AnimeNation Anime News Blog

The Naruto and Toriko short anime movies from this year’s Jump Super Anime Tour are now streaming with English subtitles. Access to the exclusive anime films requires the use of the Windows XP/Vista compatible Shonen Jump Manga Browser proprietary software. The Japanese language side of the Shonen Jump website is also streaming the Jump Super Anime Tour preview of next month’s One Piece: Strong World motion picture, and promises to soon release a video preview of January’s Yu-Gi-Oh! ~Chou-Yugo! Jiku o Koeta Kizuna~ motion picture.

Source: Anime News Network

Reportedly this week’s new issue of Weekly Shonen Champion magazine will formally announce that a TV anime adapation of Norio Sakurai’s Mitsudomoe gag manga is in development. The occasionally risqué moé comedy about the school lives of three sixth grade sisters has been ongoing since 2006. The video clip below is cute, but not officially sanctioned animation.

Source: Anime News Network

The Yokohama Arts Foundation has launched an initiative to expose original animation from aspiring young artists to international viewers. Original shorts recommended by Oscar winning animator Koji Yamamura are now accessible on the Yokohama Arts Foundation’s YouTube channel. Additional shorts will be added through March 2010.

Brazilian fan site Papo de Budega now hosts a short interview with Tokyo Broadcasting System manager for anime licensing James McLeod.

96 year old distinguished actor Hisaya Morishige passed away of natural causes on November 10. Morishige was respected as one of Japan’s most famous modern actors and as the president of the Japan Actors Union. His connections to anime include performing all of the male voices in Toei’s 1958 anime film Hakujaden, Japan’s first color anime film, and playing Okkotonushi the boar god in director Hayao Miyazaki’s 1997 film Princess Mononoke.

Source: Anime News Network

Question:
Since we’re approaching the one year anniversary of the cancellation of Toonami, I was wondering what sort of an impact on the American Anime industry Toonami had. Would anime have had similar popularity without it, or was Toonami one of the major reasons for the big anime boom of the late 90′s and early 2000′s?

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Anime studio Asahi Production, which has worked on anime including Basquash, Tayutama, Cross Game, Michiko to Hatchin, Hyakko, and countless other titles, has announced plans to break ground on a new studio in Shiraishi City, Miyagi prefecture next April. The studio’s goal is to create employment and training opportunities for young animators in the region. The studio will employ up to 30 people from the area. The local government will give the new studio roughly 17 million yen ($200,000 USD) from its job creation fund which the studio will use to create an original Musubi-maru promotional anime.

The prefectural mascot character Musubi-maru combines characteristics of historical samurai Masamune Date and “musubi” (onigiri), rice packed into a triangle or ball shape to be held and eaten with fingers instead of chopsticks.

Source: Anime News Network

Reportedly the fourth issue of Nyantype magazine, available in Japan next week, will announce that production studio AIC (Gall Force, Bamboo Blade) will animate the second Strike Witches TV series, tentatively titled “Strike Witches 2-ki.” Gonzo, the studio that animated the 2007 Strike Witches OVA and the 2008 TV series announced plans to animate the second TV series last February. However, the financially struggling Gonzo has canceled numerous productions and shifted much of its production work to other studios recently.

Reportedly, most of the 2008 series’ primary staff will reunite on the second series, including director and anime character designer Kazuhiro Takamura, conceptual supervisor Takaaki Suzuki, and script supervisor “Striker Unit.”

Honestly, this is a bit discouraging because no recent AIC production has had animation quality as good as that of last year’s Strike Witches TV series.

Source: Anime News Network

Icarus Publishing has announced that next month’s Comic AG magazine issue 110 will be the periodical’s final print issue. The first and only American manga magazine serializing translated Japanese erotic manga launched in February 2002. Icarus explains that the AG anthology will continue in digital and possibly other formats. The magazine was designed as a publication to showcase erotic manga within the domestic comic book retail market. The publication was designed to break even rather than profit, and while the printed magazine continues to pay for itself, continued production is compromising the publisher’s ability to devote full attention to other projects including graphic novels.

Source: Anime News Network

The Cannes Film Festival promotional trailer for director Gordon Chan’s live action King of Fighters movie, based on the popular and long running SNK fighting game franchise, has appeared on YouTube.

I really don’t like pre-judging, but I can’t help saying that this looks spectacularly awful.

Source: Quiet Earth

Question:
I was just wondering what you think about the possibility of a Twilight Saga anime. There are a lot of fan-made drawings elluding to an anime, but I’m not so sure if it would work. What do you think?

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The fourth teaser trailer for the first Break Blade motion picture, the first trailer to include actual animation footage, has been formally released. The first of six planned Break Blade anime films will hit Japanese theaters next year.

Source: Moon Phase

Production I.G has announced that the theatrical premiere of Higashi no Eden movie II: Paradise Lost has been delayed until March, due to “production issues.” The film was originally scheduled to open on January 9. However, the film, originally planned to run 60 minutes, will now clock in at 90 minutes. The 82 minute long Higashi no Eden movie I: King of Eden, which continues the story from the spring 2009 TV series, hits Japanese theaters this weekend.

Source: Anime News Network

The NHK television network’s multi-award winning 2008 anime television series Hoshi Shinichi Short Shorts this week won the top prize in the comedy category of the 37th International Emmy Awards. The award was presented for a TV special that aired last February which consisted of 9 segments culled from the 2008 TV series.

Hoshi has been called the “God of Short Shorts” for writing over a thousand short stories in science fiction, comedy, and other genres. Apart from having stories adapted into the 26 episode 2008 TV series, Studio 4C adapted Hoshi’s Kimagure Robot (Capricious Robot) sci-fi short story into a series of ten 2-minute shorts in 2004.

Source: Anime News Network

Question:
Many of the manga I buy in the United States cost about $10, but a similar volume in Japan costs only $5 or less. I know that when a manga is printed in the United States there is some effort for translation and research, but it seems like the profit margin on US printed manga must be very high. Is that true? Do you know how much it costs a US publisher to produce a manga?

One of the reasons manga is so popular in Japan is that it is very cheap. Even people who aren’t especially interested in manga can follow a series they like without spending a fortune. I wonder if US publishers aren’t shooting themselves in the foot. Only otaku are willing to pay $10 per volume, so manga will always be just a niche market. It can never become popular among the general public at the current prices. Do you have any insight into the pricing of US published manga?

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