AnimeNation Anime News Blog

The official website for the 2006 Doraemon movie, “Nobita no Kyoryuu” (Nobita’s Dinosaur), now hosts a streaming Flash teaser trailer.

Source: Twitch

Studio 4C’s surreal anime film Mind Game swept the recently concluded Fantasia film festival, winning more awards than any other picture at the film festival:

Best Film
Best Director (Yuasa Masaaki tied with Survive Style 5+ director Gen Sekiguchi)
Best Script
Special Award – Visual Accomplishment
Best Animation Film
2nd prize for Most Groundbreaking Film

Also noteworthy is that the full CG anime short film Kakurenbo won the Fantasia grand prize for best short film.

Source: Twitch

New manga translating company Go! Comi has officially announced that their company website is now open (actually, the website opened 3 weeks ago, but Go! Comi has just officially announced the site opening).

The website features information on Go!’s first four series: Cantarella by You Higuri, Her Majesty’s Dog by Mick Takeuchi, Crossroad by Shioko Mizuki, and Tenshi Ja Nai!! by Takako Shigematsu, with character descriptions, background on the manga artists, and information on the first volumes.

In addition, the site features polls and contests. To celebrate the upcoming publication of Cantarella, Go! will give away five autographed volumes of the original Japanese manga over the next five months – each personally signed by the series’ creator, You Higuri. Contestants can enter daily on the website. The first contest, for an autographed first volume of Cantarella, ends July 31st. The volume 2 giveway starts the next day.

Question:
There’s been a lot of debate about what “Datebayo” means. Basically, it’s a phrase Naruto puts into a lot of his conversations. People have translated it in different ways. There’s no general concensus on what it means. No fansubs have really elaborated on what it should mean plus Viz doesn’t seem to have tried leaving it intact in the manga. So basically, what exactly does “datebayo” mean anyway? And if there were to be an English translation of it in the dub, what do you think would be most accurate to that of the original phrase?

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According to ICv2 research, the boom market for DVDs in America has passed. ICv2 reports that American home video sales for the first half of 2005 increased by only 1.1%. In relation to the American anime industry, ICv2 claims that anime has been able to cling to its 1.5% share of the North American home video market based mainly on the sales of, “top tier titles such as Miyazaki’s Nausicaa.” “Extremely poor sales on ‘B’ and ‘C’ level titles and licensing costs make it difficult for American anime companies to lower prices — the average anime MSRP has only gone from $27.97 in 1997 to $26.11 in 2005.”

Less than two months after its initial release, Urban Vision has announced an additional price reduction of $15 on the already discount priced Ninja Scroll television series complete collection. The limited edition Ninja Scroll Ultimate Collection originally released at $69.95 now retails at $54.95. The standard edition box set initially priced at $59.95 now retails at $44.95.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that producer Mark Gordon has teamed with music producer Pharrell Williams, World Events Productions and producers Mark Costa and Ford Oelman to make a big-budget feature film version of Voltron: Defender of the Universe.

The official Japanese website for Namco’s PS2 RPG Tales of Legendia now hosts a streaming Windows Media trailer featuring gameplay footage and anime footage from Production IG and character designer Kazuto Nakazawa (Samurai Champloo).

Source: Rakuga Kidou

The official Japanese website for the upcoming live action “kaiju” (giant monster) movie Shinkai Kedamono Reigo (Deep Sea Monster Reigo) is now open, although not all of the website’s features are accessible yet.

Source: Twitch

Nemesis Records has announced that Asian American vocalist Kristine Sa will collaborate with DJ Jinnai on an anime theme songs remix album titled “AnimeToonz3: Kristine Sa.” The anime remix CD will be released by Sony this October.

Kristine Sa’s second album, “reBIRTH,” is available now, and her third album, “In My Mind,” will be released by Nemesis Records in May 2006.

The AOL Radio Network has announced the launch of its Japanese pop channel. Bringing together Japan’s most popular hip-hop, rock and dance music, the Japanese Pop station features a diverse playlist of hit J-pop artists including Hamasaki Ayumi, Hikaru Utada, Puffy AmiYumi, Yuki, Orange Range, Crystal Kay and many more. AOL Radio’s Japanese Pop station is available for free all the time at AOL.com and aolmusic.com.

Digital Manga is currently seeking a Production Director. Details and requirements are available here.

Source: Anime News Network

The official Japanese website for the upcoming IGPX anime television series now hosts a 3:38 streaming Windows Media format trailer.

Source: Moon Phase

The official Japanese website for the xxxHOLiC movie now hosts a streaming Windows Media format full length trailer.

Source: Majoria’s News

Production IG has added English language pages for the Tsubasa Chronicle motion picture, xxxHOLiC motion picture, and the IGPX television series.

Production IG also now hosts the first part of an English language interview with Tsubasa Chronicle movie producer Tetsuya Nakatake.

Source: Jagged Team