Oh, Capcom.  You could've had it all.  Mega Man's spiritual successor, Mighty No. 9, is headed to his video game debut next year, but the new franchise isn't content to end at being just a game.  Announced today in Japan, Mighty No. 9 is becoming an animated television series as well.  It's still early in development and isn't projected to premiere until the middle of 2016, but there is a trailer in circulation to introduce the Mighty concept and its adorable robotic protagonist, Beck.  Protodude's Rockman Corner has the press release and a FAQ.  Here's some of that:

Keiji Inafune, the creator of Mega Man, announced today at the 2014 Anime Expo in Los Angeles that an animated TV Series is in development based on his studio’s forthcoming crowdfunded video game Mighty No. 9. The series will be an action-packed comedy aimed at kids 6-11. Digital Frontier, an animation company in Japan, is developing and producing the series for a worldwide release. After witnessing the massive support internationally for the Kickstarter campaign, Digital Frontier reached out to Inafune to develop the animated TV series. (Note: Digital Frontier will not be using any of the funding from the campaign for the production of the animated series) Digital Frontier is actively seeking partners internationally including but not exclusive to merchandising, broadcasting and production. The studio has been recently pitching the series and is currently in talks with interested parties with announcements coming soon.

I'm interested in Mighty No. 9 as a game, and while the television show will not be aimed at my age demographic, I'm glad to see that it's happening.  The only chance that Mega Man has at a revival (under a different creative regime, of course) is for Mighty No. 9 to hit the big time and offer some competition to the currently dormant franchise.  If Mighty is a hit, Capcom may well bring back the franchise that started it all.  Whether or not it could ever be the same now that Inafune and his team at working on Mighty is a question for another day, but any hope of seeing the blue bomber in action again lies, ironically enough, with Beck.  As for the trailer, it's darn cute and does more to show us Beck's personality than the first four Mega Man games combined.  I dare you to watch it and not at least crack a smile.