AnimeNation Anime News Blog

Fuminori Kaneko (Kisarazu Cat’s Eye) will direct a live action film adaptation of Fumi Yoshinaga’s acclaimed historical fiction manga series Ooku: The Inner Chamber. The film will adapt the manga’s first story arc with Arashi J-pop group member Kazunari Ninomiya taking the lead role as the latest member of the shogun’s harem and Kou Shibasaki (Battle Royale, Dororo) playing Shogun Yoshimune. The 2005 and ongoing manga series depicts a matriarchal feudal Japan in which disease limits the male population to a quarter the size of the female population. The dramatic story concentrates on the political maneuvering and ramifications within and related to the shogun’s personal harem of handsome men. The live action movie will premiere on October 1, 2010.

Source: Anime News Network

Question:
Is hugging some sort of taboo in Japan? I ask because anyone who’s seen a fair bit of anime will have come across dozens of scenes in which a character is crying (usually a girl), and the guy stands around awkwardly doing nothing when it would be entirely appropriate to console her with a hug. Is there really a cultural difference here, or are animators just socially inept?

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01-09-2010
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A flash intro on the official Japanese homepage for the Soukyu no Fafner anime franchise reveals that a new “project” titled “Soukyu no Fafner: Heaven and Earth” will launch next year. There’s no clarification on whether the project will be anime, manga, a game, or something else. The original Soukyu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor anime television series aired in 2004.

An unconfirmed report on the Japanese 2channel message board states that Masashi Okita’s high school comedy light novel series Okami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi (Ms. Wolf & Seven Friends) will be getting an anime adaptation. The romantic comedy series revolves around Ryoko Okami, a high school freshman girl known for her “wolf-like” characteristics and her friend Ringo Akai, a cute but morbid girl whose fairy tail-like name literally means “apple red.” The novel series premiere in 2006 and presently has nine books.

I guess the “tiger” girl from the Dengeki Bunko line of Toradora novels did well enough that now it’s time for a wolf girl.

The official website for the recently concluded 11eyes anime television series has announced the June 25 release of an 11eyes OVA. Evidently the OVA will not be narratively connected to the TV series, although characters from the TV series will also appear in the OVA.

Source: Anime News Network

Starchild has launched an official website for the Kiss x Sis television series, revealing that the show will premiere in April.

Sentai Filmworks has announced its acquisition of the Tayutama: Kiss On My Deity, You’re Under Arrest: Full Throttle, and Yozakura Quartet anime television series while Switchblade Pictures has scheduled DVD releases for Buyusenki Battle Chronicle and Cat Girl / Super Dimension Odyssey Tritia. Sentai Filmworks and Switchblade Pictures releases are distributed by Section23.

The 12 episode Yozakura Quartet supernatural adventure series from 2008 will be debut in America as a complete DVD collection on March 2.

You’re Under Arrest: Full Throttle is the fourth and most recent YUA TV series – following YUA (1996), YUA Special (1999), and YUA Second Season (2001). The 23 episode series from 2007 will premiere on domestic DVD March 9.

This year’s 12 episode supernatural romance adventure series Tayutama: Kiss On My Deity will hit DVD as a complete collection on March 16.

The live action biker revenge film Buyusenki Battle Chronicle will hit DVD on March 9. The sexploitation double feature Cat Girl & Super Dimension Odyssey Tritia DVD will go on sale March 23.

A 3:06 sample of independent artist group Electromagnetic Wave’s original anime Kowarekake no Orgol has been released to Nico Nico Douga. The “version 2″ trailer includes a few seconds of previously unseen footage at the end. Japanese retailer Toranoana hosts a downloadable 7 minute sample of the anime as a 393mb MPG file. (To download the 7 minute sample, click the left hand button to enter the Toranoana website, then click the “File_Download” button, then the grey button in the pop-up window.)

Two years after its first footage was released, the finished 30 minute long OVA will be released with a 96 page hardcover illustration book at the Comic Market 77 convention on the 31st.

Can’t wait to get my hands on this!

Source: Galge.com

The official website for next year’s Mayoi Neko Overrun! television series has added a streaming trailer. The harem show based on author Tomohiro Matsu’s light novel series will premiere next April.

Source: Anime News Network

The Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san anime production which Morning Magazine announced earlier this month will be a 10 minute long OAD packaged in limited edition copies of the fourth volume of Yasuhisa Kubo’s original manga. Mizushima Tsutomu (Haré+Guu, Genshiken) directs with animation from Production I.G. The 2,980 yen collector’s edition including the fourth manga with a limited edition alternate cover, a figure strap, and the anime DVD goes on sale in Japan on February 23rd.

Source: My Comi Journal

The official website for the upcoming Tono to Issho (Go With the Feudal Lord) OVA now hosts a streaming trailer. The adaptation of Ohba-Kai’s 4-koma gag manga takes a goofy look at Japan’s historical warring states era. The OVA will go on sale March 25th.

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese video streaming site Biglobe has announced what it calls the first anime distributed by e-mail, Yutori-chan. Actually, Biglobe will not be sending video via e-mail. Beginning next March, Biglobe will e-mail subscribers a web address to access new episodes of the original anime series. The moé comedy starring a high school girl working part-time in the marketing department of a Japanese toy company will be animated by Actas. Series director Keiichiro Kawaguchi, animation director Kouhaku Nishio, and original character designer POP, who collaborated on the 2007 Moetan anime television series, will reprise their duties for the Yutori-chan anime. A free preview of the series’ first four episodes will be available from December 29-31.

Source: Anime News Network

The official Japanese homepage for the Ookiku Furikabutte baseball anime series has announced that a condensed version of the original 2007 TV series will hit DVD on March 24 to coincide with the premiere of the second TV series. The Best of Ookiku Furikabutte ~Natsu no Scorebook~ DVD set will contain two DVDs and an audio CD. The two DVDs will condense the first TV series into two 90 minute summaries. At least the first DVD disc will include a small amount of new animation.

Source: Anime News Network