At the San Diego Comic-Con FUNimation Entertainment announced the acquisition of Vexille, a CGI-animated feature directed by Fumihiko Sori, who was a producer the popular 2004 Appleseed anime feature.  The production team behind the CGI Appleseed feature also worked on Vexille, which Shochiku is releasing in Japan this year.  FUNimation plans to show Vexille at a number of North American film festivals in 2008 before giving the film a theatrical and DVD release here later in 2008.

A near-future thriller set in 2077, Vexille is set in a Japan which has cut itself off from the rest of the world for a decade in response to a U.N.-passed stricture banning advanced robotic engineering.  Shrouded by an ultra-magnetic field, the only way other countries can find out what is going on there is by inserting an American Special Forces team led by female commander Vexille.  Much of her team is lost in early conflicts gaining entry to the country, but she does eventually make contact with underground forces in Japan and learns that the situation there is much different than anyone thought.