AnimeNation Anime News Blog

The Moon Phase Diary reports that an anime feature film based on author Mizuki Nomura and illustrator Takeoka Miho’s series of Bungaku Shoujo (Literature Girl) light novels is now in development. The series premiered in April 2006 and has generated, so far, 8 novels, a collection of short stories, and two manga adaptations.

The light drama revolves around two high school students – one an acclaimed male author who has vowed to cease publishing his works – the other, a girl that literally eats book pages.

The official English translation of the first chapter of Rumiko Takahashi’s latest manga series, Rin-ne, is now available online from Viz Media. New chapters will be available online every Tuesday, simultaneous with their publication in Japan.

Netcomics has published the first three English translated chapters of Est Em’s boy-love manga story Age Called Blue online, four months ahead of the official American print release. The first chapter is available to read online for free. Chapters two and three are accessible for US $.25 each.

Source: MangaBlog

Viz Media has announced that its continuing publication of Rumiko Takahashi’s Inuyasha manga series will switch publication format to the authentic original Japanese right-to-left panel lay-out beginning in volume 38, scheduled for release in July. English translated volumes 38 to 56 – the final series’ volume – will be released in America monthly.

Viz will begin publishing the Inuyasha manga series in its “Viz Big” format in November. Each $17.99 volume will contain the equivalent of three previous books. The Viz Big volumes will be published from the beginning in original Japanese right-to-left format.

Question:
Is the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences – not to mention the Annie Awards -against the idea that animation can be for older audiences, or that animation can compete with and even supersede live-action cinema meant for older audiences? With the exception of Spirited Away, anime (assuming you don’t count The Spirits Within as anime) has not managed to get beyond the eligibility list for the Oscars and the Annies. (Though the Annies do, at least, nominate more “mature” titles than AMPAS.) Ironically, however, PG-13 fare such as Beowulf and the Triplets of Beleville have occasionally made it to the final list. But one could argue that the content of these productions is only slightly more mature than that of a PG film, which is really the only reason they get picked.

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Sakura in Tokyo from James T. Kirk on Vimeo.

Loving this one. We found this here, where there are some other great Vimeo Tokyo videos. (I really like the Kaiten-zushi one…) If only we could be there…

The “Spotlight” on FUNimation’s main page now links to a New Anime Survey listing 13 of this spring’s 40 new Japanese anime television series, presumably all titles that FUNimation is considering as acquisition possibilities. (“Basara” is presumably Sengoku Basara and not the 1998 anime series titled, simply, “Basara.”)

There are some intriguing mysteries within the selected titles. FUNimation has already announced distribution rights to current and future Gonzo productions, yet Shangri-La is listed while Arad Senki ~Slap Up Party~ isn’t. Furthermore, Bandai Entertainment has domestic distribution rights to the first Hayate the Combat Butler series while FUNimation is evidently interested in the second season.

The official website for the Duel Masters & Penguin no Mondai movie double feature has opened. The site launches with a streaming teaser trailer. The Duel Masters: Lunatic God Saga & Penguin no Mondai: Shiawaseno Aoitori de Gopennasai movies are scheduled to premiere on September 19th.

Source: Moon Phase

Reportedly advertising “obi” found on new printings of Harutoshi Fukui’s series of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn novels reveal that the series will debut as an anime this winter. An official confirmation from Monthly Gundam Ace Magazine is due on the 26th. Kazuhiro Furuhashi (Chevalier, Zipang) will direct. Yasuyuki Muto (Afro Samurai: Resurrection, Chevalier) will compose the screenplay.

The Gundam Unicorn series is set in the year U.C. 0096, three years after the events depicted in the Char’s Counterattack motion picture, and 27 years before the events depicted in the F-91 motion picture.

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese home video distributor VAP has announced that the May 22 Blu-ray complete series boxed set release of the 2008 Mouryou no Hako television anime will include a new 16 minute long bonus episode. As its title suggests, the “Chuzenji Atsuko no Jikenbo: Hako no Yurei no Koto” (Atsuko Chuzenji’s Case File: Spirits in the Boxes) episode will reveal the investigative notes of television series’s teenage female supporting character Atsuko Chuzenji.

Source: Anime News Network

The official homepage for ACQUIRE’s Playstation Portable fantasy RPG Ken to Maho to Gakuen Mono. 2 (Sword and Sorcery and School Stuff. 2) has announced that when the game is released in June, limited edition copies will include a bonus original anime OVA DVD.

Source: Anime News Network

Superflat First Love, a second anime collaboration between Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami and French fashion company Louis Vuitton, is scheduled to premiere online and at the Vuitton store in Omotesando, Tokyo, on the 28th. The new anime short commemorates six years of collarboration between Murakami and Vuitton, and will be used to promote Vuitton’s spring line of “Multicolor Sprint Palette” leather accessories.

Source: Anime News Network

Reportedly Tezuka Productions is now developing new anime feature film adaptations of the late Osamu Tezuka’s 1953-56 Princess Knight (Ribbon no Kishi) and 1972-1983 Buddha manga series. The films are tentatively planned for release next year or later.

Princess Knight was adapted into an anime television series in 1967, a theatrical anime feature in 1994, and a live stage musical in 2006. Viz published a commemorative single chapter of the Princess Night manga in English in 2007. Vertical currently distributes the Buddha manga series in English.

Source: Anime News Network

For you animation fans, Shout! Factory has announced The Transformers: The Complete First Season 25th Anniversary Edition DVD box set for release on June 16 (SRP $29.99). The set will include all first season episodes with remastered picture and new stereo soundtracks created from the original audio masters. The episodes have been restored to the original broadcast versions. Extras will include the Triple Changer: From Toy to Comic to Screen – The Origins of the Transformers featurette, a rare PSA and a printable script via DVD-ROM.

For those who prefer it, The Transformers: 25th Anniversary Matrix of Leadership Edition Collector’s Set is expected to be announced in the coming weeks for release in July. This will be a complete series box set on 16 DVDs, with tons of extras and a special collectible book.

Source: ICv2

Article provided by Daniel Zelter

Crunchyroll, in association with Kadokawa Pictures, has announced plans for online distribution of the live action MPD Psycho television series and the Tomie: Rebirth (2000) and Tomie: Forbidden Fruit (2002) motion pictures.

The 2002 MPD Psycho television series is an adaptation of Eiji Otsuka & Shou Tajima’s 1997 and ongoing horror/mystery manga series. Tomie movies four and five compliment Crunchyroll’s announcement from last week of digital distribution plans for the first three Tomie live action horror movies based on the manga by Junji Ito. All five Tomie movies and the MPD Psycho television series have been previously released on American DVD by BCI/Eclipse.

New Kadokawa Pictures titles will premiere on Crunchyroll on “Kadokawa Tuesdays” beginning this week.

Reportedly Nunoe Mizuki’s 2008 book Ge Ge Ge no Nyobo (Cackling Wife) will be adapted into a live action television series and motion picture. The book by the wife of acclaimed manga artist Shigeru Mizuki chronicles the couple’s 45+ year marriage. Shigeru & Nunoe met through a traditional “omiai” arranged marriage in 1961 and have been together since. The book’s title is inspired by Sigeru Mizuki’s most famous creation, the children’s horror manga Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro.

A TV drama based on Ge Ge Ge no Nyobo will reportedly air from March 29 to September 25 next year. Actor/director/screenwriter Takuji Suzuki will begin shooting a feature film adaptation this fall for a summer 2010 release commemorating 60 years of Shigeru Mizuki drawing manga.

Source: Anime News Network