Katsuhiro Ōtomo announced on Monday he has founded a new feature animation studio called OVAL GEAR based in Tokyo. The studio’s first title is currently in production, and the studio is hiring animators and production staff.

The studio stated about its founding:

The studio was founded for two purposes: to pass on to the new generation the filmmaking methods and authorial sensibility Katsuhiro Ōtomo has cultivated over decades, and to produce new animated works for global release.

Otomo began his career as a manga creator on such works as Domu, Kibun wa mō Sensō, and his most famous title internationally, Akira. He then branched into animation by directing part of the Robot Carnival omnibus and a feature film adaptation of his own Akira story. He directed other anime projects such as the Memories omnibus, the Gundam: Mission to the Rise event short, and the Steamboy feature. He also collaborated on Harmagedon, Roujin Z, Spriggan, Metropolis, Freedom Project and Hipira: The Little Vampire.

Otomo had announced at Anime Expo in 2019 he was making the film Orbital Era with Sunrise as his third feature film after Akira and Steamboy. The director said that the space science-fiction story follows the coming of age of youths on a space colony over the course of four seasons of the year. Otomo is credited for the original work and the design works for the film, and he is also writing the screenplay and directing the film. There has not been an update on the film since 2019.

The above pictured logo for OVAL GEAR looks similar to the art Sunrise unveiled for the film in 2019, but there has been no confirmation if OVAL GEAR’s first project is related to Orbital Era.

Sources: Oval Gear’s website, Comic Natalie