What are the chances of Jack Frost getting adapted into an anime? The manhwa Kurokami’s adaption into an anime has made me hopeful that other manhwa will soon follow suit. Do you think this is likely to occur?
Twitch exclusively hosts a new trailer for Studio 4°C & Molot Entertainment’s upcoming anime & live action war action film First Squad. That the film will include live action mock documentary interviews with soldiers, scientists and historians of the era hasn’t been previously revealed, to my knowledge. The film will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 13th.
FUNimation has announced its acquisition of home entertainment, broadcast, master toy and merchandising rights to the 2002 Heat Guy J sci-fi action television series. Geneon released the entire 26 episode show on 7 DVDs in 2003 & 2004. FUNimation will release the complete series in a single collection later this year.
Source: Anime News Network
Alternative comic publisher Drawn and Quarterly has announced its acquisition of translation rights to Imiri Sakabashira’s psychedelic manga story “The Box Man,” exerpted from the 2004 manga Akatai Otoko (Red Tights Man). The 128 page hardcover manga will be released on September 29th.
Drawn and Quarterly will also release its English translation of Susumu Katsumata’s 2005 short manga story collection Red Snow on September 29. The 240 page hardcover is a collection of stories about the toils and magical wonder of life in rural, pre-modern Japan.
Source: SAME HAT! SAME HAT!
Crain’s Communications reports that New York City based anime distributor Central Park Media (CPM) officially ceased operations and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Monday, April 27th. The 17 year old company owes $1.2 million to creditors and has not been active in publishing new home video titles in the past year, at least. CPM was founded in 1990 and distributed anime titles including Grave of the Fireflies, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Project A-ko, Urotsukidoji, and La Blue Girl. CPM also published English translated manga including Lodoss War, Slayers, and Kizuna. According to the stipulations of Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the company will permanently cease operations and its assets will be liquidated.
Source: Anime News Network
Veteran manga translator and scholar Frederik L. Schodt has announced that he’ll be receiving the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette award from the Japanese government. The Gold Rays with Rosette award is the fourth class of the Order of the Rising Sun recognition, the second most prestigious honor presented by the Japanese government. The Order of the Rising Sun honor is presented to non-Japanese citizens for outstanding contributions to the promotion of foreign relations with Japan.
Schodt is the author of scholarly books on manga including Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics, Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga, and The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution. Schodt has also translated manga series including Astro Boy, Barefoot Gen, and Ghost in the Shell.
Deserving congratulations are in due to Mr. Schodt. In a larger perspective, it’s encouraging for all international manga and anime fans to see the Japanese government honor a foreigner for his significant contribution to the international understanding and popularization of contemporary Japanese art.
Source: Anime News Network
Crunchyroll, in association with Kadokawa Pictures, will extend its “Kadokawa Tuesday” series with streaming distribution of the live action Japanese horror films Isola, Shikoku, Rampo Noir, and the short horror film anthologies Dark Tales of Japan, and J-Horror Anthology: Underworld. These films are available now to web viewers in the U.S., Canada, American Samoa, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam and Virgin Islands.
All five of these titles have previously been released on American commercial DVD.
Trailer Addict now hosts a 3 minute long look at the making of director Chris Nahon’s live action Blood: The Last Vampire motion picture. The video features actress Gianna Jun (Jeon Ji Hyun) discussing her role as Saya, film footage, and even some of the on-set accidents. The film is scheduled for theatrical release in Japan on May 29th. No American release has been scheduled yet.
Source: Twitch
The first full theatrical trailer for the live action film adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s 1976 suspense thriller manga MW is now online. The film about a young man determined to end the world with a deadly virus and his best friend who knows of the plot and suffers conflicted loyalties is scheduled to open in Japanese theaters on July 4th. The MW manga is published in English by Vertical.
Source: Nippon Cinema
The NHK television network has announced an anime TV special adaptation of Hisaki Matsuura’s serialized novel Kawa no Hikari (River’s Light). The environmental awareness story about a family of rats that set off in search of a new home after losing their habitat to human construction has been serialized in the Yomiuri Newspaper since July 2006. The anime adaptation will air on the NHK network on June 20 as part of the network’s “Earth Ecology 2009 Save the Future” project.
Voice actress Aya Hirano (Haruhi Suzumiya) has stated on her blog that she will play the role of a puppy in the anime.
Source: Anime News Network
Manga creator Takuya Fujima has announced that her Weiß Survive (Weiss Survive) manga serial will be adapted into a series of sixteen 2:30 anime shorts broadcast beginning June 5 as part of the weekly late night Card Gakuen (Card School) card-game-tutorial program. The manga story follows teen boy and girl Takeshi and Michi as they get lost in the Card Battle world and have to win card battles to return home.
Source: Anime News Network
Japanese home entertainment news site AV Watch reports that the first Japanese DVD and Blu-ray volume of the second Fullmetal Alchemist television series, known in America as “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood,” will include a bonus original anime. The “Momoku no Renkinjutshi” (Blind Alchemist) OVA will be an adaptation of a short side-story that Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa drew for the Fullmetal Alchemist Guidebook. Furthermore, first pressing copies of the DVD & BD disc will also include the first episode of the “Arakawa Hiromu 4-koma Gekijou” (Hiromu Arakawa’s 4-Panel Theater), an anime adaptation of Arakawa’s four panel gag comics.
The first Japanese home video volume of Full Metal Alchemist second series will be released on August 26th.
Source: Anime News Network
Question:
Shigurui. Loved It, but the story arc isn’t completed. Should I resign myself that this is all of Shigurui and be grateful or will there be a continuation?
Kubota Makoto, creator of the Tentai Senshi Sunred (Astro Fighter Sunred) manga parody of Japanese “sentai” and “tokusatsu” live action superhero TV shows has confirmed the development of a second Sunred anime series with an image on his homepage. The first 26 episode Sunred anime television series aired last year.
The official Sunred series homepage has also confirmed the report of a second anime series.
Source: Canned Dogs & Moon Phase
