Ragnarok Online gets anime-ted

TOKYO--Japanese distributor Gung-Ho Entertainment--a subsidiary of the major IT company Softbank Corporation--announced that it is adapting the popular Korean massively multiplayer role-playing game Ragnarok Online into an anime series. Co-funded by developer Gravity Corporation, the series will begin airing on Japanese television next spring.

Gravity and Gung-Ho will establish a committee dedicated to the creation, management, and promotion of the anime series. Lee Myoung-Jin, original artist of the Ragnarok comic series, will create the character drafts for the anime and serve as the series' senior director. The show will be directed by Seiji Kishi and produced by Yoshiyuki Asai, while the character designs will be handled by Kenji Shinohara.

Although Ragnarok Online has not been a success among English-speaking audiences, the game is one of the most popular online PC games in Asia. Japan currently has 300,000 subscribers, while Taiwan, the country with the largest Ragnarok fan base, recorded 1.6 million subscribers in October.