Media news website Comic Natalie reported on Thursday that Mamoru Oshii is directing the animation film adaptation of Baku Yumemakura 's Chimera novels. Yumemakura had confirmed last week that Oshii would be working on a film adaptation of Chimera in animation, but did not specify if Oshii would direct, write, or produce the project.

Oshii has not directed a new anime feature film since The Sky Crawlers in 2008.

Oshii is directing a "school fantasy" film that Production I.G is producing. Production I.G 's post on the school fantasy film does not reveal if this film is related or separate from the Chimera film project.

The Chimera novel series centers on Kō Ōtori, a normal high school student who experiences a repeating dream of being eaten by a beast from inside himself. When Kō meets Reiichi Kuki, the elite student who rules his school, the encounter awakens hidden powers inside him.

Yumemakura published the first volume in the series in 1982. The first bunkobon edition of the series had 16 volumes from 1982 to 2002, and the series was re-released in a larger tankōbon edition in eight volumes from 2000 to 2002. Asahi Sonorama published both editions, and illustrator Yoshitaka Amano drew the front covers. Asahi Shimbun Publications is currently publishing a new edition of the series with cover art by Katsuya Terada , while Kadokawa is publishing another separate edition with covers by Shirow Miwa .

Yumemakura is a prolific writer, whose works have been adapted into manga, anime, and live-action. These works include Kurozuka , Onmyōji , Amon Saga , Psycho Diver: Soul Siren , and Majyugari , among others. He has written manga such as The Summit of the Gods , and Garoden .

Source: Comic Natalie