Gainax president Hiroyuki Yamaga revealed on Gainax 's website on Friday that the studio began production on its long-dormant theatrical anime Uru in Blue ( Aoki Uru ) this month.

Yamaga also apologized for worry caused by the "news of the trial results." A judge at the Tokyo District Court's Tachikawa Branch ordered Gainax to pay Studio Khara 100 million yen (about US$899,000) on Friday. Studio Khara had filed a lawsuit in December over delayed payments on royalties on works and properties that Khara founder and Gainax co-founder Hideaki Anno had worked on.

After Khara filed the lawsuit against Gainax , Yamaga posted an apology to the Gainax website regarding the news in December. Yamaga apologized to all involved parties for causing concern. He stated that the company was undergoing restructuring, but the plan was to once again put project production at the center of its business. He requested the support of involved parties so they can continue to make animation people love.

Gainax began plans for Uru in Blue in 1992 with director Hideaki Anno ( Neon Genesis Evangelion ), writer Hiroyuki Yamaga ( Wings of Honneamise ), and executive producer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto ( Wings of Honneamise ). The project was suspended the following year, with revivals announced in 1998, 2001, and 2013. In 2014, Yamaga announced that the film was slated for 2018. A preview short titled "Overture" was slated for 2014, delayed to 2015, and has yet to debut.

Yamaga is writing and directing the project with designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto . Both had worked together in the same roles in the 1987 anime film Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honnêamise . When Yamaga last announced the project, he revealed that Uru in Blue will be produced by Uru in Blue LLP, a Singapore-based limited liability partnership comprised of various investors and partners. The projected budget was US$40 million, and Yasuhiro Takeda was on board as a producer.

A CD-ROM titled " Uru in Blue Frozen Designs Collection" was released in 1998 featuring mechanical, character, and background designs, fighter planes designed by Masamune Shirow ( Appleseed , Ghost in the Shell ) and Kazutaka Miyatake ( Yamato, Macross , Dunbine ), as well as Yamaga's original screenplay.

[Via Hachima Kikō]