Uru in Blue

Synopsis

In March 1992, Gainax had begun planning and production of an anime movie called Aoki Uru, which was to be a sequel to Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise set 50 years later, which, like Oritsu, would follow a group of fighter pilots. Production would eventually cease in July 1993: a full-length anime movie was just beyond Gainax's financial ability; many of its core businesses were shutting down or producing minimal amounts of money. At the 2013 Tokyo Anime Fair, Gainax announced that they are finally producing the Aoki Uru film with Honneamise veterans Hiroyuki Yamaga as the director and screenwriter and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto as the character designer but without Hideaki Anno's involvement in the project. In 2018, it was announced that a studio Gaina (formerly Fukushima Gainax, a branch of Gainax that had been acquired by the conglomerate company Kinoshita Group) had taken over the production of Aoki Uru, and was aiming for a 2022 theatrical release. However, in late December 2022 with no release, Yamaga was still described as "currently working" on the project.