To coincide with the Halloween holiday, FUNimation has formally announced its acquisition of distribution rights to the 2006 anime television series Ghost Hunt. The supernatural mystery/horror anime is based on the Ghost Hunt manga by Shiho Inada and Fuyumi Ono, which was itself adapted from Fuyumi Ono’s original novels. The anime will debut in America in fall 2008.
Source: Anime News Network
Vertical Inc. has announced plans to publish all 17 volumes of Osamu Tezuka’s popular manga series Black Jack in English beginning next fall. Viz has previously released two volumes of Black Jack manga in America.
Source: Publisher’s Weekly
This Sunday, November 4th, author August Ragone will be appearing at an in-store signing for the release of his first book, Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monster, from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm at Border’s Books in the Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco, California. The 208 page hardcover biography of Japanese cinema pioneer Eiji Tsuburaya (1901-1970), best known as the “creator” of Godzilla and Ultraman, is the first authorized biography of Tsuburaya published outside of Japan, and the first published in a language other than Japanese.
Question:
Why is a company like [name withheld] still in business? How do they get away with selling bootleg Chinese imports right next to the licensed titles? No wonder anime companies are going out of business!
An unconfirmed post on the Japanese Moon Phase message board claims that the December issue of Dengeki G’s Magazine will formally announce that game development studio Overflow’s April Fools gag trailer for “Magical Heart Kokoro-chan” will be developed into an actual “School Days: Magical Heart Kokoro-chan” spin-off OVA. The School Days TV series staff and cast will reunite to produce the magical girl parody OVA, which is scheduled for Japanese release on March 28, 2008.
Source: Anime News Network
Question:
I seem to notice frequently in modern Japanese RPG games that characters are often dressed in eccentric fashions that seems impractical in real life. Examples includes the Final Fantasy series and more recently “Eternal Sonata” (called “Trusty Bell” in Japan) for the Xbox 360. Is there an explanation behind these unusual fashions often found in these games?
A teaser trailer included on the fourth Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya DVD reveals that the Lucky Star anime television series will be distributed in America by Bandai Entertainment.
Source: Anime on DVD
Yen Press has announced its first yaoi titles, all by Lily Hoshino. Three volumes are planned. Love Quest (Rabu Kue) will release in October 2008; Mr. Flower Bride (Hanayome-kun) in March 2009; and Mr. Flower Groom (Hanamuko-san) in July 2009.
All three titles are licensed from Houbunsha. U.S. retail price will be $12.99 each.
Source: ICv2
Capcom, in association with Sony Pictures, has announced production of “Biohazard: Degeneration,” an original story, full CG animation feature film based on the Biohazard (”Resident Evil”) survival horror video game franchise. The film is tentatively planned for Japanese release next year.
Source: Moon Phase
The official Japanese homepage for the True Tears anime television series is now online. The adaptation of the PC simulation game developed by Lacryma is scheduled to premier next year.
Source: Moon Phase
Question:
Hello, John. I decided to submit a question (or a counterargument) when I read the Japanese translation of your “Is Japanese Pop Culture Aware of Religious Sensitivity?” [article]. Your argument apparently sounds correct (at least regarding Japanese videogames), but don’t you think it is very unfair for Americans to argue about foreign pop cultures without any examination of themselves?
For example, “Back to the Future” depicts Libyans as if innate terrorists or a Japanese businessman as if an arrogant supervisor of the American protagonist, while black Americans are caricaturized from a point of relatively positive view instead of the story being set in the ’50s. It proves that Hollywood film makers are indifferent to perspectives from abroad while they are very sensitive to domestic criticisms. I know the American media is sometimes very sensitive to religious or racial discriminations, but it is largely due to the fact the U.S. innately has a lot of races including African Americans as well as foreign religions including Muslim, not to speak of a lot of minorities (BTW, Japanese Moslems amount only to around 9,000 out of over 120,000,000 Japanese, or around 0.0075%). In other words, the American people only become sensitive as long as they have received / will receive criticisms or blames domestically. If the American entertainment industries are really sensitive to perspectives from abroad, they would not have produced a Madonna’s PV, where Americans hanging down from a Shinto archway, or a blasphemy story of Homer Simpson, who got down the emperor of Japan on the Sumo ring when he made a trip to Tokyo with his family!
I’m afraid that the question and John’s answer sound as if only Japanese were insensitive to perspectives from foreigners. However, I think that pop cultures including both Hollywood and Japanese anime are innately indifferent to perspectives from abroad. Don’t you?
Furthermore, I must say that it is incorrect your theory that the Japanese creators are insensitive to icons or symbols of foreign religions, because they are also insensitive to Japanese traditional religions. See a villain from “Sailor Moon”; she was named after Amaterasu, a goddess from Japanese Shinto, and no Japanese allegedly condemned the creators. Sakura from Urusei Yatsura was a Miko, or Shinto shrine maiden, and was frequently caricatured.
Many Japanese readers seem disappointed with your mostly correct, but pretty unfair argument. I know Ask John is aimed principally at anime fans in English-speaking world, but don’t you think you should discuss the subject once more for your faithful Japanese fans?
The illustrated history of Japanese manga’s introduction into America, published in this month’s Wired Magazine, is now available from the Wired homepage. The illustrated short was written by American manga scholar Jason Thompson and illustrated by Japanese artist Atsuhisa Okura.
The latest animation work from internationally respected artist Takashi Murakami’s Kaikai Kiki studio is scheduled to premier on Monday, October 29th at the Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art as part of its “©Murakami” exhibition of Murakami’s work. The ten minute long animation short titled “Kaikai & Kiki,” is reportedly the first in a series.
Murakami directed a 5 minute long anime film titled “Superflat Monogram” as an advertisement for French fashion label Louis Vuitton in 2003.
Source: Variety
The Sankei Sports newspaper has reported that 20 year old actress Inoue Mao will star in a live action TV special adaptation of Shosuke Kurakane’s 1949 historical fantasy comedy manga series Anmitsu Hime (”Sugar Princess”). The special will air on the Fuji TV network in January 2008.
In 1986, Fuji TV broadcast a 51 episode anime adaptation of Anmitsu Hime produced by Studio Pierrot.
Source: Ultimatum
Question:
Just how important is an English dub to the success or failure of an anime series in the States? Case in point: ADV Films seemingly went out of their way to keep the U.S. voice cast of Ah! My Goddess intact when they obtained the license for season two from Media Blasters. Meanwhile, Geneon went even further by advertising the reunited cast from the original Hellsing series in the trailer for the new OVA. Are U.S. companies so concerned that a long running or reimagined series could sink or swim depending on if familiar voices are heard in familiar roles, or is cast continuity just part of how the business works?
