Gonzo to Animate Korean MMORPG Dungeon & Fighter
Slap Up Party -Arad Senki- based on Arad Senki side-scrolling action RPG
NHN Japan, the company behind the Hangame service provider, has announced that its Arad Senki massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) will be animated by the Gonzo studio under the title Slap Up Party -Arad Senki-. The anime was announced with a promotional video at the Hangame 2008 Natsu Matsuri (Summer Festival) event in Tokyo on Sunday. The side-scrolling action role-playing game (RPG) currently has 800,000 registered players in Japan. However, it was originally developed under the name Dungeon & Fighter in South Korea, where NHN Japan says it is the most popular action RPG.
The anime will follow the adventures of Baron, a man living on continent of Arad in the year 981 after "the cursed light of Kazan" has fallen across the land. Thanks to the curse, one of his arms has become possessed. After finding a sword that has been possessed by the spirit Roxy, he embarks on a quest to unravel the secret of the curse and meets various people who also join his party.
Takahiro Ikezoe (episode director on Red Garden, Xam'd: Lost Memories) will direct off the scripts that will be supervised by Kazuki Yamanobe (Fafner, Onegai My Melody). Tomokatsu Nagasaku (animation director on Red Garden, Xam'd: Lost Memories) is designing the characters. Gonzo and GK Entertainment are producing the project. As the character Baron, the voice actor Takashi Kondo (Scrapped Princess' Leopolde Scorpse) leads the cast that includes Sakura Nogawa (Ryunmei), Kenichi Suzumura (Kabenshisu), Ayumi Tsuji (Ixia), Takaya Kuroda (Jeda), Ryotaro Okiayu (Irbek), Rie Tanaka (Hiria), Mitsuo Iwata (Harusen), and Akeno Watanabe (Roxy). Ikezoe, Kondo, Nogawa, and Tsuji appeared at Sunday's event to promote the anime.
Image © 2008 Neople/D&F Production Committee
