AnimeNation Anime News Blog

The motion-captured CG anime comedy series Peeping Life will have five new shorts available in Japanese theaters from December 1, 2009 to February 5, 2010. The T-Joy’s theater chain will screen each short for two weeks on monitors in its lobbies. The Shinjuku Wald 9 theater in Tokyo will actually put the shorts on the big screen.

The 2008 TV and web anime series is a “datsuryoku-kei” (ennui-style) anime similar to World of Golden Eggs and Little Village People that makes comedy of the routine minutiae of everyday life. The entire original series is available online with English subtitles at Crunchyroll.

I just don’t get this sort of anime. Then again, I never liked Seinfeld, either, so maybe it’s just me. So do these new shorts count as five Peeping Life movies?

Source: Anime News Network

Weekly Famitsu magazine reports that select limited edition releases of the Quiz Magic Academy DS ~Futatsu no Jiku-Seki~ trivia game purchased from the Konami Style online store will include a new bonus Quiz Magic Academy anime OVA. The second Quiz Magic Academy game for the Nintendo DS is scheduled for release on February 11, 2010. A first Quiz Magic Academy OVA was released last year.

Source: Anime News Network

To coincide with the January theatrical release of the Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works anime motion picture, the 2005 TV series will be condensed into a pair of hour long Fate/stay night TV Reproduction specials released on Japanese DVD and Blu-ray on January 22. Each special will condense half of the 24 episode TV series and reportedly include limited new animation. The “Reproduction I” OVA will also feature a newly recorded version of the series’ original opening theme, set to a new opening animation footage. Both OVAs will feature new, previously unheard ending theme songs.

Source: Anime News Network

Actor Masaru Nagai will reprise his starring role as biker gang leader turned successful businessman in next January’s Salaryman Kintaro 2 live action TV drama. The sequel to the 2008 live action TV series is based on Hiroshi Motomiya’s 1994 manga series. The manga has also been adapted into a 1999 feature film, a 1999 TV drama, and a 2001 anime TV series.

Source: Anime News Network

A live action TV series adaptation of Norifusa Mita’s current manga series Angel Bank: Dragon Zakura Gaiden will premiere on the TBS network in January under the title “Angel Bank Tenshoku Dairinin” (Angel Bank, Occupational Change Agent). Angel Bank is a spin-off from Mita’s award winning 2003 Dragon Zakura manga, which was adapted into a live action TV series in 2005. Kyoko Hasegawa, who played the supporting character Mamako Ino in the 2005 TV series will reprise her role in the Angel Bank series, in which her character quits teaching high school English and accepts a job as a career change counselor.

Source: Anime News Network

The Hollywood Reporter reveals that first time feature director Carl Rinsch will helm 47 Ronin, an American film adaptation of the classic Japanese Chushingura story. Fast & Furious and Wanted screenwriter Chris Morgan is writing the script specifically around star Keanu Reeves. The original Japanese story, an account of a 1703 incident in which 47 samurai avenged the disgrace of their lord by killing the government official responsible then committing ritual suicide to atone for their collective crime, is one of Japan’s most beloved and respected tales. The story of the 47 ronin has been adapted countless times in Japanese arts, including stage plays, ballet, puppet play, prose, TV, and feature film adaptations. Evidently the American film adaptation for Universal Pictures will take a liberal approach to the source material, as it’s described as including “fantastical elements of films like The Lord of the Rings.”

Evidently the only new announcement here is the selection of a director, but this whole project may still be news to some.

Source: Anime News Network

Question:
What would you consider the best medical drama anime?

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The official Japanese homepage for the Darker Than Black anime series now hosts a 3:17 streaming trailer for the first Darker Than Black: Black Contractor OVA. The Black Contractor series illustrates the events of the two years in between the end of the first Darker Than Black TV series and the beginning of the current second series. The official description for the series’ second home video volume reveals that the release will contain Ryusei no Gemini episode 3 and the first of four “gaiden” episodes that will be included on even-numbered DVD & BD volumes of the Darker Than Black: Ryusei no Gemini TV series. The second Ryusei no Gemini volume goes on sale in Japan on January 27.

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese consumers that pre-order Marvelous Entertainment’s upcoming Nintendo DS RPG Luminous Arc 3: Eyes will receive two bonus items: a “Red Book Album” illustration book and a “White DVD Album” DVD disc featuring an original anime music video of character Shion (played by voice actress Aki Toyosaki) singing the song “Seiya-sai ~Magic Night~” (Holy Night Festival: Magic Night). The bonus DVD will also include footage of the “Luminous Arc Radio Broadcasting Unit” web radio program, the opening animation sequences from all three Luminous Arc games, and 70 PC wallpapers. The game will hit Japanese stores on December 10.

Source: andriasang & Anime News Network

Author Tomohiro Matsu and illustrator Peko’s seventh Mayoi Neko Overun! (Stray Cats Overun!) light novel, scheduled for Japanese release on the 25th, will reportedly include an illustrated announcement that an anime adaptation of the harem love comedy is in development.

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese publisher Asahi has formally announced that Stellvia & Shigofumi director Tatsuo Sato will direct the Mini-skirt Space Pirates (Mini-skir Uchuu Kaizoku) anime series with studio Satelight (Macross F, Guin Saga). Although the anime adaptation of Sasamoto Yuuichi’s light novel was first announced last March, Asahi reports that the show won’t premiere until 2011.

Source: Moon Phase

Yahoo Japan has begun streaming the theatrical trailer for the live action Higanjima motion picture. The Japanese-Korean co-produced action horror is based on Koji Matsumoto’s manga about a group of friends that travel to a remote island in search of a missing elder brother, only to find the island infested with vampires and other monsters. Tae-gyun Kim (Volcano High) directs. The film will hit Japanese theaters on January 9.

Twitch hosts a positive review of the film, based on its premiere screening at the Pusan Film Festival last month.

Source: Nippon Cinema

Beginning today, Adult Swim will begin allowing consumers to purchase custom DVDs. Customers within the USA can select up to 110 minutes’ worth of TV episodes from select Adult Swim programs, choose disc art and a cover image, design a DVD menu, and have the custom disc manufactured and shipped for $20. 100 TV episodes will initially be available, including episodes not otherwise available on DVD. Adult Swim expects to have over 1,000 episodes from more than 30 shows available for selection by year’s end.

Source: Yahoo

Article provided by Daniel Zelter

American readers are, by now, familiar with manga and, naturally, familiar with the personal essay. But a combination of the two is something unusual and unfamiliar. New York and Japan based One Peace Books hopes to change that situation by introducing American readers to the popular contemporary Japanese “manga format essay” with Shiho Torii’s book So I Need to Lose 15 Pounds. The “manga essay” format that’s gaining popularity in Japan isn’t strictly educational manga like Shotaro Ishinomori’s Japan, Inc.: Introduction to Japanese Economics that first saw release in America in 1988. Nor is it exactly like the conventional narrative manga that American readers are most used to. The difference, however, is subtle.

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GameTrailers now hosts the first official trailer for Film Roman’s anime anthology film Dante’s Inferno. The Omnibus film features segments directed by six directors, including Yasuomi Umetsu (Kite, Mezzo Forte) and Shukou Murase (Ergo Proxy, Witch Hunter Robin). The film is a companion piece to EA’s upcoming console action game. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic will hit DVD and Blu-ray in February.

Please note that the trailer contains graphic violence and gore.

Article provided by Jat Mario