Anime director Mamoru Oshii announced more details for his new anime series during a press conference on Wednesday. The series is titled Vladlove , with Oshii credited as creator and chief director, and Junji Nishimura ( Ranma ½ , You're Under Arrest: The Motion Picture , True Tears ) as director. The new anime will be a slapstick comedy centering on a vampire girl named Mai and a high school girl. The anime will premiere in spring 2020, and will run for 12 episodes.

Oshii noted that the anime "won't have any handsome men (ikemen)," and its story will solely focus on five young girls. He added that he wanted to "seriously tackle a story centering on a girl-meets-girl concept," and teased that Mai "feels similar to Urusei Yatsura 's Lum."

Kei Yamamura ( The Next Generation -Patlabor- ) is penning the scripts with Oshii. Issei Aragaki ( Monogatari Series key animator/episode animation director) is designing the characters.

Kanako Takatsuki ( Love Live! Sunshine!! 's Hanamaru Kunikida) is performing the anime's theme song as part of the vocal and performance unit BlooDye, who will serve as the "ambassador unit" for the anime. The press conference revealed the unit's "starting song" with the title "Kono Hoshi no Dokoka de" (Somewhere in This World). Karin Isobe will also be Takatsuki's "vocal partner" in the unit, and Sayaka Akagi , Ayano Furutaka , and Chisami Itō are also joining the unit.

Daisuke Miyachi is the music producer for the anime. Comic Animation is credited for the production, and Drive is credited for the animation production. Production I.G is credited for production cooperation. Ichigo Animation , the subsidiary of the Ichigo Japanese real estate and energy company, is funding the project to promote its Akiba Cultures Zone retail building in Tokyo's Akihabara district.

Oshii said that he came up with the concept before the filming for his Garm Wars live-action film. He mused that it had been over 30 years since he last did an anime series ( Urusei Yatsura ), and while he had decided then that he would no longer do series, he has returned to wanting to make an anime series in the last two or three years.

Regarding the production, Oshii noted that the anime is currently undergoing art design, with Yamamura currently writing the scripts.

Oshii is known for writing and directing numerous animated films, original video anime ( OVA ), television anime series, and live-action films. His early career included directing the first original video anime, Dallos . He also directed Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer , Angel's Egg , and several Patlabor projects.

The 1995 science fiction animated feature Ghost in the Shell led him to international critical and commercial success. After the success of Ghost in the Shell , Oshii was involved in various projects such as Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade , Blood: The Last Vampire , and The Sky Crawlers .

In addition to Vladlove , Oshii is directing an anime film of Baku Yumemakura 's Chimera novel. Production I.G and video and music conglomerate Avex announced in March that they are collaborating to launch the Cinema Lab live-action film label to produc films helmed by directors Oshii and Katsuyuki Motohiro .

Update: Corrected spelling of Issei Aragaki 's name, and removed space from anime's title. Thanks, kyuudere. Source: Ichigo press release