe of the popular video game series created by top anime directors.
Among the contributors is director and designer Shinji Aramaki, who handled an episode titled ‘The Package,’ produced in CG animation at Casio Entertainment. Aramaki’s credits include such innovative anime as Appleseed Ex Machina, designs on Robotech: Mospeada, Transformers, Bubblegum Crisis, Full Metal Alchemist and Naruto.
Halo
Aramaki says Halo is a perfect fit with anime. ‘Halo belongs to the battle-action genre as well as to sci-fi, and most of its visual scenes look as exciting as the images from sci-fi illustration library,’ he says. ‘One more point why I think Halo suits anime is that it is a story of a super hero named Master Chief in a vast background of Galaxy Wars which seems to be a grand epic.’
Inspired by the design and look of Master Chief, Aramaki set out to create an episode in which the character is as invincible in the air as he is on the ground. He worked with Dai Sato, who wrote the script to create an episode he hopes fans will find a ‘non-stop action movie with a considerable density.’
Halo
Helping on the designs was Atsushi Takeuchi, whom Aramaki calls ‘the only mecha designer whom I can rely on to ask to design things which I cannot design.’
The final result will include some surprises for fans of the game series.
‘The viewers will see other Spartans than Master Chief and a certain important character (you’ll have to watch and see),’ says Aramaki. ‘The viewers will find out that a machine gun turret can come out from a very unexpected place. I hope that everyone will enjoy it.’
