The reason this is so anticipated is that the novel was written by
Tow Ubukata, who is a well-known Japanese SF writer and writer for
NewType. He wrote the novels for
Soukyuu no Fafner and
Chevalier D'Eon, and has won at least one SF award.
It may or may not be good, but it is nice to see a previously anticipated project finally come to fruition. They have certainly moe-ified the character design of the lead, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, in my book. Looks good to me.
It will all depend on the staff, studio, and cast, which will be announced Saturday 27 March. Since Ubukata has already done the script of one anime (
Heroic Age), I wouldn't be surprised if he adapts his own novel this time.
According to
ANN, Starchild has produced movies before:
Fafner,
Slayers, and
Evangelion movies. It will be interesting to see who they get to produce the animation for them.