Described as “Blade Runner” meets “Ghost In The Shell”, cyberpunk action-thriller Mardock Scramble: The First Compression, is the first in a trilogy of anime films based on the series of novels by celebrated Japanese science fiction light novel, manga and anime creator Tow Ubukata (Le Chevalier d’Eon; Chaos Legion).

Synopsis

In the futuristic Mardock City, 15-year-old Rune Balot is a prostitute in the employ of notorious gambler Shell Septinus. One night, Shell decides to abandon the young girl and, in an act of attempted murder, leaves her for dead in a burning car.

However, the badly injured Balot is rescued from the inferno by a pioneering scientist, Dr. Easter, and is subconsciously given the choice between living and dying by way of an emergency life preservation ordinance known as Mardock Scramble 09. Choosing the former, she is saved from death by being transferred into a cyborg and, with the help of a cybernetically enhanced mouse called Oeufcoque and some seriously advanced technological hardware, is given the opportunity to undertake a covert investigation into the illegal activities of the man who tried to kill her.

Mardock Scramble: The First Compression (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£19.99) and Blu-ray (£24.99) by Manga Entertainment on 16th April 2012 and will feature both the Theatrical Cut and the Director’s Cut of the film.