Entertainment news website Variety reported on Thursday that N LITE is partnering with GONZO and Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse co-director Peter Ramsey to produce two animated projects: a noir thriller film titled Ripper and a sci-fi adventure series titled Hotaru (pictured below).

Ripper will be a live-action and animated hybrid film set in post-WWII Japan. Ramsey is the executive producer and is co-writing the screenplay. Variety describes the story:

Currently in development, the film tells the story of two detectives hunting down a serial killer who took the lives of the women that each of them loved.

Ramsey added about the story, “The shared experiences of Black and Japanese people in Japan during WWII is a historical and cultural intersection that we’ve not yet seen on screen.”

Samantha Inoue Harte is the film’s creator and producer, and co-writers Paul Alvarado-Dykstra and Rafael Antonio Ruiz are also credited as creators. JuVee Productions is producing the work alongside N LITE and GONZO. GONZO CEO Shinichirō Ishikawa is also an executive producer alongside JuVee Productions‘ Julius Tennon and Melanie Clark. Alvarado-Dykstra and N LITE CEO Christiano Terry are also producers.

Ramsey will also be the executive producer on Hotaru. N LITE describes the series as a “swashbuckling sci-fi/fantasy adventure series about two star-crossed magic-wielding warriors bound by love and grief.” Inoue Harte is also the creator on Hotaru, along with Alvarado-Dykstra, and Terry. Terry is also a producer, and Inoue Harte and Alvarado-Dykstra are also executive producers.

Viola Davis and Julius Tennon‘s JuVee Productions is partnering with multimedia company N LITE on the MFINDA “AFRIME,” or “afro-anime.” N LITE is producing MFINDA in Japan. MAPPA‘s Masao Maruyama is producing the work, and Studio M2‘s Tarō Maki is one of the executive producers. Gisaburō Sugii (Touch, Jack to Mame no Ki, Night on the Galactic Railroad, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie) is directing. U.S. animation producer and distributor GKIDS is a coproduction partner.

N LITE aims to bring black and indigenous stories in partnership with global creators. AFRIME, or afro-anime, is its hand-drawn 2D animation. The company plans to produce AFRIME films and television series. N LITE Japan is working on upcoming projects based on anime and manga IP.

Sources: Variety (Jamie Lang), Animation Business Journal (Tadashi Sudo), GONZO