Madhouse and director Osamu Dezaki to adapt sci-fi film into ‘Code 044’ series
Posted 03/31/08
Kurt Wimmer’s 2006 sci-fi/action movie mélange Ultraviolet wasn’t pegged by many as a candidate for any sort of sequel, but Madhouse and director Osamu Dezaki saw something in it worth adapting, as they’re prepping a 12-episode anime series called Ultraviolet: Code 044 for this summer.
Early plot summaries describe the show as an ongoing war between a race of vampires and a genetically engineered heroine named 044, not unlike the one played by Milla Jovovich in the film. Dezaki is joined on the Ultraviolet anime by character designer and animation director Akio Sugino, who’s collaborated with him on everything from the pulpy, violent Golgo 13 anime to shojo classics like Rose of Versailles and the 1973 sports anime Aim for the Ace. Ultraviolet: Code 044 looks to be Dezaki’s first work with an American property since his storyboard duties on Fox’s Peter Pan and the Pirates in 1990.
Dezaki and Madhouse founder Masao Maruyama were on hand at the recent Tokyo Anime Fair to discuss the project and introduce its first cast member: Romi Paku. The actress behind such fan-favorite characters as Fullmetal Alchemist’s Ed Elric and Bleach’s Toshiro Hitsugaya, Paku will play 044 in the Ultraviolet anime series.
