N Lite animation studio has unveiled a new partnership with Emmy-winning Japanese anime studio Gonzo K.K. (“Afro Samurai”) and Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” director Peter Ramsey to produce two animated projects: a noir thriller feature titled “Ripper” and the sci-fi adventure series “Hotaru.”
Ramsey is lined up to executive produce and co-write the screenplay for “Ripper,” a live-action/anime hybrid feature set in post-WWII Japan. Currently in development, the film tells the story of two detectives hunting down a serial killer who took the lives of the women that each of them loved. The project is created by Samantha Inoue Harte (Head of Production, N LITE) and co-writers Paul Alvarado-Dykstra and Rafael Antonio Ruiz.
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Viola Davis and husband Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions is attached to produce alongside N Lite and Gonzo K.K. Davis. For JuVee, Tennon and Melanie Clark will join Gonzo CEO Shinichiro Ishikawa as executive producers. Inoue Harte and Alvarado-Dykstra will produce with N Lite CEO Christiano Terry.
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“JuVee is thrilled to partner with N Lite, Gonzo and Peter Ramsey to bring this groundbreaking project to the big screen,” said Clark, Head of Film Production and Development at JuVee. “‘Ripper’ speaks uniquely to our commitment to tell stories that are compelling, powerful and representative of the broad spectrum of humanity, and is the perfect addition to our successful partnership with N Lite.”
Of the arangement, Ramsey said: “I’m excited to collaborate with N Lite on a project that is deeply personal. The shared experiences of Black and Japanese people in Japan during WWII is a historical and cultural intersection that we’ve not yet seen on screen. It’s also an incredible time for anime as a whole, and as a true lover of the medium, I’m eager to create something that has never been done before.”
The “Into the Spider-Verse” director and “Hair Love” producer will also EP “Hotaru,” a “swashbuckling sci-fi/fantasy adventure series about two star-crossed magic-wielding warriors bound by love and grief,” reads the companies’ description of the project.
Series is created by N Lite’s Inoue Harte, Alvarado-Dykstra and Terry. Terry is also attached as producer, while Ramsey will executive produce alongside Inoue Harte and Alvarado-Dykstra.
According to Terry, “Building cultural bridges and meaningful partnerships with our peers and senpai in the anime community is paramount to our vision and growth as a studio. I’m honored that Gonzo and Ishikawa-san have chosen to align with us. Afro Samurai and many of Gonzo’s legacy titles are an inspiration to the work we’re creating today. I’m excited to captivate fans around the world with our afro-anime projects, and absolutely thrilled to collaborate with the brilliant Peter Ramsey.”
N Lite is a Black-owned media company that handles the production and distribution of properties across film, TV, merchandising, publishing and consumer goods. The company also operates Studio N Lite in Tokyo.
Tokyo-based Gonzo K.K. is well known for producing current and eye-popping anime series, including “Full Metal Panic!” “Hellsing,” “Last Exile” and many others. The studio was the first in Japan to create an anime series with a Black protagonist in “Afro Samurai,” voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. It won an Emmy for the franchise’s TV feature “Afro Samurai: Resurrection.”
“All of us at Gonzo are proud to partner with N Lite and Peter Ramsey on these bold new original projects,” said Gonzo K.K. CEO Shinichiro Ishikawa. “They were conceived as inclusive international co-productions for diverse global audiences, and N Lite is the perfect match given our shared vision and values. We are honored to attract such esteemed creative collaborators who share our commitment to innovative storytelling.”
