Anime Studio Gonzo is developing The Midnight Animals, a series of CG anime shorts that will stream on the Hikari TV internet service beginning this August. The anime shorts will revolve around African animals with diva-personalities that gather at night to “wax poetic.” The voice cast will feature the Japanese drag queen celebrity trio Hoshikuzu Scat, celebrity drag queen Bubreena, and gay celebrity and choreographer Kaba-chan.
A live-action TV series adaptation of Ryo Koshino’s ongoing medical manga Machi-Isha Jumbo!! (Town Doctor Jumbo) will premiere on the NTV network on July 4. The manga revolves around a physically imposing doctor nicknamed “Jumbo.” EXILE pop-group member Daisuke Maki will star as “Dr. Jumbo.” Shiori Kutsuna will play nurse Hichou.
Question:
Anime is so addictive. Been watching anime since I was 17 in Australia here, first being Tetsuwan Atom, then Sailor Moon in 95, then Hokuto no Ken, which I wished never ended. Loved watching Kenshiro’s wandering, his battles & all the characters, as with Dragon Ball had the same feeling with me too. Western cartoons have nothing of the feeling that anime delivers. Would this be one the reasons why anime is so loved in the West?
Media Blasters has announced its acquisition of translation & distribution rights to the 2003 Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito (The Traveller Yami, the Hat, and the Book) television series. The 13-episode adaptation of the adult PC game by developer Root revolves around a quest to find Eve, the caretaker of the universe’s great library, as she travels through the worlds contained in books. The show has been widely recognized for its heavy yuri overtones. Media Blasters has not yet announced language or format options for its domestic release.
Miami, Florida-based Kansai Club Publishing has opened its homepage announcing its forthcoming English language publication of Osamu Tezuka’s short manga anthology The Crater. The manga will be published in a single hardcover printing of 2,000 numbered copies initially available only to Kickstarter contributors.
Good luck to Andrew & Yuka. I’ll make a pledge today.
The homepage for next February’s Buddha 2: Tezuka Osamu no Buddha ~Owarinaki Tabi~ movie has released an English subtitled 10-minute long trailer. The film is the second of Toei & Tezuka Productions’ planned three films adaptating the late Osamu Tezuka’s 1972-1983 manga biography of Siddhartha Buddha.
The first TV spot for the anime adaptation of Ruri Miyahara’s four-panel school comedy manga Renai Lab has appeared online. The Love Lab slice-of-life bishoujo television series will be animated by studio Dogakobo (Yuruyuri, GJ Club) with Masahiko Ohta (Yuruyuri, Mitsudomoe) directing, Takashi Aoshima (Yuruyuri, Mitsudomoe) writing, and Chiaki Nakajima (Yuruyuri) providing animation character design. The show will tentatively premiere in July.
Japanese publisher Kodansha has formally announced word that Tsutomu Nihei’s current mecha action manga series Knights of Sidonia (Sidonia no Kishi) will be getting an anime adaptation. Nihei launched the ongoing manga in 2009. Vertical currently publishes the manga in English. Nihei’s 1997 cyberpunk manga Blame! was adapted into a 2003 web anime and a 2007 OVA.
The advertising obi found on new copies of the Japanese BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger novelization confirms that an anime adaptation of the fighting game franchise has been green-lit. Arc System Works’ BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger 2D fighting game debuted in Japanese arcades in 2008
Japanese publisher Shogakukan has formally announced word that Koroku Inumura’s 2009 light novel series Toaru Hikushi e no Koiuta (A Love Song to a Certain Airship Pilot) will be getting an anime adaptation. The five-volume wartime romance story occurs in the same setting as Inumura’s 2008 light novel Toaru Hikushi e no Tsuioku (Recollection of a Certain Airship Pilot), which was adapted into an anime feature film in 2011; however, the characters in “Koiuta” and “Tsuioku” are unrelated.
A series of monthly two-minute anime films based on Yuusuke Kozaki’s surreal animal comedy manga Donyatsu will begin screening before features in T-Joy Cinemas on June 1. The ongoing Donyatsu manga that premiered in December 2011 features animal/snack-food hybrids that live in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district after all humans have mysteriously disappeared. Anime studio Gathering (PUCHIM@S, Tono to Issho) will produce the theatrical shorts with Mankyu (PUCHIM@S, Tono to Issho) directing.
The Anime Mirai project has announced the next four productions that will receive production funding from the Japanese government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs.
Director Yasuhiro Yoshiura (Eve no Jikan Kimi no Iru Machi) will direct the “Arumoni” short at studio Ultra Super Pictures.
Director Ayumu Watanabe (Uchuu Kyodai, Danchi Tomoo) will direct the “Okii Ichinensei to Chiisana Ninensei” (Big First-Year Student and the Small Second-Year Student) short at studio A-1 Pictures.
Director Kazuaki Imai (Doraemon & Senjo no Valkyria episode director) will direct the “Paroru to Miraijima” (Paroru and the Future Island) short at studio Shinei Animation.
Director Naoyuki Onda (animation director for Gundam ZZ & Hiiro no Kakera) will direct the “Kaze no Sorashita” short at studio 4°C.
The purpose of the Anime Mirai project is to fund one-shot anime productions animated by novice professional animators supervised by experienced directors & producers in order to provide on-the-job training.
Yuichi Okano’s 2012 four-panel manga Pekorosu no Haha ni Ai ni Iku about a middle-aged man taking care of his senile mother will be adapted into a live-action feature film. 89-year-old actress Harue Akagi will co-star in the film. The movie will be her first film role in 33 years. Ryo Iwamatsu will play the devoted son. The manga originally serialized by the Nishinippon Newspaper Company draws attention to Japan’s real-life problem of an increasingly elderly population. The feature film will debut this fall.
Question:
I finally was able to see Asura for the first time and I absolutely loved it. I came across a very negative review online which really bothered me. I don’t often agree with your opinions, but I think you give strong reasons for why you feel the way you do. I would appreciate knowing your opinion. If you have seen it, what did you think about Asura?
The Japanese sponsored anime streaming site Anime Sols has officially opened. The site presently offers subtitled episodes of anime series never previously available in America, or never available uncut and unaltered, including Ninja Robot Tobikage, Black Jack, Aoi Blink, Space Knight Tekkaman, and Magical Angel Creamy Mami. Anime Sols is now also acepting pledges for limited edition home video releases of select titles.
Just pledged $300: the “core” level to support DVD sets for each of the 8 DVD collections tentatively available right now.
