Readers that have watched the Sky Crawlers movie may be mildly curious about my response to the film’s thematic significance. Readers that haven’t watched the film are advised to stop here.
Yahoo! Japan’s movies section is now streaming the five minute long opening scene of the live action Blood: The Last Vampire motion picture. The film opens in Japanese release this Friday, and will hit American theaters later this summer.
The footage contains graphic violence, blood, and mature language.
While nicely shot, the acting from the “Council” handlers and the interaction between them and Saya feels a little stilted and artificial to me. And is the introductory text scroll really necessary?
Source: Anime News Network
Bessatsu Hana to Yume Magazine has announced that a live action TV series adaptation of Aya Kanno’s romantic comedy manga series Otomen will premiere on August 1. Otomen is the story of high school junior Asuka Masamune, a martial arts master whose masculine persona hides his secret love of shoujo manga, sweets, sewing, and cooking. The best selling 2006 manga series currently has 7 compiled volumes in Japan. Viz Media has published two volumes, so far, in English.
Source: Anime News Network
Dengeki Playstation now hosts a selection of screenshots from the upcoming AIKa ZERO episode 1: White Nights OVA. It’s scheduled for Japanese release on on August 25.
Source: Rakugakidou.net
Question:
why is there no one else picking up Lupin, in spite of the fact that Crunchyroll has proved that there is an audience you can cultivate for older shows on-line? I don’t think anyone imagined the original Harlock getting any release in this market, but it happened, and now I’m just waiting for the DVD collection.
During this past weekend’s Anime Boston convention, FUNimation announced plans for domestic distribution of the 2008 Spice & Wolf (Okami to Koshinryo) television series. FUNimation’s initial acquisition evidently does not (yet) include the 2009 Spice & Wolf II OVA or television series. The 13 episode first season will be released in America this winter or possibly early next year.
Source: Anime Vice
During this past weekend’s Anime Boston convention, FUNimation announced plans for a September 22 premiere release of Sgt. Frog (Keroro Gunso) season 1 part 1. The series’ numerous references to other anime, particularly Mobile Suit Gundam, will not be censored. FUNimation hasn’t yet decided if these references will be explained in liner notes or on-disc subtitles.
FUNimation also announced its English dub cast for the Evangelion 1.0 motion picture. Actors including Spike Spencer, Allison Keith, and John Swasey will be reprising their roles from AD Vision’s English dub of the director’s cut TV episodes. Monica Rial will return, although now playing Pen-Pen rather than her former character Maya Ibuki.
Shinji Ikari: Spike Spencer
Rei Ayanami: Brina Palencia
Misato Katsuragi: Allison Keith-Shipp
Ritsuko Akagi: Colleen Clinkenbeard
Gendo Ikari: John Swasey
Yui Ikari: Stephanie Young
Kozo Fuyutsuki: Kent Williams
Maya Ibuki: Caitlin Glass
Shigeru Aoba: Phil Parsons
Hikari Horaki: Leah Clark
Makoto Hyuuga: Mike McFarland
Kensuke Aida: Greg Ayres
Toji Suzuhara: Justin Cook
Kiel Lorenz: Bill Jenkins
Kaworu Nagisa: Jerry Jewel
Pen-Pen: Monica Rial
Evangelion: Mike McFarland
Asuka Langley Soryu does not appear in the Evangelion 1.0 movie.
Source: Anime News Network & Anime Vice
At this past weekend’s FanimeCon convention, Gainax co-founder Hiroyuki Yamaga revealed that the studio is now developing two new anime productions. One is a special episode of the 2002 Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi television series. The other presently untitled work will deal with free-diving, diving without the assistance of breathing equipment (similar to Production I.G’s 1994 OVA B.B. Fish).
Source: Anime News Network
The Japan Animation Creators Association held a symposium at Tokyo University last Friday to discuss the working conditions and status of Japan’s anime production industry. The discussion included an announcement of results from a poll of 700 professional animators and directors.
Animators in their 20s earn an average annual salary of 1.1 million yen (US $11,600). Staffers in their 30s earn an average annual salary of 2.14 million yen (US $22,600). Last year JAniCA reported that veteran animators in their 40s and 50s may earn as little as 3 million yen (about US $31,000) annually. 47% of the survey respondents did not have an employment contract with an anime production company.
The symposium’s panelists, who included Vampire Hunter D director Toyoo Ashida, City Hunter character designer Sachiko Kamimura, Nijuu Menso no Musume producer Koji Takeuchi, and Paprika director Satoshi Kon, warned that the future of Japan’s anime industry is worrying because the industry is not attracting and training enough new animators to sustain the industry. The symposium concluded by advocating more collaboration with production companies to improve the working conditions of staffers.
Source: Anime News Network
Question:
Ishinomori Shotaro, Matsumoto Leiji, and Nagai Gou are (at least occasionally) fantastic and trail blazing storytellers, yet none of their modern works have ever taken off in North America, either in the fickle fansub community or the commercial market. I blame this solely on the fact that all of these men draw round kitschy characters that don’t strike Americans as “pretty” or “cool.” Imagine, just for a moment, if Haruhi or Wolf’s Rain or Hellsing or Bleach or any other substantially popular anime franchise in North America had character designs by one of those three men. I can see American interest in the franchise capsizing instantly. If Air Master had originally been drawn by Oh!great or Peach Pit or even Takahashi Rumiko it could have been a potential modest hit, even with incomprehensible dubtitles. But the unattractive art design of Air Master simply doomed it from the start. Anime titles with “ugly” character designs simply don’t appeal to American audiences.
The Japanese government Saiban Inseido (public jury system) information website is now streaming the original 22 minute anime short film Bokura no Saibanin Monogatari (Our Jury Story) to educate Japanese citizens about the re-introduction of a peer jury system into the Japanese criminal court system this July. The Japanese criminal court system has operated without a peer jury for the past 60 years, so many Japanese citizens are unfamiliar with the concept of jury duty.
The anime video, produced by Group TAC and Studio Cj in association with Omnibus Japan and Tomason, educates citizens through a high school romance story that segues into discussion of the new peer jury system.
The video streams in narrowband and broadband resolutions with and without Japanese subtitles.
narrowband
narrowband with Japanese subtitles
broadband
broadband with Japanese subtitles
The video is also accessible on YouTube, split into three parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Source: Danny Choo
Viz Media has launched a web based English language version of Shogakukan’s seinen (for young adult men) manga magazine Ikki. The online magazine presently hosts the first chapter of Daisuke Igarashi’s serial Children of the Sea and a personal interview with Igarashi. Future titles to be serialized include Natsume Ono’s House of Five Leaves (Saraiya Goyo), Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro, Mohiro Kitoh’s Ours (Bokurano), and Shunju Aono’s I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow (Ore wa Mada Honki Dashitenai Dake). The popularity of titles released on the website will be used to determine which series will get traditional print releases.
Manga creator and character designer Yoshitoshi ABe (Serial Experiments Lain, Haibane Renmei) has confirmed on his personal blog that he and many of the staffers of the Lain anime are now developing an anime titled “Despera,” (abbreviated from “Desperado”). Abe first revealed his work on a new anime project at last month’s Sakura-Con anime convention. A formalized official public announcement of the Despera anime production should be coming soon.
Source: Anime News Network
Bandai Entertainment has informed retailers that the release of Mobile Suit Gundam OO DVD volume 1, in both regular and special edition versions, has been delayed from June 16 to July 21 to allow for the correction of a manufacturing error.
The Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan in collaboration with the DC Anime Club will screen director Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters per Second and Voices of a Distant Star on Friday May 29 at 6:30 pm in Washington, DC. The screening is free and open to the public, but advance reservations are required. Contact jiccrsvpspring08@embjapan.org to attend.
