Story Categories: Animation, Dentsu, FilMart, Japan, TV,

TOKYO -- Dentsu has announced the production of "Guardian of the Sacred Spirit" ("Seirei no Moribito"), a toon series based on the bestselling young-adult novel series by Nahoko Uehashi.

Production of the series will be handled by the Production I.G. toon house, with Kenji Kamiyama helming and Gato Asou in charge of character design.

The story revolves around Barusa, a female sword fighter who is assigned to protect the young prince of the New Yogo Empire from alien assassins. Within the prince dwells a spirit that holds the key to the Empire's destiny.

The series, beginning with"Guardian of the Sacred Spirit," has won several major children's book prizes in Japan, while selling more than 400,000 copies. Publisher Kaiseisha has brought out a total of seven volumes, though the toon series will be based on the first two. Production I.G. will make 26 30-minute episodes for domestic broadcast and international sales.

Launched in 1987, Production I.G. made its international break-through in 1995 with the cult SF fav "Ghost In The Shell." Other credits include "Patlabor the Movie," "Evangelion: Death and Rebirth", "Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade," "Blood: The Last Vampire", "Sakura Wars: The Movie", and "Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2" as well as the TV series "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" and "IGPX Immortal Grand Prix." The company also supplied an animated segment to Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill."

Dentsu is one of the world's largest ad agencies. In Japan it has a long track record of investing in movies and TV programming.