The anime has been scheduled for a big winter release in February 2012.  Hurrah!

The plot: it is loosely based on the childhood adventures of a real-life 15^th century Zen Buddhist monk Ikkyu Soujun during his training days at Ankokuji Temple.  This mischievous young monk, despite a bit of a troublemaker, is always able to use his intelligence and wit to solve all types of problems and to help others while outsmarting his frustrated teachers.

The animation film is a Sino-Japanese joint-collaboration between Toei Animation Co. of Tokyo and Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and SMG’s Toonmax channel (children channel). Toei will handle mainly pre-production work with story concept, character design and background art.  Chinese studios will provide the majority of the animation.

While a waning trend for the anime boom has been recognized in recent years, the new interest and ambition shown by China and Korea in making inroads into the anime industry is a hopeful and promising sign.  Healthy competition to rival the Japanese anime domination will eventually bring in rigor, unique talents, and high quality anime productions.  For now, partnership between the market leader Japan and China is certainly the best step forward to revive the anime industry.

Sources:

ASAHI Shimbun: South Korea, China overtaking Japan in ‘cool’ culture battle

Japan Today: China making anime push as Japan hits slump

AnimeNation Anime News Blog: New Ikkyu-san movie in development

Toei Animation