The Los Angeles Times has scooped up news that Microsoft is hard at work on a new animated series based on the Halo franchise. Halo Legends will span seven short films which are being produced by Microsoft and five well-respected Japanese anime studios.

According to the report, Shinji Aramki — the director of classic anime such as “Appleseed” — will be overseeing the production of the series for Microsoft.

Microsoft is financing and overseeing production through 343 Industries, its new internal division that’s in charge of everything Halo. It’s planning to preview them on the online gaming service Xbox Live this fall and has then enlisted Warner Bros. — the game companies still need a little help from Hollywood — to release them on DVD, Blu-ray and other digital platforms in early 2010.

Aramaki is directing his own short that tell the history of the Spartans, a warrior class in the game’s fictional universe that main character Master Chief is part of. Though Halo isn’t particularly popular in Japan — most of its 27 million units sold have been in North American and Europe — Aramaki said he’s a player and was immediately interested in the possibility.

The article goes on to say that within the general anime style, the visual look of the individual films differs widely.