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Music and anime are mixing more and more, with the results becoming increasingly interesting and complex. Years ago Japanese pop/rock music was most often introduced in the States by college radio and alternative music oriented magazines, but recently anime has played a major role in introducing Japanese music abroad. Certainly bands like Asian Kung-Fu Generation (Full Metal Alchemist), The Pillows (FLCL), and L’Arc-en-Ciel (Final Fantasy) would not have nearly the international profiles they do now without anime tie-ups. Also, with anime enjoying worldwide popularity, some creators are attempting to make anime soundtracks with international appeal - the ground-breaker in this regard being 2004’s Appleseed, which featured a soundtrack including Japan’s Boom Boom Satellites and Ryuichi Sakamoto, plus foreign stars Basement Jaxx, Carl Craig and Paul Oakenfold. Another crossover was Linkin Park’s award winning video to "Breaking the Habit", for which they tapped the talents of Gonzo Studio director Kazuto Nakasawa (who also did the animation section of Kill Bill vol. 1). Now comes news that Production I.G. and Cartoon Network will be soon launching the new animation series IGPX, a saga about teams who race fighting robots, which will feature music from the acclaimed UK club music label Ninja Tune. Production I.G. are best known as the producers of the phenomenally successful Ghost In the Shell and Evangelion. They were also producers of Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Blood: The Last Vampire, Sakura Wars, and Dead Leaves. The company was founded in 1987 and is named after founders, production manager Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and character designer Takayuki Goto. Ninja Tune was founded as a record label in 1991 by the members of the group Coldcut, Jonathan More and Matt Black. Besides Coldcut themselves, the label has had done well with a wide range of innovative creators including Brazilian Amon Tobin (whose music has been used in a BMW commercial, and recently in the video game Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, the UK’s atmospheric Cinematic Orchestra, DJ/producer Diplo (who worked with Sri Lankan music sensation M.I.A.), Russia’s DJ Vadim, hip-hop/ funk oriented the Herbaliser, Norway’s acclaimed club jazz group Jaga Jazzist, and Chinese-Canadian turntablist Kid Koala, amongst many others. Ninja Tune’s music is often used in every episode, often in action sequences, sometimes for just a few seconds at a time, the adventurous music lending the animation a unique feel. Part of what is unique about IGPX is that the series is geared to launch internationally from the start. The series, which is already set to produce 26 episodes, will first be shown in Japan at 26:40 on October 5 on TV Asahi, and in the States at 22:00 on November 5 on Cartoon Network. In Japan specialist voice actors are used for the characters, but in English speaking countries viewers will hear the voices of Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Haley Joel Osmont (Sixth Sense, A.I., Pay It Forward), Michelle Rodriquez (Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil) and Nick Nolte (48 Hours, Hotel Rwanda). The story of IGPX (Immortal Grand Prix) is set in 2049, and revolves around the popular motosport of racing “mechs”, which are specialized robots described as resembling 50 foot tall Lamborghinis with cannons, which race at speeds of 350 MPH. The main character is Takeshi Nawa, upcoming rookie for the major league team Satomi. The characters, like the production, are international with various backgrounds, with one of the main ones being a feisty Brazilian woman. Japanese animation is now seen all over the world, and in some countries dominates the cartoon broadcasting. Cartoon Network has a had great success with their Japanese content in Toonami, which no doubt in part led to the collaboration which will generate IGPX. The production of IGPX is unique in many ways, and is likely to pioneer future international cooperation in the field of entertainment.
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