Update: The Cinema Today website reports that Madhouse is the acclaimed anime studio (Death Note, Paprika, Vampire Hunter D, Summer Wars) that is producing the previously announced Supernatural the Animation project for Warner Brothers. According to the website, this is the world's first animated project from a Japanese anime studio that is based on a popular overseas drama series. Shigeyuki Miya (Lupin III: Green vs Red, Aoi Bungaku Series, Buzzer Beater) and Atsuko Ishizuka (Aoi Bungaku Series) are co-directing the project.

Warner Home Video will release Supernatural the Animation on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on January 12, 2011. The original live-action series follows the Winchester brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) as they hunt creatures and other supernatural phenomena across the American landscape. The series premiered on The WB network in the United States in 2005, and it will enter its sixth season on The WB's replacement network, The CW, this fall.

Image © 2010 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Update: The animeanime.jp website reports that the anime will be a 22-episode season that will cover the storyline of the live-action version's first two seasons. The first volume will ship on January 12 with the first two episodes. On February 2, the "Box 1" set will ship with episodes 3 to 12. On April 6, the "Box 2" set will ship with episodes 13 to 22. (There will be a different release schedule for the rental version of the project.)

The anime project will not only remake the best episodes from the live-action version, but also depict original episodes not seen in the live-action version. Those original episodes will include prologues of the Winchester brothers' childhood, anime-only enemies, and episodes featuring secondary characters from the live-action version.

Supernatural creator Eric Kripke is credited as the anime project's creator, and Madhouse co-founder Masao Maruyama is serving as executive producer. Naoya Takayama (Night Head, Liar Game) is supervising the series' scripts, and Takahiro Yoshimatsu (Trigun) is designing the characters.

Update 2: Yuya Uchida (Soul Eater's Dr. Franken Stein, Naruto Shippūden's Rinji) will dub the role of Sam, while Hiroki Touchi (Trinity Blood's Abel Nightroad, Bokurano's Kokkpelli) will dub the role of Dean. Both actors dubbed these same roles for the live-action version in Japanese. Sources: AV Watch, Presepe News