AnimeNation Anime News Blog

The CLAMP manga creator group has confirmed that it drew the art for the original Hatsune Miku music video “Mugen no Yami -echo of the past.” The song was composed by game soundtrack composer Shinji Hosoe and game developer Ichiro Mihara, who is a personal friend of CLAMP’s Nanase Ohkawa. Hatsune Miku is the popular “Vocaloid” voice synthesizer program developed by Yamaha and Crypton Future Media. The original music video was first uploaded to Nico Nico Douga last Thursday. It was quickly exported to YouTube.

“Mugen no Yami -echo of the past” is actually a shortened version of the original 6:16 Hatsune Miku song “Mugen no Yami” (Infinite Darkness).

Source: Anime News Network

The homepage for this summer’s loosely biographical anime film Hachigatsu no Symphony -Shibuya 2002-2003 has opened an English language mirror that includes details about the film and an interview with the film’s director Akio Nishizawa. The movie is scheduled for Japanese theatrical release this August.

Director Nishizawa states, “I don’t think this film is to be ‘a biography of Ai Kawashima,’ …I didn’t interview Ai the person herself for the details, did I to the people around her, though. I described a lot of the imaginary events when I wrote the screen play. This film is an independent work as itself.”

On Friday, the Japanese parliament passed an amendment making it illegal to knowingly download copyrighted material without authorization. However, the new law does not cover online streaming, does not specify a punishment for illegal downloading, and specifies that violators of the new law must have been aware prior to downloading that the file was initially uploaded without authorization. The new law will go into effect on January 1, 2010.

Uploading copyrighted material to the Internet without authorization has been illegal in Japan since 1997, but downloading copyrighted material for personal use has never previously been illegal in Japan.

Source: Japanator & Billboard

Chinese portal site Sina.com has secured a new promotional video for Imagi Studios’ upcoming Astro Boy animated film. The video includes a summarized history of Astro Boy, behind the scenes footage of the new film, and a summary of Astro Boy’s appeal to children from actor Nicolas Cage, who plays Astro’s father, Dr. Tenma, in the film. The Astro Boy movie hits theaters on October 23rd. Twitch mirrors the video, so you don’t have to wait on the notoriously slow Sina.com.

Question:
I’ve noticed that Funimation has recently acquired distribution rights to shows such as Samurai Champloo and Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, both of which were formerly owned by Geneon/Pioneer. But I’ve noticed that other shows such as Hellsing (the original series) and Trigun, also owned by the former Geneon/Pioneer, haven’t shown up under any of the English DVD licensors. Can we expect to see these and other shows being released in box sets by Funimation or ADV or something? Or will they just continue to hang out in limbo? And while we’re on the subject, I’m also curious as to what lead to Geneon/Pioneer’s downfall. What happened there?

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Twitch is now the exclusive home to the pilot animation teaser trailer for Chinese studio Magic Dumpling’s animated adventure film Road to Home. The movie is currently in pre-production for an October 1, 2011 release in China. So the “developmental teaser” may not be a reflection of what the completed film will look like, but the teaser footage is respectable from a country known for producing lots of animation, but not a lot of good animation.

The KERA public television station based in Texas has reported that local actor Spencer Prokop passed away on June 7 at age 51. Prokop had been battling pancreatic cancer for over two years. He leaves behind a wife and son. Prokop had worked as a writer on English language adaptations of FUNimation titles including Beck, Mushishi, Kodocha, One Piece, and School Rumble. He also performed voice acting in anime including Baccano, Darker Than Black, and KenIchi the Mightiest Disciple.

The family requests no flowers or plants; instead, donations may be given in Prokop’s name to The Nature Conservancy and to the Lakewood Montessori School.

Source: Big Cartoon Database Forum

Combined global home video sale and rental revenue in 2008 was down by 3.6% compared to the previous year. Global DVD sales in 2008 were down by 4.7% compared to 2007. And Blu-ray has not shown signs of mitigating the declines. Despite strong international Blu-ray sales last year totaling $482 million, revenue from Blu-ray sales “barely made a dent in the missing revenue.” Decreasing DVD rentals and purchases around the world contributed to a drop of more than $2.6 billion in international home video revenue from 2007 to 2008.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Article provided by Daniel Zelter

Question:
I’m curious to hear why you find 2D gore “tasteless,” John. Not that it isn’t, I suppose, but I don’t see it as any more or less tasteless than simulated 3D gore. Creating both is a work of art, no? I’ll grant that 3D genuine gore is the epitome of tasteless grotesque entertainment, but as Jorg Buttgereit cleverly points out, “If you love special effects gore but can’t handle the real thing, you don’t really like to be offended by cinema.”

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Famitsu magazine is now streaming a 45 second trailer for next month’s Umineko no Naku Koro ni mystery anime television series. The show is based on a visual novel game from 07th Expansion, the creators of the popular “When They Cry” (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni) series.

Hmm. Wonder how this one will fare compared to Higurashi. No moe-bait evident in this series.

Source: Moon Phase

Twitch has unearthed a new two-minute long trailer for Madhouse’s upcoming feature film Summer Wars. The movie is scheduled to hit Japanese theaters on August 1.

The official homepage for the Tetsuwan Birdy: Decode television series has added a streaming trailer for “Between You and Me,” an unbroadcast episode that will hit Japanese DVD on July 22.

Source: Moon Phase

The Japanese homepage for the upcoming Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~ television series is now streaming a sample version of the show’s non-credit opening animation. The series is scheduled to premiere on the 26th.

This show has been getting a massive publicity push. It’ll be nice if the show actually lives up to its billing.

Source: Anime News Network

An anime adaptation of author Ishio Yamagata and illustrator Shigeki Maeshima’s light novel series Tatakau Shisho was reportedly announced during this past weekend’s Hatsukoi Limited & Yoku Wakaru Gendai Maho Joint Festival publicity event. The 8 volume novel series that made its debut in September 2005 is a romantic fantasy drama set in an alternate world in which the deceased are enshrined as books. Young man Koria Tonisu has his memory erased and a bomb implanted in his chest, and is ordered to kill Hamyuttsu Meseta, the world’s most powerful armed librarian. However, Tonisu falls in love with Meseta and becomes embroiled in the ongoing battle centered on the library.

Source: Anime News Network

The official homepage for the upcoming Yoku Wakaru Gendai Maho television series has announced that an episode 0 titled “cruncha cruncha cruncha” will stream for free on the series’ homepage and Bandai Channel site from the 29th through July 6. The regular series will begin its TV broadcast on July 11.

Source: Moon Phase