AnimeNation Anime News Blog

ADV Films is offering the complete first TV episode of Air as a free download until September 6th.

Source: Anime News Network

Manga publisher Del Rey is hosting a winter-themed art contest in conjunction with TheOtaku.com for the New York Anime Festival. The winner will receive all titles published by Del Rey in 2008 and a copy of the Art of Otaku handbook. Full entry details are available here.

Source: Anime News Network

Three of Osamu Tezuka’s manga stories that feature memories of World War II from a Japanese perspective are being adapted into a stage play by Natsu Onoda entitled ‘Trees and Ghosts’. The play will premiere November 8th and run through November 17th at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.

Source: Anime News Network

Pop Japan Travel is now accepting reservations for the three new “otaku” themed tours of Japan. A Tokyo-Sapporo tour will take place in January, while yaoi and gothic-lolita themed tours will run in mid April. Visit the official site for complete itinerary and reservation information.

Source: Akadot

Bang Zoom! Entertainment’s AnimeTV video podcast has been picked up for broadcast by Comcast Digital Cable’s Anime Selects Video On Demand network. The first season episodes will be available for subscribers to view beginning September 4th.

Source: Anime News Network

4Kids Entertainment has announced plans for the North American release of the Dinosaur King (Kodai Ohja Kyoryu D Kids Adventure) TV series. The show, based on an arcade/collectible card game, will air on Fox’s 2007-2008 Saturday morning lineup. FUNimation has been set to release the English dubbed version on DVD.

Source: Anime News Network & ICv2

Question:
Do you think that anime shows that are completely original (as in, not based off of any pre-existing work) show more creativity than anime based off of pre-existing works like manga, novels, or videogames?

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Twentieth Century Fox has revealed that the voice actors who have worked on the Japanese language dub of The Simpsons for the past decade will not be employed for the 2008 Japanese theatrical release of The Simpsons Movie. Outraged Japanese Simpsons fans have launched an international letter writing and promotional campaign, contacting Fox USA, Fox Japan, and The Simpsons creator Matt Groeing, urging Fox to reconsider its plans to cast inexperienced voice actors to dub The Simpsons Movie. So far, the movement has been unsuccessful.

Elements of the Japanese protest include a “The Simpsons Movie Voice Actor Change Opposition Blog,” an official protest banner image, and even a “Savin’ The Simpsons Movie!!(in Japan)” music video.

The fan movement is seeking support and assistance from sympathetizers worldwide.

Article provided by Satomi

Toei has announced plans to adapt Shigeru Mizuki’s original version of GeGeGe no Kitaro, Hakaba Kitaro, as an anime TV series.

Source: Anime News Network

According to the October issue of Comic Blade magazine a third Aria TV series is currently in production. No broadcast date has been determined.

Source: Anime News Network

New sites have just launched for the TV shows Kodomo no Jikan, Shion no Oh and Mokke.

Source: Moonphase

Question:
Why are some fans of manga dead-set on categorizing manga as a style and emulating it? To me, it’s a cultural extension of Japan and a subset of a medium. I find the effort of some fans limiting manga as a style to be severely counterproductive, especially given differences in titles like Monster and say, Fullmetal Alchemist. Osamu Tekuza took what was good from Disney and Western art and fused it into the beginnings of manga as seen today, but he did not call his works American. Why can’t fans here try to be proud of their own creations for what it is instead of trying to desperately latch on to the word manga?

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The October issue of Japan’s Comptic Ace Magazine reportedly includes a confirmation that the “Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel” (Thief Angel Twin Angel) “pachisuro” (pachinko slot machine) game will be adapted into an anime.

Source: Ultimatum

A second trailer for the upcoming “Shin Gekijoban Evangelion: Jou ~ Evangelion:1.0 You Are (Not) Alone” motion picture has appeared online. The trailer from official Japanese sources is limited to Japanese IP addresses only. A low quality version has appeared on Youtube. A higher quality DivX version is available from Stage6. The first of the four new Evangelion movies is scheduled to open theatrically in Japan on September 1st.

Source: Twitch

The official Seto no Hanayome homepage has announced that the AT-X satellite television network broadcast of episode 17, scheduled for this Thursday, has been canceled. Apparently Seto no Hanayome episode 17 includes an appearance by a character bearing such a resemblance to another unspecified character that charges of copyright infringement were made against the program after the July 29th broadcast of the episode on the TV Tokyo network. A resolution between the TV series production staff and the un-named party making the copyright infringement accusation could not be reached, resulting in the episode being pulled from re-broadcast.

The Ganjitsu Thread Guide blog theorizes that the “copyright infringement” was a villain team appearing in the episode that bears a striking similarity to characters from an earlier live action “tokusatsu” program.

Note that Japanese copyright law has no general “fair use” provision to legally allow unauthorized parody.