Of all the animated movies due to be released next year, there is one in particular that stands out. To be released in February 2017, Genocidal Organ has managed to overcome many difficulties, including the bankruptcy of its production studio.

After a lot of ups and downs, the novel that received high praise both in Japan and overseas has finally been made into a movie.

The masterpiece left behind by an author who died too young

Genocidal Organ’s original author came in and left this world like a comet.

While working as a web designer, Itoh made his writing debut with Genocidal Organ. It was nominated for the Komatsu Seiko Award and the Nihon SF Taisho Award, thus giving Itoh a lot of respect as a writer. After that, he gained a lot of attention in Japan’s Sci-Fi world.

Ito also kept in contact with Hideo Kojima of Metal Gear Solid, and was thought so highly by Kojima that he was asked to write the novelisation of Metal Gear Solid 4.

After this, he released the novel Harmony that was eventually adapted into a movie. After the release of this novel, which received just as much high praise as Genocidal Organ, Itoh unfortunately passed away from illness. He later posthumously received the Phillip K Dick Award ‘Special Citation’ for Harmony.

No novel written by Project Itoh has failed to receive high praise, and of these his debut novel, Genocidal Organ, has reached almost legendary status. With a reality that feels like an extension of our modern society, the novel has an extraordinary effect: once you start reading you just can’t stop yourself from turning the page. The protagonist is an assassin, yet you can feel a certain delicacy to his way of speaking. The astounding power of Itoh’s writing almost gets directly into and shakes the heads of the readers. The more you read it, the more you forget that you are reading about a fictional world. It makes perfect sense that the movie adaptation of this masterpiece should be attracting so much attention.

The Ups and Downs of Adapting the Work

Genocidal Organ was originally due to be released in November 2015. The original plan was for the movie adaptations of Project Itoh’s novels Harmony and Genocidal Organ, as well as the posthumously released Empire of Corpses (for which Itoh wrote the preface) to be released within three months of each other. However, the release of Genocidal Organ was postponed over and over again. The production was being overseen by Manglobe. However, the company fell into a managerial crisis. Manglobe ceased operations in September 2015 and filed for bankruptcy shortly after. The fans of the original work expressed their dismay at the possibility of an eventual cancellation of the adaptation, but the producer, Koji Yamamoto, created his own studio, Geno Studio, to continue production.

Geno Studio comes from the English title of the novel, Genocidal Organ. The studio was created specifically for the purpose of adapting Genocidal Organ into a movie and it will finally be released on February, 2017.

Of course, Geno Studio does not plan to stop producing movies after Genocidal Organ.

A live-action adaptation is also in the works.

A live-action adaptation is also planned for the novel. The movie will be produced in America and will be directed by Park Chan-wook, who is better known for Old Boy.
One has to wonder just how a novel with grotesque scenes such as Genocidal Organ will be adapted into live-action.

It is unknown how far into the production process the live-action version is, but as it will be a American production, then we have to guess that the battle scenes will be fantastic. There’s nothing to do but to wait eagerly!

Project Itoh lives through his works

An animated movie and a live action movie. Both of them are sure to show Genocidal Organ in a different light. Just what kind of form will this tough world take?

The animated movie that has been postponed over and over will finally be released on February 2017. For the foreign fans who can’t wait to see it, I recommend you to star planning a visit to Japan!