ANIME INNOVATION TOKYO Co., Ltd. (AIT;Minato/Tokyo; CEO Yuji Mori), a subsidiary 100% owned by THINK Corp., today announced the shortlist for the fifth period of its unique program. Started in March 2006, program¡ÆANIME INNOVATION TOKYO¡Ç introduces an animation incubation scheme targeting original ideas of independent creators and small-scaled animation studios. After the screening for the fifth application period (Jul 2007), 1 title, namely "Tailenders", was appointed as potential candidate eligible to the scheme.

While many of the candidates for the 5th term where projects up to Hollywood standards with plenty of 3D computer generated imagery, this time a project with more of a traditional but widely admired "japanimation" style was selected.
Production process
Before entering the production phase, each title will setup a business entity such as LLP. The program aims to produce and distribute its works targeting both domestic and international market.

Others
The admission of new applicants is still open. As the the admission deadline for the 6th term of September 30th already passed, the admission process for the 7th term is already open.

AIT also runs an ANIME INNOVATION TOKYO exclusive site on ¡Ægoo Anime¡Ç, an animation specific service of a Japanese Internet portal site ¡Ægoo¡Ç provided by NTT Resonant Inc. (Chiyoda/Tokyo; President: Hiromi Wasai). Introduction and process logs of the works/creators will be regularly delivered through demo images and production staff blogs, namely ¡Ægoo Blog¡Ç.
ANIME INNOVATION TOKYO¡§http://anime.goo.ne.jp/special/anime-innovation/

5th term candidate
"TAILENDERS"

The Story:
The destiny of Tomoe Shiro, a formidable racer with a very promising career, experiments an U-turn when a serious accident puts his life at stake. He recovers miraculously , though, when his heart is replaced with the engine of his own racing car. However, because of that very reason, race regulations demote him to the category of a mere mechanical part of the vehicle and is deprived from the right to participate as a pilot in regular races.
Only in a far away colonial planet, along with a multitude of other charismatic pilots also vetoed from participating in regular competitions, he will be given the opportunity to race for his pride and the money of the prize. And so this exciting rally starts!!

Original concept: Picograph Limited Partnership - www.picograph.com

Established in 2001. Set up by four graduates of Hokkaido University of Education. Picograph has been producing animation works for Hokkaido-based TV programs, TV commercials, web, etc. Besides their work in the audiovisual field, they have lately dived into the world of figure modelling. They already have in their records the introduction of an transforming figure, at the largest garage kit convention in the world, "Wonder Festival 2007 (Winter ed.)", selling out barely 7 minutes after the event opened its doors to the public.

Previous works:
¡¦"U.H.O. Future Rescue 2061": TV program for Science Channel.
¡¦"2006 World Volley": TV commercial for HBC.
¡¦"Norkey": Design of official mascot for FIS Nordic World Ski Championships Sapporo 2007.
Awards:
¡¦2004, 3rd prize in "Educational Films" category, at U.S. International Film and Video Festival, with "Usamimi's Treasure Box" (from Science Channel).
¡¦1998, 1st prize at Media Hunting '98 with "Life in the city".

ANIME INNOVATION TOKYO's TAILENDERS web page¡§
http://anime.goo.ne.jp/special/anime-innovation/tailenders.html

TAILENDERS's staff blog:
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/tailenders_staff/
About ANIME INNOVATION TOKYO
Think Corporation sets up the project "ANIME INNOVATION TOKYO", backed by the Government of Tokyo in order to foster the animation industry of the region.