AnimeNation Anime News Blog

Ain’t It Cool News has published some (possibly offensive) reviews of several of the short films screened at the current Fant-Asia Film Festival, including a very positive, spoiler free review of the short anime OAV Nekojiru-So. Directed by Tatsuo Sato, the director of Nadesico, Nekojiru-so is a dark, twisted, surrealistic fairy tale based on the underground Nekojiru manga, originally created by the female manga-ka known as Nekojiru. After Nekojiru’s suicide, her husband took over creative duty of the manga and currently still writes the story on a regular basis.

Elsewhere on the Ain’t It Cool page is another spoiler heavy review of the Nekojiru OAV by the same reviewer, along with very positive reviews of the Disney dub of Laputa and Satoshi Kon’s latest film, Millennium Actress.

According to word from Fant-Asia, although screened there theatrically, Disney’s dub of Laputa is scheduled for impending home video release.

Source: Anime News Service

The current issue of Viz Communications’ Animerica Magazine includes reviews of Kodomo no Omocha soundtrack CD volumes 2 & 3. The reviews state that the CDs are published by Ever Anime and have no yen price printed on them. To dispell any confusion for fans that read these reviews and want these CDs, the versions of these anime CDs reviewed by Animerica Magazine are unlicensed, bootleg versions manufactured in Taiwan, as are all Japanese language CDs published by the Ever Anime company. The original, officially licensed Kodomo no Omocha soundtrack CDs were published in Japan in 1996, 1997 & 1998 respectively by Sony Records and carry a yen price of 2,718 yen printed on the first two discs and a retail price of 2,913 yen printed on disc 3. While the bootleg versions of these CDs reviewed by Animerica Magazine are commonly available at numerous on-line anime retailers, the official, licensed Japanese versions of Kodomo no Omocha soundtracks 2 & 3 are out of print and no longer available in Japan.

Animerica Magazine has not responded publicly or privately to an e-mail message from AnimeNation pointing out their review of unlicensed, bootleg CDs as though they were officially sanctioned merchandise, and has made no statements clarifying their position on this presumably unintentional support of unlicensed anime goods.

Question:
Anime movies that are based on a series tend to have little to do with the series. Many times they have a totally different tone altogether, like Urusei Yatsura’s movies. And sometimes the series they are based on is vastly superior to the movie, as in Dragonball Z and Slayers, and have little to do with the series’ plot development. And yet some anime movies based on series are used as extremely important plot devices, or even as an end to the series, like Tenchi Muyo. Can you explain?

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Central Park Media has informed us that the first 10,000 copies of the Utena movie DVD will come in a limited edition transparent pink keepcase and also include a special Anime Zone sampler DVD featuring trailers and clips of CPM anime titles.

The English voice of Dejiko, Karen Hsin, will have her concert debut in Japan in early August at the Velfarre in Roppongi. There have been several concerts featuring the popular cast of Di Gi Charat- Asami Sanada (Dejiko), Miyuki Sawashiro (Puchiko) and Kyoko Hikami (Rabi~En~Rose). This is the first concert to introduce the English Dejiko to Japanese fans. Karen will be performing in the Di Gi Charat concert on the 4th of August. It will her first public appearance. This event will be the exclusive premiere of the English version of the “Welcome” song. Asami Sanada, the Japanese voice of Dejiko, will be joining her during the song.

Source: Synch Point Productions

Further supporting the announcement published in the AnimeNation News last week, Anime on DVD has posted the official public announcement from ADV Films regarding the confirmation and exchange policy on the defective/incorrect Getter Robo volume 1 DVD.

Anime on DVD has learned that beginning with DVD volume 2, both St. Tail and the Vampire Miyu TV series will come with 4 episodes per disc rather than the 3 episodes per disc of the initial volumes. With this new announcement Vampire Miyu will likely be condensed from 8 to 7 DVD volumes, and Kaitou St. Tail should condense from an estimated 15 DVDs down to only 11 discs.

The Japanese Chara-Ani.com site has posted the 30 second promotional clip of the upcoming X OAV premiered at the Tokyo Character Show. The Official Clamp homepage has confirmed that the X TV series is in production. The new series is most likely to premier on Japanese television in October.

In the wake of the Japanese new wave cinema of the early 90s, spearheaded by Takeshi Kitano, Shinya Tsukamoto and Sogo Ishii, another new “Japanese new wave” is emerging. The LA Weekly has published interviews with cinematic auteur Takeshi Kitano and rising star director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, along with thumbnail summaries on other names to watch out for, including Takashi Miike and Junji Sakamoto.

Source: Anime News Service

Capcom and game production studio Inter-Let’s have revealed that “new” character Manari will make appearances in both Capcom Vs SNK 2: Millionaire Fighting 2001 and Capcom Vs SNK Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition. Manari is a friend of Nakoruru, first introduced in the little known “Nakoruru: Ano Hito Kara no Okurimono” PC adventure game.

Capcom Vs SNK 2: Millionaire Fighting 2001 is scheduled to premier in Japanese arcades on August 3rd, and the Dreamcast and PS2 on September 13th. It’s been revealed that the Dreamcast version will be a limited edition double disc set that will include the game and a “Capcom Taisen Fan Disk” featuring a gallery of Capcom vs SNK illustrations and downloadable Dreamcast VMU data from 19 different Capcom fighting games. Two different versions of the game will be released for the PS2, a game only edition and a bundle package version that includes the game and an IOData modem for online play through the PS2.

The official Japanese SNK site has updated with new pages devoted to the Neo Geo Pocket Color Capcom Vs SNK Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition and the Dreamcast port of Garou: Mark of the Wolves, the latest installment in the Fatal Fury series.

Source: Mad Man’s Cafe

In a surprising move, Nintendo of Japan has filed a copyright infringement suit against co-defendants Enterbrain and Tirnanog Company over the marketing and distribution of a Playstation game titled Tear Ring Saga, formerly promoted under the name “Emblem Saga.” Nintendo claims that the Tear Ring Saga game is too similar to Nintendo’s own popular Fire Emblem RPG series and is seeking 258.3 million Yen in damages in addition to a halt of production, distribution and sale of the game. Nintendo argues that the original title and marketing infringes on the originality and exclusivity of the Nintendo franchise and accompanying marketing and was intended to directly appeal to and mislead fans of the Fire Emblem RPG series into believing that Emblem Saga/Tear Ring Saga was a Fire Emblem game.

In addition to Enterbrain and Tirnanog, Nintendo is also suing Tirnanog’s President Shouzo Kaga, a former producer of the original Fire Emblem series.

Enterbrain is the publishing company that produces console video game magazine Famitsu Weekly.

Source: Mad Man’s Cafe

According to The Magic Box, Final Fantasy X sold 1,831,843 copies in its first week of availability, making it the fastest selling PS2 game ever released.

The Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within DVD has been announced for release on October 23rd with a retail price of $29.99. The release will be a double disc special edition. No mention has been made of the originally announced Playstation 2 edition movie DVD.

At last weekend’s Ai-kon convention in Winnipeg, Canada, Bandai Entertainment confirmed that DVD versions of the Escaflowne movie, and Char’s Counterattack (the fourth Gundam movie) are now early in production for domestic release next year.

The first DVD volume of “Pilot Candidates” (Candidate for Goddess) has almost finished production. Bonus features will include a look at how voice recording for anime is done in Japan, and a “make your own dub” option.

According to early press reports, the first DVD volume of Magical Stage Fancy La-La will feature 5 TV episodes.

Bandai is taking a non-commital stance on Akihabara Cyber Team, neither confirming or denying their American license for the series. The Bandai sponsored premier of Akihabara Dennougumi at this year’s Anime Expo is not intended to be taken as a confirmation of an American license. However, extremely few films ever premiered at Anime Expo over the past decade have not been licensed for American distribution.

Source: Anime on DVD

Diamond Select, the toy production arm of Diamond Comics Distribution, has signed an agreement to create statues, die-cast cars, and action figures based on the anime properties controlled in the U.S by Central Park Media including Project A-Ko, MD Geist, Geobreeders, the Anime Pin-Up Beauties CD-ROM series and Central Park’s many other anime licenses. The first products that Diamond Select will be working on will be based on Project A-Ko and MD Geist.

The Ohayocon convention website has posted interviews with guest of honor voice actors Dorothy Melendrez (Kaoru from Rurouni Kenshin, Meryl from Trigun, et. al), Angora Deb (Aika, Clancy in Patlabor, Leaf of Lodoss TV), and Tristan McAvery (Gendo in Evangelion, Danbei of Cutey Honey).