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Hiroya Oku's Gigant Manga Gets Theatrical Anime Film From K2 Pictures

The adaptation marks K2 Pictures' first anime film, signaling the company's expansion beyond live-action production into animation through its new film fund model.

Reporting from 9 sources: Anime News Network, Eiga Natalie, Comic Natalie, Cinema Today, and 5 more.

Hiroya Oku's Gigant Manga Gets Theatrical Anime Film From K2 Pictures

K2 Pictures announced at the Cannes International Film Festival on May 17 that it will produce a theatrical anime film adaptation of Hiroya Oku's manga "GIGANT." The project is the company's first animated feature. Oku, known for "GANTZ" and "Inuyashiki," serialized the sci-fi seinen manga in Shogakukan's Big Comic Superior from December 2017 to September 2021. Shogakukan published the 10th and final compiled volume in December 2021. The manga has 1.2 million copies in circulation, according to MyAnimeList. Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the English release and published the final volume in December 2022. The story follows high schooler Rei Yokoyamada, who meets adult film star Papico. After a supernatural incident, Papico gains the ability to grow to giant size and fights future humans to protect Rei. The announcement was part of a larger slate of projects funded by the K2P Film Fund I, which closed in February after raising approximately 5 billion yen. Staff, cast, and animation studio for the film have not been announced.

K2 Pictures CEO Muneyuki Kii, a former Toei producer, founded the company in 2023. The company says it seeks to "create a new funding ecosystem for Japanese films" that returns profits to investors and creators rather than film companies alone. The K2P Film Fund I closed in February after raising approximately 5 billion yen (about US$31.4 million). Major investors include Mitsubishi UFJ Bank and the Development Bank of Japan.

Anime studio MAPPA is listed among K2 Pictures' partners and is said to be working with Kii on "the planning of two feature-length animations," according to the K2 Pictures website. The GIGANT film is one of several projects announced at the Cannes press conference. Others include a documentary featuring Kabuki actor Danjuro Ichikawa and director Takashi Miike; a social noir set in post-3.11 Fukushima directed by Koto Nagata with a script by Shunji Iwai; a Mexican horror project by Shinzo Katayama; an action film by Keishi Ohtomo ("Rurouni Kenshin" series) about jujitsu pioneer Mitsuyo Maeda; and a dark musical adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's "The Book of Human Insects" directed by Ken Ninomiya as part of the Tezuka centennial project.

Oku's earlier works "GANTZ" and "Inuyashiki" have both inspired TV anime and live-action movie adaptations. "GANTZ" also received a CG animated film. K2 Pictures previously produced the live-action film adaptation of the "Look Back" manga.

Synthesized by Yomimono from the 9 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.

GIGANTK2 Pictures

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