Has it really been about 13 years since the debut of Hirotsugu Kawasaki’s Spriggan? While that isn’t the last animated film he directed, it still sticks out as the definitive Kawasaki work in my mind (probably because I wore that flick out when it hit DVD).

A teaser for Kawasaki’s latest popped up recently and, while brief, it gives a pretty good indication of the visual style. Based on Takafumi Takada’s two-part 2004 novel of the same name, Onigamiden follows a modern-day boy, Jun Tendo, who slips 1200 years back in time to Heian period Kyoto.

This is more than a simple lesson in history for Tendo, though, as the time slip lands him smack dab in the middle of a fierce war between humans and demons. You can spot some of the oni Tendo and others will face in the teaser below:

In addition to directing, Kawasaki also handled the script and storyboard. Sony Pictures will be releasing Onigamiden in Japan on April 29, 2011.

Source [ANN via Nippon Cinema]