×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

News
Bandai Namco Entertainment's Harada: 'BNE Did Not Cancel Klonoa Anime'

posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
External company producing project canceled film

Bandai Namco Entertainment producer Katsuhiro Harada elaborated on Bandai Namco Entertainment's situation regarding the cancellation of the planned animated film adaptation of its Klonoa video game series on Monday, saying that Bandai Namco Entertainment itself did not cancel the project.

Harada explained that Bandai Namco Entertainment did not plan the project, but instead was contacted by another company in 2016 seeking approval to produce an animated film adaptation of Klonoa (Harada did not explicitly name the company that sought approval, but United States-based production company Henshin worked on the project). When Bandai Namco Entertainment gave its permission for the project to proceed, the company immediately announced the project.

Harada offered his opinion on the 2016 announcement, saying that, in most cases, companies would wait until a plan has been drawn up before announcing anything, and that even Bandai Namco Entertainment was caught by surprise.

After the announcement, Bandai Namco Entertainment waited for two years until they heard from the company producing the project that the project was canceled. Harada noted that Bandai Namco Entertainment also did not know the reason for the cancellation.

Manga creator Hitoshi Ariga (Mega Man Megamix, Megaman Gigamix, Big O manga, Pokémon illustrations) was slated to pen the script, co-produce, and design the characters for the project. Ariga confirmed on January 5 that the project was cancelled. Henshin's founder Rob Pereyda, who would have served as the film's producer, confirmed with ANN on January 3 that the company was no longer working on the project, but did not confirm at the time if the project was still active.

Namco launched the first Klonoa game, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, for the PlayStation in 1997. The second numbered sequel, Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, shipped for the PlayStation 2 in 2001. Two handheld games, Kaze no Klonoa: Moonlight Museum and Klonoa: Empire of Dreams, also shipped for the WonderSwan and Game Boy Advance, respectively. Namco released Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament and Klonoa Heroes: Densetsu no Star Medal on the Game Boy Advance in 2002. A remake of the first game shipped for the Wii in 2008.

Source: Katsuhiro Harada's Twitter account via Hachima Kikō



Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.

discuss this in the forum (8 posts) |
bookmark/share with: short url

News homepage / archives