The French/Japanese co-produced anime series Oban Star Racers has been nominated as one of four candidates for a 2007 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award in the Best Children’s Animation category. Winners will be announced on November 25th.
Question:
I am aware that the Japanese would use religious themes as long as they have pomp or circumstance, find aesthetically appealing, or like the sounds of the terms. However, are they aware that incorporating these religious themes would offend people? For example, I recalled that Nintendo removed references to an Islamic chant in Legend of Zelda: Octarina of Time because of protests by Muslims. Similar things happened to a fighting game and an upcoming game for the Nintendo Wiil (where a character exclaimed “God is great” in Arabic).
The official Japanese Lupin the Third homepage has revealed that a new Lupin OVA titled “Green vs Red” will be released next spring.
Source: Moon Phase
The official Code-E anime series homepage reports that the series will be getting a second season.
Source: Anime News Network
The official homepage for Production IG’s upcoming anime OVA “Tokyo Marble Chocolate” now hosts two short, streaming trailers. The OVA is scheduled for Japanese DVD release on December 19th.
Matai Mashou trailer
Zenryoku Shonen trailer
Source: Moon Phase
Aurora Publishing will launch its “josei” (”female”) line of English translated manga targeted at young adult and adult female readers in January. The “Luv Luv” line of translated manga will debut with the publication of Kanae Hazuki’s romance manga short story collection “Voices of Love.” Mitsuki Oda’s romance manga “Real Love,” will follow in March. All Luv Luv titles will be age-rated 18+.
Aurora Publishing is the American branch of Japanese publisher Ohzora.
Source: ICv2
Anime production studio Madhouse and Japan’s oldest film production studio, Nikkatsu, have jointly established an American company named Index Holdings. The Index Holdings office will open in Los Angeles in January to concentrate on marketing Madhouse and Nikkatsu properties internationally and develop original films with Hollywood companies.
Source: Variety
Question:
Within the last two years, we’ve seen numerous magical girl shows targeted at young boys like Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and My Otome. Is this the start of a new trend, and why has this normally shoujo genre been preempted by action/adventure?
The latest half-year report from the Japan Video Software Association reveals that mainstream anime DVD sales in Japan during the first half of 2007 have increased by 15% from 2006 sales. First half 2007 mainstream anime DVD sales in Japan totaled 28.5 billion yen ($246 million USD).
Total sales of Japanese and foreign animation released on Japanese DVD during the first half of 2007 have increased by one million dollars since 2006.
Anime DVDs account for an estimated 29.4% of all Japanese home video sales and rental revenue generated during the first half of 2007.
Source: Anime News Network
Question:
Do you know how Americans came to use the term “hentai” to refer to anime pornographic videos? Did the usage of the word “hentai” evolve among fans or did some company like A-18 call their erotic anime videos “hentai”? In Japan the terms “AV” or “ero” refer to porn, with “ero anime” being the native term for animated porn. So why do Americans call ero anime by a Japanese word that even Japanese people don’t use to refer to it?
Japanese portal site Goo now hosts the first released screenshots from the upcoming .hack//G.U. TRILOGY full CG OVA. The OVA is scheduled for Japanese released on January 25th.
Source: Ultimatum
ICv2 now hosts an interview with Dark Horse Comics editor Philip Simon regarding the transition of publishing Hiroaki Samura’s Blade of the Immortal manga in monthly comic book form to graphic novel form.
The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), the organizing body for the annual Anime Expo convention, is currently seeking employees to fill the positions of:
Vice-President & Anime Expo Convention Chairman
Assistant Division Manager for Operations
Source: Anime News Network
Ten years after the release of the arcade fighting game Street Fighter III, Capcom has formally announced development of Street Fighter IV. The official Street Fighter website now hosts a streaming teaser trailer for the game.
