With all the recent exciting news coming from Production I.G - it would seem as if Christmas has come a month too early.  Several Masamune Shirow themed developments have surfaced over the past month, detailed below:

On November 5th, Production I.G announced a new production titled "Real Drive" to premiere on Japanese television in April 2008.  Directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi (Le Chevalier D'Eon, Hunter X Hunter, Getbackers) and screenplay done by Junichi Fujisaku (Blood+, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Otogi Zoshi), this will certainly be a series not to be missed!  The story follows the same basic concept as Shirow's other works, but with the rest of the story having significant plot twists.  People connected together by their consciousness find that security problems arise and eventually they all become enveloped in a protective "bubble shell".  Trapped in their own secured world, they succumb to their desires and so the expert "cyber diver" Masamichi Haru investigates what exactly 'reality' could be.

Subsequently, Production I.G have posted several interesting interviews, messages and other articles of interest over at their website.  A message from the famed Ghost in the Shell creator Masamune Shirow has been posted, where he talks about his recent project "Ghost Hound" (the 20th anniversary anime from Production I.G) and how it is the fruition of an original concept he had back in 1987 but had no way to get the idea across through any sort of medium; he explains how the story has been "slightly changed" from the original theme but is ultimately the same - following the story of children and how they venture into the world of adults.  This, along with an ever increasing collection of interviews related to the "Le Chevalier d'Eon" anime, brings the total number of interviews to nineteen.  Furthermore, the recent addition of a full-length interview with the CEO of Production I.G - Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, provides some extremely interesting information; he hints that there might be a "Ghost in the Shell" live-action movie on the way by listing in his explanation of how he has worked with Masamune Shirow that "I.G is also acting as an agent for the live-action rights of the original Ghost in the Shell comic".