Studio Hibari (Duel Masters, Major, Moonlight Mile) is at work on an hour long historical film titled Junod, depicting real-life Swiss doctor Mercel Junod, the first foreign doctor to arrive at Hiroshima after its atomic bombing in 1945. The anime film revolves around two present day schoolgirls who get transported back in time to witness, first hand, Doctor Junod’s treatment of Hiroshima bombing victims and the circumstances of post-war Japan.
The non-profit war relief/humanitarian organization MOCT developed and produced the film project. Shinichiro Kimura (Karin, Maburaho) directs. A digest version of the film will be screened in Hiroshima on December 23. Studio Hibari is expected to complete production of the movie on January 31, 2010.
Japanese production company Media Factory has added a trailer for next year’s Baka to Test to Shokanju (The Idiot, the Tests, and the Summoned Creatures) anime television series to YouTube. The adaptation of Kenji Inoue’s humorous light novel series revolves around an underprivileged social class of students that challenge more elite classes to magic battles in order to win creature comforts and status. The anime series from studio Silver Link (Tayutama -Kiss on my Deity-) will premiere on January 6.
While the story doesn’t appear to be especially exciting or fascinating in this trailer, the visual design is quite nice.
The financially troubled Gonzo anime production house has produced a promotional anime trailer for the upcoming online role-playing game Arcadia Saga. The short anime trailer streams on the game’s official site, and from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu.com.
The Gonzo anime studio recently ceased animating the Saki television series it started work on. And the Strike Witches 2 television series that Gonzo announced plans to produce will now be animated by AIC instead.
The newly launched website for Fuyumi Ono & Ryu Fujisaki’s horror mystery manga Shiki reveals that the series will be getting an anime TV series adaptation. Fuyumi Ono (Twelve Kingdoms, Ghost Hunt) published the first Shiki novel in 1998. Artist Ryu Fujisaki’s manga adaptation of the novel series premiered in December 2008. Shiki is a story about an ancient, isolated Japanese mountain village that becomes the target of an insidious vampire attack.
The homepage for the Koihime Muso anime franchise has announced the production of a third TV anime series via its Flash animation intro. Shin Koihime Muso: Otome Tairan will premiere next April. The series’ second TV series, Shin Koihime Muso, just concluded its Japanese TV broadcast last week.
I’m all for moé anime, but I don’t understand this. The Koihime Muso anime is just not good.
The advertising obi on new copies of the 13th volume of Asa Higuchi’s popular baseball manga Ookiku Furikabutte (known in America as “Big Windup“) reveal that a second TV anime series based on the manga will premiere next spring. The first Ookiku Furikabutte anime television series aired in Japan in 2007.
I am a little bit surprised to see a second series green-lit relatively so long after the broadcast of the first series.
Toei Animation has announced that the Ring ni Kakero 1: Shadow (Ring ni Kakero 1 Kagemachihen, or “Put it All in the Ring 1: Shadow Path Arc) pay-per-view anime television series will premiere on April 2. Masami Kurumada’s 1977 boxing manga was adapted into an initial TV anime series in 2004, and a sequel TV anime in 2006.
Honestly, do we really need more ridiculous, racist boxing anime?
Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance director Kazuya Tsurumaki has confirmed that the film will tentatively hit Japanese DVD next spring in a revised edition. Similarly, the first Rebuild of Evangelion movie was released to Japanese DVD eight months after its theatrical premiere in a revised edition featuring upgrades and changes to 266 shots.
Acclaimed anime director Makoto Shinkai revealed publicly yesterday that he’s now at work on a new anime film, his longest production yet. Shinkai stated that his previous anime (Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5cm Per Second) have dealt with the theme of separation. His new film will further delve into that theme by focusing on how a single cheerful girl must face and overcome a personal loss. Shinkai was reticent with details about his new film because the work hasn’t been formally announced yet.
The Japanese government has announced plans to allot 50 million yen ($550,000 USD) for the production of a 10 minute long promotional anime encouraging international tourism to Tokyo. The anime short targeted at 20-30 year old foreign tourists will debut online in eight languages next spring.
The Tokyo Tourism Info website currently hosts 20 short animated films introducing regions of Tokyo.
ADNESS Entertainment, producer for the American Kamen Rider Dragon Knight television series, has announced that the series’ final two episodes will be released for free online viewing on the 4Kids website after December 26th. The CW network will air episode 38 of the 40 episode series on the 26th, but presently has no scheduled plans to broadcast the series’ final two episodes.
Kamen Rider Dragon Knight is an American adaptation of the Japanese live action television series Kamen Rider Ryukendo.
Home video distributor Shout Factory has acquired American home video distribution rights to Daei’s 8 “Showa era” Gamera movies, originally released from 1965 to 1980. The films will be released in high definition transfers with new subtitles and supplemental features. Shout Factory evidently also has distribution rights to the English dubbed versions of these early films, as the distributor has issued a public request for a 35mm scope print of the English language original 1965 film. Neither Shout Factory nor Kadokawa Pictures, which now owns the Gamera movies, has an archival copy of the original English dubbed film.
This is pretty neat because I don’t believe the Showa era Gamera movies have ever been officially released in America in their original Japanese language.
Warner Bros. has launched a web page announcing a March 2010 Japanese theatrical release for the American produced live action Tekken motion picture. The film from director Dwight Little and screenwriter Alan McElroy has a cast including Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Chiaki Kuriyama, Gary Daniels, Cung Le, and Kelly Overton. Dwight Little has directed TV episodes of series including 24, Bones, Dollhouse, Prison Break, and Millennium. McElroy’s previously filmed scripts include Wrong Turn, Rapid Fire, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, The Marine, and Spawn.
If nothing else, it already looks like it may be better than Dragon Ball Evolution and Legend of Chun-li.
Question:
In North America, theme songs and opening credits in general seem to be shorter and shorter, 10 seconds or less. While in anime they have beautifully made 90 second music videos? Do the Japanese know something we don’t, or vice versa? Why does anime have such big and beautiful opening themes while North American shows suffice with a 5 second sound bite over a title card?
Crunchyroll has announced plans to stream the 30th anniversary Cobra anime. The four episode “Psychogun” OVA series from 2008 is available now. This year’s two episode “Time Drive” OVA series will be available soon. Next year’s 13 episode Cobra the Animation TV series will simulcast weekly episodes within an hour of their Japanese broadcast beginning January 2nd.
