The North American book distributor Simon & Schuster is listing a Mardock Scramble book by Tow Ubukata for a January 2011 release by Viz Media. Simon & Schuster's listings do not necessarily indicate definite release plans or dates. Hayakawa Publishing released three volumes of Ubukata's Mardock Scramble science fiction novel series in Japan in 2003, along with three more volumes in his Mardock Velocity prequel in 2006.

Simon & Schuster describes the plot of the book as the following:

Why me? It was to be the last thought a young prostitute, Balot, would ever have…as a human anyway. Taken in by a devious gambler named Shell, she became a slave to his cruel desires and would have been killed by his hand if not for a private investigator and his self-aware Universal Tool, Oefcoque. Now a cyborg, Balot has not only physical powers, but the ability to disrupt social environments. She chases after Shell, his partner-in-crime Boiled, and faces down a variety of insane villains in this pulse-pounding cyberpunk noir adventure.

The anime studio GoHands is producing an anime film trilogy which will launch this fall with Mardock Scramble: The First Compression. Susumu Kudo (Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de, Mirage of Blaze) is directing, and Megumi Hayashibara will play the role of Balot. Another anime studio, Gonzo, had planned an original video anime (OVA) project of Mardock Scramble in 2005, but then cancelled the project in 2006 for "various reasons."


Was wondering when this would finally get done. Good thing Gonzo never got the go ahead.