The Hollywood Reporter reveals that World Event Productions (WEP) has commissioned United Talent Agency to facilitate a deal to launch production of a new American Voltron animated series. Although the Hyakujuu Ou Golion & Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV footage originally used to create the English language Voltron program was animated by Japan’s Toei Animation, St. Louis, Missouri based WEP is now the master licensor for the Voltron property.
Discotek has formally announced its acquisition of four new titles:
Fist of the North Star TV series
Lupin the Third Episode 0 First Contact
Sea Prince and the Fire Child (Sirius no Densetsu)
Oresama
The 152 episode Fist of the North Star TV series will be released in four collections. Lupin the Third: First Contact is the franchise’s 2002 TV special. Oresama is a 2004 live action film in which Japanese rock star Miyavi, who plays himself, time-slips back to 1984 where he meets himself as a preadolescent boy.
The Lupin acquisition seems a bit odd considering that Discotek licensed the Legend of Babylonian Gold movie but considered it inviable for release.
Source: Mania Forum
TV Tokyo has tapped Crunchyroll to provide international streaming for this month’s highly anticipated shounen adventure anime series Fairy Tail. Episodes will be available to Crunchyroll subscribers an hour after Japanese broadcast, and available for free to all site visitors 30 days after Japanese TV broadcast. The first episode will premiere on the 12th.
Media Factory has partnered with Crunchyroll to deliver online simulcasting of this month’s new romantic comedy anime series Sasameki Koto (Whispered Words). The first episode will be available to Crunchyroll subscribers within an hour of its Japanese TV premiere on the 7th, and available for free to all site visitors one week after Japanese broadcast.
TV Asahi’s official webpage for the upcoming Gokyoudai Monogatari television series has added a streaming preview of the show’s first episode. The domestic comedy will premiere on the 10th.
The trailer is DRM encoded for compatibility with Windows Media Player only, but is not territory restricted.
Source: Anime News Network
The official homepage for next year’s Durarara!! television series is now streaming a 1:44 trailer. The adaptation of Baccano! author Ryohgo Narita’s novel series revolving around an ensemble cast including a headless spirit riding a talking motorcycle in present day Ikebukuro, Tokyo will premiere in January.
Source: Moon Phase
The BS Fuji satellite TV network announced the premiere of its Taiiku Soko (Gymnastics Warehouse) anime television series literally hours before the show’s first two ten-minute episodes premiered this morning. The show teaches the basics of artistic and rhythmic gymnastics by depicting personified gym equipment that comes to life and practices for the Olympics in a school storeroom when no one is around.
Source: Anime News Network
Nico Nico Douga is now officially streaming Tentai Senshi Sunred episode 27, the first episode of the second season that just premiered last week. The episode has no English translation. It’s accessible free, but access to NicoDou videos does require registration.
The city of Kobe, Japan officially inaugurated its life-sized Tetsujin 28-gou statue on October 4th. Minoru Yada, the 78-year-old voice actor of Tetsujin 28′s fictional inventor Dr. Shikishima, led the the 28 people who cut the ribbon by yelling out “Tetsujin-28-gÅ!” while holding a replica of the robot’s remote control unit. The statue stands in Wakamatsu Park, the area hardest hit by the devastating 1995 earthquake. The statue commemorates the city’s restoration, and honors the late native son & Tetsujin 28gou manga creator Mitsuteru Yokoyama.
Source: Anime News Network
The Japanese government officially cancelled plans to build a “national media arts center,” commonly referred to as the “anime hall of fame” last Thursday. Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Tatsuo Kawabata explained, “We’ve decided not to build an animation facility after reviewing the supplementary budget for the fiscal year through March.” The facility was initially proposed by Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) but was heavily criticized by the minority Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The DPJ took over control of the Japanese Parliament following recent Japanese elections. The LDP proposed that the facility would spotlight and promote contemporary Japanese creative culture. The opposing DPJ called the proposed facility a pet project of LDP chairman Taro Aso.
Since I’m neither Japanese nor living in Japan, this has no direct consequence on me. But I do have to selfishly admit that I’m disappointed to see the Japanese government not consider anime & manga worthy of national attention & respect.
Source: The Japan Times
If you can catch it before it gets taken down, here’s the latest official behind-the-scenes video promo for the live action King of Fighters live action motion picture.
Now I understand why this was removed from YouTube last week.
Source: Canned Dogs
Question:
Why is Eva 1.0 doing so horribly in American theaters? Is the perceived fandom for that series overblown? Did Gainax wait too long for the highest bidder and thus sabotage itself by allowing the film to be torrented? Has FUNimation burned so many bridges on its dubs that the fans prefer the ADV cast instead of the current voice actors? There are anime movies which are more niche, such as Metropolis, which have a higher box office. And even R-rated movies like Bebop and Paprika have made more money in American theaters. So what’s kept Eva 1.0 from at least doing as well as Jin Roh or X?
Shueisha has selected Crunchyroll to provide international simulcasting for the new Tatakau Shisho ~ The Book of Bantorra anime series. Weekly episodes of the fantasy action series will be accessible to Crunchyroll subscribers within an hour of Japanese broadcast, and available to all site visitors a week later. The first episode is available now.
Kadokawa Pictures has tapped Crunchyroll to provide international simulcasting for this month’s new Sora no Otoshimono anime series. The supernatural romantic comedy is Kadokawa’s first anime title to be distributed by Crunchyroll. The first episode will debut on Crunchyroll on October 5 at 8:00am PDT, less than 24 hours after its Japanese television premiere.
The KIDS STATION cable network will begin airing Nippon Animation’s latest anime television series, Karl to Fushigi na Tou (Karl and the Mysterious Tower), next Monday, October 5th. Popular children’s picture book illustrator Junzo Terada provides series’ character design.
The series’ official site is now streaming a 4 minute long pilot episode.
Source: Anime News Network
Nippon Cinema has discovered that Riisa Naka, the actress who made her acting debut playing the voice of Makoto Konno in director Mamoru Hosoda’s 2006 anime film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo), will reprise her role by playing Makoto in a new live action film adaptation due for Japanese theatrical release next year.
Yasutaka Tsutsui’s 1965 sci-fi romance novel was adapted into a live action film in 1983, a five-episode live action TV series in 1994, a 1997 live action movie, a 2002 TV special, and, most recently, the aforementioned 2006 anime feature.
Question:
Anime has been around for a long time in Japan, longer than video games at least. But in America and Japan video games have grown to have more depth to them, to be for an adult audience. But in terms of anime, the only sort of adult anime there tends to be is hentai. There are a few noteworthy pieces of anime that tend to stay serious; Samurai X, I think, does the best job. But why is it that most anime tends to have a child-like orientation to it? Even if the show is about death in every episode, like Basilisk, there are still a few moments in the show where the guy tries to see a woman naked or grab her breasts. So I would like to hear your thoughts about why there isn’t a larger portion of adult anime.
