Mass Effect anime film for summer 2012

By Robert Purchese Published 7 April, 2011

Will fans of Shepard flock to see it?

A Mass Effect anime feature film is currently being produced for a summer 2012 airing, BioWare has announced.

FUNimation, an American distributor of Japanese animation, and Japanese production company T.O. Entertainment will co-produce the project.

The Mass Effect animation will spin a familiar tale of space exploration rife with dangerous aliens and mysterious planets.

BioWare's Mass Effect overlord Casey Hudson has signed on as executive producer of the film.

"Over the last few years, we have revealed different pieces of the Mass Effect world through different media. Extending the story through an anime medium is another amazing opportunity for us," commented Casey Hudson.

FUNimation already has production under way on a Dragon Age film, and is "excited" about adding "an exciting new chapter" to the Mass Effect universe.

The fantastic Mass Effect 2 on PS3.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (42) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • cloud_ix #1 1 year ago

    won't be the shepard i created i'm afraid

  • edhe #2 1 year ago

    Yeah.. needs to keep away from Shephard like the books/comics and weave their own story.


  • Architect_z #3 1 year ago

    I will reckon this'll be pretty cool.

    Battle L.A. is just Resistance the film. You can actually see an advert for Resistance 3 in the background in the film. lol

  • beastmaster #4 1 year ago

    What cloud_ix said. Not boring, default Shepard but hot, red-headed, feisty female.

  • Fellblade #5 1 year ago

    I hope they don't cock this up :(

  • tomjoadsghost #6 1 year ago

    Has there been some law passed that actually prohibits the use of the word 'cartoon', has it been deemed offensive to our animated brethren or something?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #7 1 year ago

    Anime?

    It's going to be all tentacles having their unpleasant way with the painted-blue chick isn't it?

    And they'll probably replace the Big Trak thingy with a giant robot.

  • Whitster #8 1 year ago

    I'm guessing this is set in the post ME:3 universe then. Which begs the question of how much choice you'll have regarding the ending of that game.

  • FarFromSane #9 1 year ago

    I've enjoyed the games and the books so i have no doubt i'll be watching this

  • Phantom_Dynamite #10 1 year ago

    No inter-species sex scene, no sale.

  • metalangel #11 1 year ago

    It will star boring male Shepard, and thus suck.

  • HL706 #12 1 year ago

    "I'm guessing this is set in the post ME:3 universe then. Which begs the question of how much choice you'll have regarding the ending of that game."

    I wouldn't be overly concerned - they'll likely have a 'canon' ending that this will carry on from, much like ME2 did if you never imported your own stuff.

  • Judas_Priest #13 1 year ago

    Probably no. Anime is already shit so this'll just dampen my view of ME, which was already dampened by ME2.

  • Quixz #14 1 year ago

    Count me in!

  • TheSnotGoblin #15 1 year ago

    Not a huge fan of that typical anime style for the most part. Now had they paid Blur Studios a metric shitload of money to make their movie for them I'd be lining up already.

  • ChronoMizaki #16 1 year ago

    But will Shepard be Kawaii Uguu~?

  • Architect_z #17 1 year ago

    It'll be Genki Desu. Nan da yo!?

  • hybridial #18 1 year ago

    "Probably no. Anime is already shit so this'll just dampen my view of ME, which was already dampened by ME2."

    See, statements like this are great. They tell me when the person speaking is a dumb, ignorant troll with no real conception of what they speak of.

    And I'm not referring to the comment about ME2 for your information.

  • swissorc #19 1 year ago

    NO NO and more NO. The whole point of mass effect is to have your OWN footprint on a story and to interact with the world (universe) surely film as a media would be a step backwards.

  • thestjohn #20 1 year ago

    Why do they never have the confidence to use the in-game engine in some sort of render mode I don't know. ME2 cutscenes were often of high enough quality considering the intended audience. I haven't really found any of these "anime" reimaginings of games consistently good, mainly because the visual style doesn't gel with my memories of the fictional universe.
    Edited by thestjohn at 07/04/11 @ 15:47

  • Caimbeul #21 1 year ago

    If it was to be animated, Anime would be the best way to go so long as it is not the Americanised Anime dross that people often call Anime. Cant really see what T.O. Entertainment has produced though.

  • Climhazzard #22 1 year ago

    They need a proper Mass Effect film not an anime. Probably still watch it though.

  • Dreddnaught #23 1 year ago

    @beastmaster

    TOTALLY !

    My Erica Shepherd kicks ass, back-chat's suckas, shoot from the hip, then nestles down with ladies of ALL species for some hot redheaded R&R.

    My wife would fucking KILL me if she saw that :D

  • el_pollo_diablo #24 1 year ago

    Why don't they just call it a cartoon?

  • metalangel #25 1 year ago

    @Dreddnaught: what a coincidence, mine too! Promiscuous bisexual female redhead Shepards unite (your clams)!

  • PlugMonkey #26 1 year ago

    She is not 'feisty'. She's taciturn and uncompromising, and keeps everyone at a distance. And she's not a redhead.

    What the hell are you on about?

    (Also only interested in a Mass Effect movie that doesn't feature Shepard, as it won't be my Shepard, but then what's the point of Mass Effect without Shepard? They're victims of their own success on this one, really.)

  • kyero #27 1 year ago

    God i hope its not about shepard, and i hope if it is its default male shepard.

    wait its japan, of course it will be a female shepard with wide hips and nice tits.. Go fanservice junkies... no seriouslym, everyone hopin for fem shepard... get a life.
    Edited by kyero at 07/04/11 @ 18:13

  • rottingyoda #28 1 year ago

    I like ME. I like anime

    Win.

  • mukki #29 1 year ago

    first a book and now this...

    Mnnnn

    skeptical

  • PlugMonkey #30 1 year ago

    Go fanservice junkies... no seriouslym, everyone hopin for fem shepard... get a life.

    Believe it or not, some of us are capable of seeing women, and therefore female characters, as more than just tits and an ass.

    Shocking I know, but there you go.

    I chose a female character as I thought it suited the setting and the character better. I think science fiction works well with strong female characters. Jennifer Hale's superior voice work is a bonus.

    If you'd been Ridley Scott, would you have replaced Sigourney Weaver with some shaven headed, macho chump?

  • Kaminari #31 1 year ago

    Crappy "Dead Space: Downfall" says hi!

  • Xardan #32 1 year ago

    I will avoid like the plague.

  • Inmediasress #33 1 year ago

    @hybridial

    You do know that 90% of anime is really shit. Well unless your a more mysoginistic type of person. Then the endless fanservice, loli fetish and general portrayal of women as meat makes you feel happy.The other 10% of animes can be outstanding. Unfortunately you must dive trough a load of crap to find one.

  • ShiroBen #34 1 year ago

    Make it about what Tali got up to between ME1 and ME2 and I'm there.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #35 1 year ago

    Nice, will look forward to it, like the Dragon Age one.

    Just what is 'typical anime' anyway? Anime is a medium like any other, and can be bent to encompass more than some give it credit for. While the crap loli etc get the jaw drop notices, there's a wealth of awesome anime out there (just like comics in an ironic way, if you seek it out.

    That kind of like asking what's a 'typical game', a sticky question indeed.

    And why anime? Simple really. Its cheap to produce, but can be shaped to suit the desired universe theme. While the anime might be good, I just hope that they tell a good story. Too much anime fall over on trope street, but ME has an awesome universe with which Funimation can play.

    This makes me wish for a Bioshock anime, so bad, especially after the treatment Dead Space and Dante's Inferno got from anime. Those were enjoyable hoots, so make it happen EA.

  • PlugMonkey #36 1 year ago

    @Inmediasress

    I hate to be the one to break this to you, but 90% of everything is crap. Probably more than 90%, actually. Games, music, TV, film, books, everything. The vast majority of all human output is completely without any merit at all. I'm counting children in that.

    I don't see why anime should be judged more harshly than everything else.

  • Inmediasress #37 1 year ago

    @PlugMonkey

    I never said that anything else isn't crap.
    Just since we are talking about anime I tought I won't bring in to it the factor that most everything else sucks as you said it. Also the sheer quantity of crap anime is stagering and makes me feel like 99% of it is shit kind of like music.
    Movies and books seem to have a bit less crap though it's still enough to make my brain cells commit mass suicide.

  • PlugMonkey #38 1 year ago

    But if 90% of everything is crap, what is the value of calling up anime on it?

    Of do you go around posting that on every thread about everything?

  • hybridial #39 1 year ago

    "You do know that 90% of anime is really shit. Well unless your a more mysoginistic type of person. Then the endless fanservice, loli fetish and general portrayal of women as meat makes you feel happy.The other 10% of animes can be outstanding. Unfortunately you must dive trough a load of crap to find one."

    You'll never find someone quicker to agree with that than me.

    However, I'm very talented at diving through crap and finding the gems at the bottom. Considering as has been said, 90% of everything is indeed crap, it's a good life skill.

  • Judas_Priest #40 1 year ago

    Hybridial, am I not allowed an opinion? I dislike the artstyle of anime and furthermore I hate the gross amount of sexism and completely retarted plot lines that the shows tend to have.

    Finally, how does that comment make me dumb exactly, please inform me because I seem to be at a disadvantage.

  • Paulie_P #41 1 year ago

    Sorry but it was female shepard for me because it was all about the tits and ass.

    I realised the few would be from behind shepard for most of the 3 games and i didn't want to be staring at a man's ass for 100 hours!

  • hybridial #42 1 year ago

    "Hybridial, am I not allowed an opinion? I dislike the artstyle of anime and furthermore I hate the gross amount of sexism and completely retarted plot lines that the shows tend to have."

    So you tar everything with the same brush. You don't consider that there are shows with different art styles (anime refers only to animation made from Japan after all, it's not an art style) or that there are many shows that are not sexist and that have intelligent, logical stories. They do exist you know, if you bothered looking you'd see quickly enough.

    But essentially your ignorant because you clearly aren't aware of that, and you are dumb for not realising your ignorance. That is essentially what I meant.
    Edited by hybridial at 08/04/11 @ 22:13