AnimeNation Anime News Blog

The trailer for Hayao Miyazaki’s upcoming film Gake no Ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea) broadcast during the June 27th episode of NTV’s Zoom in Super television program is now available on YouTube. The trailer features the film’s theme song performed by 9 year old Nara Yuria, the voice of Ponyo. The film is scheduled to open in Japanese theatrical release on July 19th.

As expected, it’s adorably cute. But Ponyo certainly doesn’t look like any goldfish I’ve ever seen.

The official Japanese homepage for the recently announced ef - a tale of melodies anime television series is now online. The site features a 50 second trailer available for download or online viewing.

Source: Anime News Network

Geneon Entertainment has formally announced the development of a second Ichigo Marshmallow (”Strawberry Marshmallow”) OVA series.

The ToHeart 2ad OVA series has issued a formal announcement of development of a sequel anime series titled “ToHeart 2ad Plus.”

The recently broadcast final episode of the fourth Major television series included an announcement of a January 2009 planned premier of a fifth Major television series.

Source: Anime News Network

The short stop-motion animated film Stephan, produced by Japanese studio Muku, is now available on YouTube in 10 languages, including English. The short children’s film is designed to educate children about the world’s oil crisis. The film has been created for screening at this week’s international Junior 8 Summit in Toyako, Hokkaido. The event that brings together international children, occurs prior to the G8 Summit.

Source: Anime News Network

Question:
Why do anime have next episode previews? Even anime full of stand alone episodes have them. Why do you think next episode previews are so popular in Japan?

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The official Strike Witches homepage now hosts 4 short, streaming trailers for the upcoming TV series. Click the website’s top left red button to access the video clips.

Source: Moon Phase

During its Rondo Robe 2008 publicity event, Geneon Entertainment formally announced development of “ef - a tale of melodies,” an anime television series sequel to the 2007 TV series “ef - a tale of memories,” based on the adult PC game from Minori. The upcoming series will, once again, be animated by Shaft.

Source: Moon Phase Diary

Reportedly animation studio TNK will produce a TV anime adaptation of Feng’s 2007 adult PC game “Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka.”

Source: Moon Phase Diary

Newsarama has published the second and third segments of its three part exposé on TOKYOPOP’s restructuring and the effects of these changes on artists whose work is published by, or may be published by the company.

Article provided by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

ICv2 has published a spoiler-free positive review of the upcoming Japanese animated Batman anthology film Batman: Gotham Knight.

The 2006 anime series Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z, a Japanese remake of creator Craig McCracken American animated series, will premier on the Cartoon Network serving Latin America on Saturday, August 2.

No North American broadcast has been announced.

Article provided by Papo de Budega

Question:
Why doesn’t Bandai Entertainment care about the Western fans? It seems like all of the DVDs they’re putting out are in subtitle form, and not the dubbed version which 80% of the fans like. Aren’t they aware by doing that there’s a greater chance people will just go and download fansubs instead of paying 40 dollars for the DVD? I think they don’t realize that most people would just sooner have the show, but even then, would people still want to pay (any) money for subtitle DVDs? I know they might think there isn’t a demand but if you don’t make one then of course there’s not gonna be any.

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Triad Toys has secured rights from Geneon Entertainment to produce toys and collectibles based on the 2004 anime television series Samurai Champloo. 12 inch tall, highly articulated collectable figures of Samurai Champloo main characters Mugen and Jin are scheduled for release on December 15th. Triad Toys also has plans for a series of collectible scale statues and maquettes.

These 12 inch figures seem pricy, but considering their size and quality, they may actually be quite a bargain at $119.99 each.

ronically, despite 4Kids Entertainment CEO Al Kahn publicly proclaiming in December 2007 that “Japan is over,” 4Kids Entertainment has secured American distribution rights to the 50 episode Japanese live action “tokusatsu” (special effects) television series Kamen Rider Ryuki. The series, originally broadcast in Japan in 2002, will premier on the former Kids WB block on the CW network this winter under the loosely translated titled “Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.” The promotional image for “Kamen Rider Dragon Knight” and the fact that the series will star a character named “Kit Taylor” suggest that the series will be heavily edited and reshot to replace the original Japanese actors with original American footage.

Oh yipee. Another Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. I can barely contain my, let’s say, “enthusiasm.”

Source: ICv2

The Zannen, Canada fan site now hosts an audio interview with anime director Hiroshi Nagahama, conducted by HiSciFi. Nagahama is currently directing the anime adaptation of Wakasugi Kiminori’s Detroit Metal City manga series, and has previously directed anime including Mushishi and Jubei-chan 2.

Source: Anime News Network