Anime Movies 2000

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Spriggan Into Action
A lot of people have heard a lot about SPRIGGAN. And a lot of people think that SPRIGGAN is the latest film by Otomo Katsuhiro (of AKIRA fame), and that's sort of true. He's given the rather ambiguous credit of "Supervising Director."
Still, the film looks very similar to AKIRA or to the more recent GHOST IN THE SHELL, with its complicated backgrounds, more realistic looking characters, and high-tech sci-fi setting. SPRIGGAN features a lot of very Otomo-esque elements: a telekinetic boy, a ruthless government, and power that should not fall under human control. And its mixture of science fiction and religious mythos is slightly reminiscent of EVANGELION, all of which, of course, adds up to a film that most anime audiences are going to like.
The discovery of an ancient artifact, Noah's Ark, prompts a race for a devastating technology left behind by an ancient civilization. However, the guardians of this technology, a special elite force called the Spriggan, are sworn to protect these artifacts and prevent them from falling into man's hands. But, of course, mankind isn't going to let such power go without a fight. Ominae Yu is a Spriggan posing as a Japanese high school student, and he is about to become involved in a struggle for the ultimate power.
SPRIGGAN has an exceptional creative staff. Director Kawasaki Hirotsugi was the character designer for Otomo's MEMORIES and also directed the segment entitled "The Stink Bomb." SPRIGGAN is his feature film directorial debut. Eguchi Hisashi, the character designer and animation director, was the original character designer for PERFECT BLUE.
A.D. Vision is working to release SPRIGGAN this year in theaters, and is supposedly going for a wide release. However, at this time, no date has yet been set. For more information, check out The Official Spriggan Website.

Move Over Buffy—The Original Vampire Hunter Returns
Relative newcomer Urban Vision is attempting to enter theatrical distribution with the domestic release of VAMPIRE HUNTER D.
In case you've been living under a rock, this isn't the old version of VAMPIRE HUNTER D—which was previously released in the United States by Streamline Pictures. As the story goes, Amano Yoshitaka, the artist for the D novel illustrations on whose work the original character designs were loosely based, was never really happy with how the first D anime turned out. When the time came along, Madhouse Studios began production on a second movie that is more true to Amano's art style.
Originally slated for a late summer 1999 release, production issues pushed the Japanese release of the film back. But now, according to Urban Vision, the film is completed and is being dubbed for a U.S. theatrical release. No release date has been announced, but fans will hopefully see D in the theaters before the end of 2000. And given that vampires seem to have staying power in America's pop culture, the new D should prove to be even more popular than his predecessor.

And In This Corner...
Of course, Japan will also see its share of anime releases in theaters this year. However, still facing the pinch of a recession economy, there are not a lot of big-budget films slated for release this year. Of the major films facing release, one was actually completed over a year ago, one was supposed to be released last year, and one looks as if it will be delayed until 2001 because of production issues.
Clearly, however, 2000 will be a big year for animated films in Japan. The films listed below are all slated for release sometime in 2000, but they are by no means all of the films that will be released this year. Based on the success of past films based on television series, anime fans can look for more movies based on their favorite television shows (and indeed, two show up in this article).