In case this hasn’t been mentioned before, the July 11th release of the fifth collected volume of Kaworu Watashiya’s Kodomo no Jikan manga will be available in a standard edition and a limited edition that includes an 89 minute DVD featuring an uncensored summary of the first “Kojica” anime television series and a trailer for the upcoming second TV series.
Source: Moon Phase
Monthly Comic Sirius Magazine has launched a web page hosting a first look at the anime character designs for the upcoming TV anime adaptation of Suzuhito Yasuda’s Yozakura Quartet manga series.
Source: Moon Phase Diary
The official homepage for the forthcoming White Album anime television series is now online. The series is scheduled to premier next January.
Source: Moon Phase
Question:
Recently I’ve read surveys saying that adult Japanese fans think the two most interesting anime film franchises are Studio Ghibli works… and Detective Conan. Really?! I don’t mean to insult the detective series, but the massive appeal of “Conan-kun” among Japanese, especially Japanese women, is lost on me. Nor can I understand making any kind of meaningful qualitative comparison between the two franchises. Studio Ghilbi makes artistic, entertaining, and world-respected family films. Detective Conan is an amusing, episodic, and disposable children’s series about a boy detective solving the latest gruesome murder or kidnapping du jour.
Media Blasters President John Sirabella has revealed the acquisition of translation and distribution rights to the Cleavage, Yakata Jukujo, and Ikusa Otome Valkyrie Shinsho adult anime series, and the Papa to Kiss in the Dark boys-love OVA series.
The 2 episode Yakata Jukujo series from 2007 will be released domestically under the title “MILF Mansion.”
The 2 episode second Ikusa Otome Valkyrie OVA series from 2006 will be released domestically under the title “Ride of the Valkyrie.”
Sirabella also confirmed Media Blasters’ acquisition of domestic distribution rights to upcoming Bible Black anime and two Yakin Byouto (Night Shift Nurses) OVAs.
Source: Anime on DVD
The official Japanese homepage for the Gunslinger Girl anime series has announced that a new two episode Gunslinger Girl OVA series will be released following the September 25th Japanese release of the seventh and final DVD of the Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino- TV series. Both episodes will be apparently released on a single DVD.
Source: Moon Phase
Newsarama has published the first part of a three part exploration of the ramifications of TOKYOPOP’s recent resturcturing, lay-offs, and publishing cancelations.
Article provided by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean
Bringing to mind a scene from Monty Python & The Quest for the Holy Grail, AD Vision’s Chris Oarr has reminded everyone, via Publishers Weekly, that, “ADV Manga is not dead.” The publisher is currently not printing new books, “aggressively reprinting” catalog titles, or acquiring new titles. But ADV Manga does continue to fill retailer reorders for books that have stock available, and does plan to reprint out of stock books “in the near future.”
Oarr explains that in response to criticism and inquiries from ADV Manga’s fans and customers, “It just doesn’t serve anybody’s purpose to answer the very reasonable questions that fans post on the Internet every day.”
On the possible future of ADV Manga, Oarr says, “We are looking at every possible avenue to continue with manga franchises that have been very successful, but our main priority is our core business, which is anime.”
The current issue of Monthly Ikki Magazine reports that Hisae Iwaoka’s 2005 sci-fi drama manga series Dosei Mansion (Saturn Apartments) will be adapted into a live action feature film.
Dosei Mansion is the story of Mitsu, a poor, orphaned teen boy struggling to get by in a future society in which the world’s entire population has migrated into a system of elevated rings suspended above the surface of the earth.
Source: Anime News Network
Music Japan+ Magazine now hosts an English language interview with voice actor and vocalist Tohru Furuya. Furuya is the veteran voice behind characters including Amuro Ray of Mobile Suit Gundam, Tuxedo Kamen of Sailor Moon, and Yamcha from Dragon Ball. The interview concentrates on Furuya’s first solo album as a pop vocalist, released earlier this year.
Source: Gunota Headlines
Singapore based international advertising marketing management company Aktiv Digital has announced its affiliation with San Francisco based multimedia website Crunchyroll to “represent” Crunchyroll’s “advertising inventory in the Asia Pacific region.” Crunchyroll delivers over 100 million page-views every month from 12 million visits made by over 1.5 million unique visitors a month in Asia Pacific alone. 99% of Crunchyroll’s audience in Asia consists of the users in the 13-34 age group – a particularly attractive demographic for Crunchyroll’s supporting advertisers including Ubisoft, Puma, Best Buy, Comedy Central and Dimension Films.
The partnership [between Akitv Digital and Crunchyroll] will aim to deliver a full range of online marketing services, from display and rich media solutions to advertiser integration and micro-sites. The partnership launches June 26, 2008.
Question:
I was wondering if you have a take on the endless stream of Dragon Ball merchandising released in Japan, even to this day. If not mistaken, the series ended almost 20 years ago, yet there is a constant influx of new products each month. Originally I assumed this was a product of the (then) broadcasting of DB in North America, and thus a somewhat “renewed” interest in the series worldwide; however, years later, it would seem as if DB is as iconic as Pokemon or whatnot.
Media Blasters has revealed plans for an official English language translation of Torajirou Kishi’s two volume lesbian romance drama manga series Maka-Maka. Media Blasters’ Managing Editor Frank Pannone has confirmed that the American publication will faithfully replicate the original Japanese version’s full color interior, fold-outs, and multi-layered dustjacket covers.
Source: Mangablog
Digital Manga has announced a distribution partnership with Japanese company Shinshokan Publishing. Select boys love manga and novels owned by Shinshokan will be published in English by Digital Manga through a new label named “Doki Doki.” The Doki Doki line will launch with five titles:
Brilliant Blue, by Saemi Yorita
Color, by Eiki Eiki and Mikiyo Tsuda (Taishi Zaou)
Living for Tomorrow, by Taishi Zaou
Midnight Bloom, by Rico Fukiyama
Fevered Kiss novel written by Arika Kuga and illustrated by Taishi Zaou
Source: Anime News Network
Bandai Entertainment has announced that the ImaginAsian television network will launch “THE BLOCK fueled by Bandai Entertainment” on August 6th. The three hour programming period will showcase Bandai Entertainment properties from 8 to 11 PM every Wednesday night. Series broadcast will include Ghost Slayers Ayashi, Mars Daybreak, My Hime, My Otome, Planetes, Rocket Girls, Scrapped Princess, Toward the Terra, and the live action series The Great Horror Family and Bloodhound.
The ImaginAsian television network currently broadcasts anime series including Gankutsuou, Elemental Gelade, Kyo Kara Maoh, and Law of Ueki.
Source: Anime News Network & ICv2
