Think the industry wouldn’t dare animate stories with wild premises and great fan service? You’re wrong. At the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, producer K2 Pictures made a splash by announcing that its new investment fund will finance two unexpected projects. The main draw for otaku is the official confirmation that Gigant, the bizarre and spectacular manga by Hiroya Oku, will get an animated film adaptation.

This is a historic milestone for the producer, marking its first venture into animated feature films. They’ve chosen a work that’s sure to make waves, blending the life of an adult film star with pure, hard science fiction and no censorship. But K2 Pictures didn’t stop there; they also confirmed that, as part of the centennial celebrations for the legendary Osamu Tezuka, they will produce a live-action musical film of The Book of Human Insects (Ningen Konchuuki), directed by Ken Ninomiya.

Two cult gems set to shake up the cinema lineup

While we’re still waiting on exact release dates and confirmed animation studios for the Gigant film, knowing these stories will get the cinematic treatment they deserve is already cause for celebration. Oku’s work was a sales and popularity hit in Big Comic Superior magazine until its grand finale in 2021. Meanwhile, Tezuka’s psychological and erotic thriller—which already had its own TV series in 2011—promises to deliver an incredibly dark vision of the entertainment and journalism industries.

Synopsis of Gigant and The Book of Human Insects

In Gigant, we follow the curious life of Rei Yokoyamada, a high school student who dreams of directing his own films. His world turns upside down when he discovers that Papico, a stunning and famous adult film actress, lives in his neighborhood. What starts as an innocent attempt to protect the woman’s identity after tearing down defamatory posters ends up dragging Papico into a supernatural event that grants her the power to grow to titanic proportions, forcing her to fight strange threats.

In The Book of Human Insects, we meet Toshiko Tomura, a young woman in her twenties who seems to have it all: literary prestige, design awards, and a past as a leading actress. However, behind this facade of total success hides a dark mystery. When a persistent paparazzi tracks her to an abandoned house in the countryside, he discovers a disturbing side of the star, revealing a cold, calculating, and lethal protagonist who manipulates a world full of corrupt men, proving to be a full-fledged antihero.

Are you ready to see Papico destroy the city on the big screen, or does the twisted Tezuka musical catch your eye more?