This Friday Tekkon Kinkreet, the first Japanese anime feature directed by an American, will open in limited engagements in New York City, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon.  Produced by Studio 4 C and directed by Michael Arias, Tekkon Kinkreet (see 'Tekkon Kinkreet') adapts Taiyo Matsumoto's gritty urban seinen manga, which was published in the U.S. by Viz Media under the title Black & White.  Sony has posted a trailer for the film on the Web.  Tekkon Kinkreet, which combines 2D and 3D animation to great effect in the service of a gritty, hard-hitting narrative, is the sort of experimental edgy property that has 'cult hit' written all over it.

Sony has not yet announced the release of Tekkon Kinkreet on DVD, but Viz Media has scheduled the publication of an omnibus 624-page compendium including all three volumes of Matsumoto's manga for September.  Like the Japanese version of the 'all-in-one' edition Tekkon Kinkreet, Viz Media's, which will retail for $29.95, will feature a full color pull-out poster.