I’m inexcusably a bit behind on reading and reviewing the monthly manga anthology GEN, so I’m going to try to briskly catch up beginning with issue 8.
Gen issue 8 immediately impresses readers with its striking, attractive cover drawn by veteran Japanese illustrator Junji Ohno. After its immediate and simple but effective first impression, the issue launches into a brisk start.
A teaser page has launched to reveal the development of an anime based on Daisuke Suzuki’s light novel series Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne. The current romantic comedy novel series is the story of twin siblings separated at childhood who begin living together again as teens. The novel series premiered in 2010 and now has six volumes. Suzuki’s earlier Goshusho-sama Ninomiya-kun novel series was turned into a 2007 anime TV series.
Source: Anime News Network
The homepage for the upcoming Moe Can Change! OVA has added a new 78-second trailer. The anime is based on the bishoujo-maid costume changing game from developer Ambition. The OVA is scheduled for Japanese release on the 25th.
Source: Anime News Network
Three animators at Tokyo based anime production company Studio Easter have filed suit against their employer seeking approximately 27 million yen ($340,000 USD) in unpaid overtime wages. The employees claim that they were forced to work six-day weeks and multiple consecutive days of seven-hour overtime as deadlines approached, all without extra pay. Furthermore, when the employees requested compensation, they were told that the anime industry does not pay overtime, and their salaries were reduced. Studio Easter did not appear to present its defense during the first court hearing, but a studio lawyer confirmed plans to address the charges at a later date. Studio Easter produces background art and supplemental production art for anime including Detective Conan, Accel World, Aquarion Evol, and Medaka Box.
Source: Anime News Network
Japan’s Digital Frontier, the studio behind the Appleseed, Biohazard: Degeneration, and Tekken: Blood Vengeance CG motion pictures will collaborate with French studios Shibuya Productions and Forge Animation on the production of Windwalkers: Chronicles of the 34th Horde, an English language 3D CG film adaptation of Alain Damasio’s award-winning 2004 sci-fi adventure novel La Horde du Contrevent. The novel is set in a world plauged by strong winds. An elite team of soldiers named “34th Horde” seeks the origins of the devestating wind.
Veteran director Jan Kounen (Dobermann) will direct the movie as his first animated film. Visionary director Marc Caro (Dante 01, Delicatessen) will serve as art director and visual effects supervisor. Financing is nearly secured for the tentative 18 million Euro ($23.4 million USD) production budget. Production will begin in January 2013 for a 2015 release.
Source: Variety
Next month the Fuji TV network will air a three-part live-action drama based on Toei’s 1975-1982 anime TV series Ikkyu-san. Seven year-old actor Fuku Suzuki will play the mischevious Buddhist monk-in-training Ikkyu-san in the live-action series which will depict Ikkyu-san and Shinemon time-slipping from 15th century Japan to present-day Tokyo.
Source: Anime News Network
Question:
As an anime veteran, how do you, John, try to keep anime fresh and interesting in your mind without resorting to nostalgia colored glasses?
The Adult Swim network has announced plans to resurrect its popular Toonami programming block. Beginning May 26, the Toonami programming block will broadcast from midnight to six AM on Saturday nights. The programming slot will re-rbroadcast previous Toonami titles and premiere “new original anime programming.”
The Cartoon Network launched the Toonami programming block in 1997, eventually ending it in 2008. The programming block was designed as a home for anime programming, thus the Asian storm front pun title “Toonami,” including Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, Tenchi Muyo, Trigun, .hack//SIGN, One Piece, Prince of Tennis, Sailor Moon, and much more.
Not that I watch dubbed anime anyway, but I’m hesitantly, fearfully anxious to learn what “new original anime programming” really means. Will that be Japanese co-productions like The Big O and Afro Samurai, or “anime style” titles like Teen Titans & Totally Spies?
Source: The Futon Critic
Bandai Visual has formally revealed the development of Girls und Panzer (Girls & Tanks), the first original anime created by Squid Girl, Kemeko Deluxe, and Hare+Guu director Tsutomu Mizushima. ACTAS (Moetan) will animate the TV series with Reiko Yoshida (K-On, St. Seiya Omega) writing the scripts; Isao Sugimoto (Kemeko Deluxe) will provide animation character design and serve as animation director. Military advisor for Strike Witches & Upotte Takaaki Suzuki will advise the production. The “pleasant school story” about schoolgirls trained to operate real-world tanks will premiere this fall.
I typically like military bishoujo anime, yet there’s very little tank and a whole lot of moe´ in this trailer. It’s as though Mizushima liked Sora no Woto but thought, “Not cute enough!”
Source: Anime News Network
A second Robin-kun to 100-nin no Otomodachi (Robin & His 100 Friends) anime TV series will premiere this July. The first 13 episode anime series, based on the mascot franchise developed by PansonWorks, aired from October 2010 until January 2011. The staff & cast of the first series will reunite for the second series.
Source: Anime News Network
TMS Entertainment has released the complete 3:35 Kubbe promotional anime online. Roughly 45 seconds of the footage was first released last month within a 90 second advertisement for the Japanese publication of Åshild Kanstad Johnsen’s Norwegian picture book Kubbe lager museum (Block Makes a Museum). TMS is now developing a full Kubbe anime television series.
Source: Anime News Network
The eleventh issue of English translated indie manga anthology Gen is now available in print & digital formats. New readers can also access a free sample version of this month’s issue 11, which features the brand new stories “Android Angels” by Kosuke Kabaya, “One is Enough” by love, “Stones of Power” by Isora Azumi, and “Anomal” by Nukuharu, along with the latest chapters of Hajime Taguchi’s “Alive” and Ryo Hanada’s “Good-bye Geist.”
Question:
What are John’s top ten anime that he loves, but everyone else seems to hate? And the top ten anime John hates but everyone else seems to love?
Home video collectors are a particular breed who feel a personal connection to particular movies and cinema, urging us to want to own particular favorite films. We want the films we like to be nearby, like a domestic pet, to gratify and validate us. Ordinary people purchase the movies or TV shows they enjoy in order to re-watch them periodically, thus a watchable copy is perfectly sufficient. But collectors are more deeply engaged with their favorite films. Since we feel personally invested in those films and associate those films with our own self-identity, we want the versions of those films which satisfy us most. And because we always want the film close at hand, we feel obligated to constantly upgrade with newer formats, fancier and more comprehensive editions, and remastered, more pristine presentations. Although perhaps not with such psychologically scrutiny, the home video distribution industry recognizes and capitalizes on this compulsion with the “double dip.” An extra scoop is usually welcome. An improvement is commendable. But when relevant to home video, the “double dip” is like ice cream sprinkled with jalapeno. It’s a bitter pleasure that collectors face with equal amounts of anticipation and frustration. We’re being taken advantage of, but at heart the situation still involves something pleasurable, so we grit our teeth, rationalize, and concede.
After purchasing The Evil Dead again I was struck by an ironic realization.
Read the rest of this entry »
The third episode of writer Kazushige Nojima & director Romanov Higa’s web-anime mini-series Buso Chugakusei Basket Army is now online. The story revolves around military school students under seige by international mercenaries seeking to recover a military secret that the children are protecting.
Source: Anime News Network
