Right Stuf has released a list of which American voice actors will be portraying which characters in the upcoming American home video release of His & Her Circumstances.
Source: Anime News Network
Square producer Yasumi Matsuno has confirmed in a Japanese interview with Weekly Famitsu magazine, that a Gameboy Advance “remix” of Final Fantasy Tactics is currently about 30% complete. The game will not be a direct port of the original PS version, but neither will it be a true sequel.
In addition to the recent announcement that the upcoming Squaresoft/Disney RPG Kingdom Hearts would include an entire “world” based on Nightmare Before Christmas, Squaresoft has now revealed yet another cameo in the game. Aerith Gainsborough of Final Fantasy VII will appear in Kingdom Hearts.
Source: The Gaming Intelligence Agency
Donnie Yen has agreed to again serve as action director for Shurayuki Hime 2. However, because of contractual obligations in America with Miramax, he will not act in the sequel.
Takeshi Miike’s infamous, critically acclaimed shock/suspense horror/drama Audition will finally be released on American DVD courtesy of Ventura Video on May 7th. The disc will be an anamorphic widescreen subtitled presentation and include a supplemental interview with the director.
Source: KFC Cinema
Question:
I just bought the 08th MS Team movie, “Miller’s report” and was a bit disappointed. Sure, I like the show and all, but Bandai’s release classifies it as a movie, not a certain amount of series. I watched the movie, and it’s more of the 08th MS team series rather than a movie, since it just shows some clips of the show. I think that it should really be classified as it having volumes 5-8. Can you tell me why they classify this as a movie?
Bandai has announced that it will debut the 1988 26 episode Magical Stage Fancy LaLa shoujo TV series on American DVD on July 9th. The series, featuring character designs by Orange Road character designer Akemi Takada, is about a 9 year old girl that discovers the ability to magically transform into the 15 year old idol “Fancy Lala.”
Bandai has announced the release of two different versions of the Escaflowne movie on American DVD for July 23rd. The $29.98 standard edition will include the bilingual film, optional overlapping storyboards, optional isolated musical score, and original theatrical trailers. The “Ultimate Edition” will cost an additional $25 and include an extra 190 minutes of footage consisting of staff and cast interviews, footage from the American premier of the film at Anime Expo, a new musical performance by Yoko Kanno, an art gallery, a second CD containing the film’s soundtrack and more.
Bandai has also announced that a limited edition Escaflowne TV series DVD boxed set will be released on July 23rd. The set will be limited to 10,000 individually numbered copies and include an exclusive Escaflowne action figure, all at $199.98, a discount of $40 off the price of the individual DVDs. Bandai will also be releasing a similar DVD boxed set for the edited American television version of Escaflowne, again including the action figure and limited to 10,000 copies. AnimeNation will not be carrying the edited version.
Source: Anime on DVD
Comic Book news and review site SpinnerRack.com has published an interesting article on the history of anime fandom in America and its questionable legality and ethics. Everything mentioned will recollect first-hand experience and memories for some readers, and may enlighten others.
Source: Anime News Service
The Viz Communications sister company Tidepoint Pictures has announced plans to bring the wildly entertaining 1998 Japanese gangster film Shark-Skin Man and Peach-Hip Girl (Samehada Otoko to Momojiri Onna) to American theaters in very limited release. The film, a live action adaptation of a manga by Mochizuki Minetarou, has been justifiably compared to everything from Trainspotting to Twin Peaks to Pulp Fiction.
GameSpot has published the first information and screenshots of the upcoming American produced Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee fighting game for the GameCube.
On Monday, Tokyo-based Coolnet Entertainment reached an agreement with Sega Corporation to develop titles on the Xbox in Japan. Both companies will work together in developing remake versions of classic Sega titles from the Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast. The games will be selected based on popularity and user demand. No titles have been announced at this point, but the first title is expected for a release sometime this summer in Japan.
Source: GameSpot
Question:
I have been looking around the internet lately and keep hearing about this new anime show called Final Fantasy Unlimited. I was wondering what the show was about. Is it based off of one of the games and is it any good?
Media Blasters has announced several new titles scheduled for release in July, including at least one new license announcement.
The first of two volumes of eX-Driver will premier on dubbed VHS and bilingual DVD on July 30th containing 3 of 6 OAV episodes. Created by Kousuke (Ah! My Goddess, You’re Under Arrest) Fujishima, eX-Driver is an action/adventure drama about a team of teen “eX-Drivers” in the not-too distant future that have the licenses and skills to drive manual, gasoline powered cars when normal cars are all robot controlled. The eX-Driver’s job is to stop runaway auto-cars before they cause crashes or accidents.
In a surprise announcement, the first 4 of 13 episodes of last year’s Cosmo Warrior Zero TV series will also premier on dubbed VHS and bilingual DVD on July 30th. A Captain Harlock side-story, Cosmo Warrior Zero tells the story of Harlock’s former best friend, Admiral Warrius Zero, who is ordered to hunt down and capture the renegade space pirate.
Mainstream titles scheduled for release in July include Berserk volume 2, Gokudo volume 3, and Rurouni Kenshin volume 20: Soulless Knights, containing episodes 83-86 of 95.
The adult titles Spy of Darkness and Oni-Tensei, featuring all 4 OAV episodes on one disc, will debut on DVD in July as well.
The eX-Driver DVD will retail for $24.95 while all of the other aforementioned titles except Oni-Tensei will retail for $29.95 on DVD. Oni-Tensei will retail for $39.95 although it’s the same running time as Gokudo and Cosmo Warrior Zero, and 25 minutes shorter than the Berserk DVD.
If you have a college degree or 5-7 years of work experience in marketing, or qualifications including more than $5 million in target quota sales in the home entertainment industry, you may be the person Viz is looking for to take a position as sales & marketing director.
For more specific information read Viz’s employment page. A resume may be submitted by e-mail or fax only.
Source: Anime News Service
FUNimation voice actor Chris Sabat (Vegeta, Piccolo of DBZ & Kuwabara of Yu Yu Hakusho) will participate in a real-time chat session tonight on the official FUNimation site. Visit Yu Yu Hakusho.com for more details.
Source: Anime News Network
According to Anime on DVD, AD Vision will soon be officially announcing plans to release all 4 DVD volumes of the Blue Seed TV series packed in a single double width DVD case with the set price cut in half. While the individual DVDs retail at $120, the upcoming set will reportedly retail for $59.98.
Time Magazine has published an extensive cover article on Japanese pop diva Ayumi Hamasaki that includes photos, an article on Ayu’s move to expand her market into Asia, and a rare personal interview. The 23 year old Ayumi Hamasaki was recently awarded the title of “Most Influential Japanese singer in Asia” at the 2002 MTV Asia music awards, and her albums are the top selling records in the world outside of America.
Source: Anime News Service
