AnimeNation Anime News Blog

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Gundam anime franchise, Nissin will release four varieties of limited edition Gundam Cup Noodles on August 31st, officially the last day of public display for the 1:1 scale Gundam in Tokyo’s Odaiba district. The Cup Noodles will include RX-78, ZAKU-II, Char’s red ZAKU-II, and the DOM model kits in 1/380 scale, the smallest scale Gundam models ever released.

Source: Hobby Media

Article provided by Francesco Fondi

Question:
What is your opinion of the recent screenshots of the “new” berserk sequel supposedly by 4°C shown on a messageboard with screenshot of Casca (post eclipse), Guts, Puck, & the Nosferatu Zodd?

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The official homepage for the upcoming Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra television series has added a second streaming promotional video. There’s not a whole lot of difference between the first and second trailers, though. The show will premiere on October 2nd.

Source: Moon Phase

Kodansha has launched a website formally announcing a two-episode Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Bangaichi OAD series. The first Original Anime DVD will be bundled with limited edition copies of the 19th volume of Koji Kumeta’s Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei manga, scheduled for Japanese release on November 17.

This week’s Japanese release of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei manga volume 18 is available in a limited edition that includes a DVD featuring a collection of Zetsubou Sensei anime opening and ending animation sequences and a preview of the upcoming OAD.

Source: Moon Phase

The SAME HAT! blog has revealed that publisher Drawn & Quarterly will release an English translation of Oji Suzuki’s 1985 gekiga manga Red Kimono on March 16, 2010.

Suzuki is known as one of the “GARO 1-2-3 trio” who, along with manga creators Shinichi Abe and Masuzou Furukawa, helped launch the “gekiga” style of alternative, underground manga with stories published in Garo Magazine during the 1970s and 1980s. When combined, the second syllables of these creators’ given names spell out “One, Two, Three” in Japanese.

Source: Anime News Network

The Fuji TV Network will broadcast two Koishigure ~Yoshitaka Yuriko to 6-tsu no Koi~ anime TV specials on September 16 & 23. 21-year-old actress Yuriko Yoshitaka will read six short love stories from the “Koishigure” short story series originally published in Da Vinci Magazine. The televisied stories will use their original magazine illustrations. And each story will feature a new theme song performed by a popular artist.

Source: Anime News Network

Nikkei Business Publications reports that the Bandai Channel online streaming service will begin serving anime content to viewers in America, Europe, and Asia early next year. The online video streaming service launched in 2002 and has, so far, strictly limited access to its content to viewers located within Japan.

Last April the Nihon Keizai Newspaper reported that Bandai intended to begin distribution of Gundam anime in 10 languages worldwide beginning in late 2009.

Source: Anime News Network

The live action Ecchi wo Nerae! Inuneko motion picture hits Japanese theaters on the 29th. The movie is an adaptation of Kyo Hatsuki’s sexy love comedy manga series Inuneko. The story revolves around Yuki, a female teacher with a fear of men, Toraichi, a male student with a crush on the Yuki, and Makino, a female student attracted to Toraichi. The comedy begins when Yuki and Makino mysteriously swap bodies.

The movie’s trailer isn’t graphic, but still isn’t especially work safe.

Source: Tokyograph

Time Magazine has published a pictorial article picking its favorite animated films “not just for kids.” While anime doesn’t dominate the selection, it does get some love.

Article provided by Daniel Zelter

Question:
Why are American audiences willing to see Miyazaki movies on DVD, but so reluctant to catch them in theaters? Those are probably the best places to experience his work, and yet his titles are more likely to get relegated to Netflix hell than to be supported on the big screen, even when Disney finally concedes and gives his latest one a “wide” theatrical release. And what does it say about our standards when garbage like Chun-Li and Dragonball: Evolution have bigger openings than his movies?

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Japanese publisher Media Factory has released new trailers for the upcoming Kanokon OVA series, and the Sacred Blacksmith & Baka to Test to Shokanju TV anime series.

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The Japanese Kyou mo Yarareyaku fan blog now links to cam captures of Geneon Universal’s freshly released Comic Market 76 anime trailers, including the Fate/stay night movie, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, the Shakugan no Shana S OVA series, and Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Pure Let’s a.

Source: Rakugakidou

Question:
I have noticed NekoMusume is in a different outfit on every Gegege no Kitarou 00s cover (because she often wears different costumes in episodes, trying various kinds of human jobs.) I wonder if that’s a barbie-like element or a cosplay element. I’m definitely reminded by going though all these discs that Gegege has gotten progressively cuter character designs, to the point where Kitarou and NekoMusume are considered moe characters. I’m just wondering why Gegege no Kitarou keeps on getting cuter and cuter with each incarnation.

Bit o’ trivia: Gegege 00s is the first Gegege series to have a different ending theme song. Guess the desire to plug a new single
finally outweighed following tradition.

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The Japan based religious organization Happy Science (Kofuku no Kagaku) has announced that its latest anime feature film will open on October 17th. Buddha Saitan ~ The Rebirth of Buddha is a feature length anime adaptation of a book by Happy Science founder Ryuho Okawa. The book and its film adaptation revolve around the prediction that Buddha will return “when the world sinks into darkness.” The anime film is animated by Group TAC (Miami Guns, Black Blood Brothers) under the supervision of director Takaaki Ishiyama (Chaos;HEAd, Viewtiful Joe).

Kofuku no Kagaku has previously sponsored the production of the Laws of the Sun, Golden Laws, Laws of Eternity, and Hermes: Winds of Love anime feature films.

On October 17th, Buddha will decend upon Tokyo like a righteous laser beam of love from space!

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese publisher enterbrain! has announced, in its description for the second volume of the Magicu 4 Koma Shukufuku no Campanella manga, that an anime is now in development. The manga series is based on Windmill Oasis’ adult PC game Shukufuku no Campanella -la campanella della benedizione- Note: The site’s “GRAPHIC” section contains adult imagery. No specific details about the anime are available, but the nature and source of the announcement suggest that the anime will be a mainstream, not adults-only, production.

The Shukufuku no Campanella game is set in a medieval fantasy world where a young man sees a falling star, only to find that the “star” is a cute girl who calls him, “Papa.”

Source: Anime News Network & Moon Phase