Wolverine teaser slices up some ninjas

Marvel and MadHouse have released a new teaser for the upcoming anime adaptation of perhaps the most famous X-Man.

Like the next Wolverine live-action film, the anime series covers Logan’s journeys through Japan in the days before he joined up with Xavier’s team, but the anime tells a distinctly different kind of story.

The supernatural elements obvious in this clip are interesting, if a bit disconcerting. The X-Men story is usually not one that deals in magic or demons, but this big-baddie is clearly some kind of magical construct or something, and that’s strange for Wolverine. To some extent, however, that’s what the production team, which is composed of both Marvel and MadHouse folk, was going for here.

The joint project began a couple years ago, with the express purpose of producing the Marvel Anime Series, Marvel adaptations for Japanese audiences, who clearly have totally different expectations of their super hero films. Expect alternate themes, attitudes, and villain types, at least compared to what you previously assumed would be in a Wolverine story.

The 12-episode serial is the third Marvel Anime series, following Iron Man and Blade, both of which also take place in Japan, though at different time periods. All three serials have been dubbed into English by G4 using not-unknown American English actors for the voices. Wolverine stars Milo Ventimiglia as Wolverine.

In addition to the teaser, there is a clip out from the DVD release, which shows some behind-the-scenes stuff, along with some interviews with the Marvel side of the production team. EW has the exlusive, though, so you’ll have to watch it over there.

The two-disc DVD set for Wolverine, which includes several hours of bonus features, hits shelves on July 31st, 2012 along with Blade.