Archive for March, 2005

WOWOW Announces New Anime TV Series

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

Japanese satellite TV network WOWOW has announced broadcast plans for three new anime TV series.

Bioboosted Armor Guyver will premier on Japanese television this summer. The new TV series is an AD Vision co-production.

Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid will be the third Full Metal Panic anime TV series. The series will premier in Japan this summer.

The Shuffle! anime TV series will be an adaptation of a popular PC game. The anime will debut this summer.

Source: Moon Phase

Production IG Announces Blood TV Series

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

Production IG has opened its official homepage for the BLOOD Night anime TV series based on the 2001 anime film Blood: The Last Vampire. The official site states that details on the series will be revealed April 10th. The series will premier on May 9th.

Article provided by SeannyB

Gokujo Seitokai Preview Online

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

ITmedia now hosts a preview of the upcoming Konami produced anime TV series and PS2 game Gokujo Seitokai, consisting of screenshots and information about the completion of dialogue recording for the first episode.

Source: Moon Phase

Animerica Magazine Reveals New Formats

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

Animerica Magazine has revealed its plans to reformat the magazine. There will be two versions of the new Animerica:

A convention exclusive version of the magazine will be regular sized but have a smaller page count and will be distributed at American anime conventions beginning this summer. Each convention will have its own exclusive, original issue.

A digest sized version of the magazine will be published quarterly and distributed free in Borders & Waldenbooks stores. Approximately 100 copies per store will be available in the anime/manga section of 1,000 stores nationwide, beginning in June.

The Borders/Waldenbooks version of the magazine will focus on content and articles and will feature broader coverage than the advertiser sponsored convention edition.

ADV Manga Schedules Yotsubato Manga

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

ADV Manga has announced that the first volume of Kiyohiko Azuma’s Yotsubato! manga will be released on June 6th and retail at $9.99.

Source: Anime on DVD

Viz Defends I”s Editing

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

Viz has provided ICv2 News with an official statement regarding editing done to its English translation of the first I”s manga volume:

Any (very minimal) edits done to any manga title are to fit the criteria of audiences in the U.S., and we follow and respect the wishes of the creator to the letter, as we did in this instance. There are never, at any time, any edits done without the creator’s full knowledge and approval.

ICv2 News reports also that Viz pointed out that I”s creator Masakazu Katsura personally “used stars over the woman’s breasts” in the original Japanese edition of the third volume of the I”s manga.

Namco x Capcom TV Commercial Online

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

The official Japanese website for the PS2 strategy RPG Namco x Capcom now hosts a brief, streaming Windows Media TV commercial that includes anime and gameplay footage.

Source: Majoria’s News

Pop Japan Travel Opens Reservations for Next Tour

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

Pop Japan Travel is now accepting reservations for spots on its JAM Tour, scheduled for May 29-June 4. The guided tour of Tokyo includes an exclusive anime production studio tour, admission to the Bandai Museum, a visit to the traditional city of Kamakura, anime shopping and more. The trip costs just $1499 including airfare and hotel stay.

First Look at Grandia 3

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

Square Enix has announced plans to distribute the GameArts produced PS2 RPG Grandia 3 in Japan this summer. The Magic Box hosts 6 pages of screenshots.

E3 Accepting Submissions for Into The Pixel Art Exhibition

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

The E3 video game industry convention has announced that submissions for this year’s “Into the Pixel” video game art exhibit are now being accepted. The exhibition offers an opportunity for published video and computer game artists to be reviewed and recognized by the public and by their peers in both the art and video game fields. “[The Into the Pixel] Art Exhibition seeks to expand the conversation of how talented artists are forging opportunities to create art using video games as their medium.” Submissions are due by April 4th. The E3 convention is a private, industry event not open to the general public.

Ask John: What’s the Background of Legend of the Blue Wolves?

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

Question:
Recently a friend sent me a copy of “Legend of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (A.K.A. “Legend of the Blue Wolves,” original title: Aoki Ookami no Densetsu), and I was impressed. While my yaoi watching was limited to a few random doujin and raw copies of Boku no Sexual Harassment and Ai no Kusabi, this show was something else entirely - a fascinating mecha plot, unbelievably gorgeous animation, a sweeping musical score, and for the ladies, probably the most graphic male-male sex ever animated. (Shame it had to be filled with one of the ugliest men in yaoi history.) Unfortunately, finding information on this show is next to impossible. I’m under the impression that the first episode was finished, but the creator’s went bankrupt, and as such nothing else was ever animated. A pity, since I think it’s one of the greatest adult anime since the original Urotsukidouji.

When was it released, anyhow? And was it ever on anything but VHS? Even some serial numbers to help me track down a legit Japanese copy, or even just some of the above answered, would be greatly appreciated.

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Manga Schedules New Releases

Wednesday, March 30th, 2005

Manga Entertainment has announced release dates for a pair of new series and several complete series sets:

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig volume 1 will be available on September 27th in a $24.95 disc only edition and a $49.95 special edition.
Street Fighter Alpha Generations will retail at $24.95 beginning October 25th.

The Macross Plus Box Set will retail at $39.95 beginning June 14th.
The Neon Genesis Evangelion Movies Box Set will retail at $49.95 beginning July 26th.
The Virus Buster Serge Box Set will retail at $39.95 beginning August 23rd.

Source: Anime on DVD

ArtsMagic Schedules Salaryman Kintaro

Wednesday, March 30th, 2005

ArtsMagic DVD has scheduled the release of Salaryman Kintaro DVD volume 1 for May 31st. The first DVD will contain 4 episodes and retail at $24.98.

Source: Anime on DVD

ADV Clarifies that Web Exclusives Aren’t Web Exclusive

Wednesday, March 30th, 2005

AD Vision representative Allen Divers has clarified statements made by AD Vision’s Matt Greenfield at last weekend’s Kamikaze Con regarding titles such as Princess Tutu, Petit Princess Yucie, and Wedding Peach becoming “web exclusive” titles. Apparently these series are not technically online exclusive; they’re simply not carried by most walk-in retail stores. “These titles will continue to be pushed out to the traditional brick and mortar retailers as well, but due to competition and lack of shelf space will not always be picked up by these locations.”

Source: Anime on DVD

More Viz Manga Censoring Discovered

Wednesday, March 30th, 2005

Following the recent confirmation that Viz has censored nudity in the upcoming domestic release of I”s manga volume 1, it’s now been discovered that the latest volume of the Descendants of Darkness manga translation, volume 4, has been heavily censored to remove one character entirely from an “already obscured sexual scene.”

Source: Anime on DVD