AnimeNation Anime News Blog

Singapore based entertainment IP development company Storm Lion has announced plans to collaborate with Japan’s Production I.G on the production of an original 3D CG anime film titled Titan Rain. The sci-fi film’s concept was created by Storm Lion CEO Edmund Shern and Japanese author Tow Ubukata (Chevalier, Heroic Age). Afro Samurai creator Takashi Okazaki will perform character and conceptual design. Atsushi Takeuchi, who has worked on anime including Gunbuster, Ghost in the Shell, Sky Crawlers, and Yukikaze, will direct. Titan Rain will be Storm Lion’s second forray into anime, having contributed to the production of Madhouse’s CG anime film Yona Yona Penguin. Titan Rain is now in pre-production for an anticipated international theatrical release in early 2012.

Source: Anime News Network

Monthly Comic Flapper magazine has formally announced an anime adaptation of Ohba Kai’s 4-panel gag manga Tono to Issho (Along with the Feudal Lord). The manga follows the comical exploits of Japanese warlords during the country’s historical sengoku (Era of the Warring States) era. The first collected manga volume of Tono to Issho was published in September 2007. The series’ fourth collected volume goes on sale in Japan this week.

Source: Anime News Network

Shortly after formally announcing the development of a KISSxSIS anime television series, Japanese publisher Kodansha also announced that the sixth volume of Bow Ditama’s original KISSxSIS manga will be released in a limited edition including a fourth OAD. The anime episode will be “episode 3″ because the first OAD released in 2008 was “episode 0.” The limited edition sixth manga volume with anime DVD will retail at 3,700 yen beginning June 4, 2010.

Source: Anime News Network

The 12th and most recent Japanese Pocket Monster theatrical feature, Pokemon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life, will premiere on the North American Cartoon Network at 5:30 pm ET/PT on Friday, November 20. The film hit Japanese theaters just this past July. The movie will ship on American DVD next spring.

Source: ICv2

The first live action episode of the English language version of creator Shoko “Shokotan” Nakagawa’s super hero series Sukashi Kashipanman is now available. The Go Sukashi! homepage has opened, and its first 5 minute episode is now streaming.

Anime voice actress and otaku celebrity Shoko Nakagawa created the Sukashi Kashipanman hero character in 2007 by combining her interest in sand dollars (sukashikashipan) and sweet buns (kashi pan). The character has spawned a Japanese cel phone anime series, a manga, and a Nintendo DS game.

Source: Twitch

A proposal to utilize a number of Japanese and international educational institutions to archive and research Japanese pop culture art has surfaced in the Japanese government. The proposal estimates spending 250 million yen ($2.3 million USD) a year to have 13 Japanese universities, museums, and other institutions, along with three similar institutions in Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands house exhibits and provide resources for scholarly research in Japanese anime, manga, film, games, and “media arts.”

Last month the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology officially ended discussion of possibly building a “national anime hall of fame” at a cost of 11.7 billion yen ($132 million USD).

Source: Anime News Network

Question:
What are the top 20 animes of all time that you consider yourself blessed to have seen? As you are such a prolific anime viewer, I’m curious to know which animes you consider to be the best.

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Japanese publisher Kodansha has now formally confirmed that an anime TV series adaptation of Bow Ditama’s risqué romantic comedy manga series KISSxSIS is in development. Unconfirmed word of a TV anime surfaced last week. The KISSxSIS manga has previously been adapted into 3 OADs, the most recent of them released in Japan just this week.

Source: Moon Phase

An official website has launched for Madhouse & director/creator Satoshi Kon’s next anime feature film, Yume Miru Kikai (The Dreaming Machine). The website’s “GALLERY” section hosts a variety of screenshots, character models, and background art.

Source: Moon Phase

The Sports Hochi newspaper reports that actor Tatsuya Fujiwara will reprise his role as Kaiji Itou in a sequel to the 2008 Kaiji motion picture adaptation of Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s popular gambling manga series. The successful first film has earned 2.1 billion yen ($23 million USD) in its theatrical release. The Sports Hochi newspaper does not specify whether Toya Sato, director of the 2008 film, will helm the sequel. No cast members besides Fujiwara have yet been confirmed for the sequel either. Kaiji 2 is tentatively planned for Japanese premiere in 2011.

Source: Anime News Network

This week’s issue of Weekly Morning magazine reports that a Korean live action TV series adaptation of Norifusa Mita’s award winning drama manga Dragon Zakura will premiere in January. The series about a former biker-gang member who becomes a school teacher who challenges his delinquent students to achieve academic excellence was adapted into a live action Japanese TV series in 2005.

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese digital publisher D-Arc, Inc. has launched its English language Weekly Astro Boy Magazine for the iPhone & iPod Touch mobile devices. The free first issue contains sample English translated pages from Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy, Phoenix, Dororo, and Black Jack manga. Complete weekly issues will retail at .99 cents each.

The iCosplay application for the iPhone & iPod Touch mobile devices is now available for purchase from the iTunes App Store. The application allows users to customize photos with anime and manga inspired imagery, creating digital cosplay.

Question:
There are a lot of people out there who feel that cosplay in general should be exclusive to Asians and people with smaller body frames. What do you think?

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The official website for next January’s “high tension suspense” anime television series Durarara is now streaming a 12 minute long “Perfect Guide” video introduction to the show. The series will premiere on January 7, 2010.

Source: Moon Phase