The anime studio Gonzo sent a book cover illustrated by Range Murata as a complimentary gift to stockholders this month, and the included letter explained that the cover's illustration is the original character design for a new anime planned for broadcast next year.

Gonzo began hiring new anime production staff members such as animation runners (the production coordinator job seen in Animation Runner Kuromi), one "international production operations assistant" ("fluency in English required, Chinese is a plus"), in-between animators ("must have enthusiasm"), production desk managers, and designers late last month.

Gonzo told ANN during March's Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) that it was developing a potential Spring 2011 project that would take advantage of the new stereoscopic 3D televisions now entering the marketplace. The studio also showcased four character design sheets for a new project in the works at the fair, although it did not specify at the time whether these designs were from the same Spring 2011 project.

Update: Range Murata was the character designer for such Gonzo anime projects as Blue Submarine No. 6, Last Exile, Solty Rei, and Shangri-La. He was also the character designer for Gonzo's planned video anime adaptation of Tow Ubukata's Mardock Scramble novel series. That adaptation was cancelled in 2006; GoHands announced this past January that it would animate the novel series as a movie trilogy with character designers Jun Nakai and Shingo Suzuki instead of Murata.