A short trailer and an assortment of brief shots from the upcoming two live action Gantz sci-fi action movies have appeared on Japanese television. The first film adaptation of Hiroya Oku’s manga will open theatrically in Japan in January 2011. The second film will follow next spring.
Reportedly the CG enhancements in this footage are work-in-progress temporary effects.
To refresh your memory or introduce you to an interesting opening animation sequence, I submit to you the first Master Mosquiton ’99 opening from 1997. The theme song is “The Power of Love” performed by Cyber Nation Network.
Question:
Why don’t the Japanese hentai anime production companies conclude the plots of the anime they release? For example, Sex Ward ends on a cliffhanger. Why don’t the companies plan a real ending when they start a series?
The Japanese Kyo mo Yarareyaku fan blog reports that a Japanese Tsutaya store has announced that a second Toaru Majutsu no Index anime series will premiere this fall. The first “Certain Magical Index” anime series aired in 2008 and was followed by the 2009 spin-off series Toaru Kagaku no Railgun.
Source: Rakugakidou
The results of a May 2010 survey conducted from the Tokyo Polytechnic University has determined that anime is the Japanese cultural export that Japanese citizens believe should most represent Japan to the international community. When asked which type of Japanese entertainment should dominate Japan’s international commerce and influence, 56.9% of respondents chose anime. Manga ranked second with 49.9% of responses. 1,000 Japanese citizens of both genders and ranging in age from teens to forties participated in the survey.
Anime was the number one choice of respondents in their teens, thirties, and forties. Respondents in their twenties ranked manga the ideal Japanese export, followed closely by anime. The Dragon Ball and Doraemon anime franchises tied as TV anime series considered most ideal to represent anime to the rest of the world.
Source: Anime News Network
To refresh your memory or introduce you to an interesting opening animation sequence, I submit to you the first Violinist of Halemn opening from 1996. The theme song is “Magical Labyrinth” performed by SKIRT.
Nozomi Entertainment has announced its acquisition of the 26 episode “El Hazard: The Wanderers” television series. The 1995 show, originally titled in Japan “El Hazard: The Magnificent World,” is an expanded retelling of the earlier 1995 OVA series of the same name. Pioneer originally released the series on American DVD in 2001 and released a complete series collection in 2003. Nozomi will re-release the complete series on DVD on September 7.
Bandai Entertainment has announced its acquisition of the 2009 Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya and Nyoron Churuya-san web anime series. Both shows will be released together on two bilingual DVD volumes beginning this summer. Crunchyroll is presently streaming both series for free.
The original Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuutsu gag manga by artist Puyo will premiere in an English translated edition from Yen Press on October 26.
Source: Anime News Network
This summer’s Anime Expo convention will host the world premiere of the first episode of the Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail OVA series. Furthermore, Black Lagoon creator Rei Hiroe will attend the convention as a guest of honor. The first Roberta’s Blood Trail episode will screen at Anime Expo on July 1st, more than two weeks ahead of its Japanese DVD & Blu-ray release date of July 17.
Japanese publisher Kodansha has revealed plans to offer an exclusive, limited edition XXXHOLiC OVA to Japanese manga readers. This summer’s 25th issue of Weekly Shonen Magazine, sixth issue of Magazine Special, and July issue of Bessatsu Shonen Magazine will include mail-away postcards redeemable for a DVD copy of the new XXXHOLiC anime short. The promotion celebrates the migration of CLAMP’s XXXHOLiC manga series from the pages of Weekly Shonen Magazine to Bessatsu Shonen Magazine.
Source: Anime News Network
Independent animation studio Black Sun Entertainment has released its 5-minute proof-of-concept pilot video for Azureus Rising. The studio hopes that publicity generated by the short will enable production of a planned feature length film trilogy.
This is really neat and fun anime inspired sci-fi action.
Source: Twitch
Question:
What is Kenichi Sonoda doing now, if anything? It’s been a couple of years since he finished Gunsmith Cats Burst.
Viz Media has begun streaming subtitled episodes of last year’s acclaimed baseball drama anime series Cross Game on its Viz Anime site. Five episodes are available now. New episodes will be added weekly.
Viz Media’s Shonen Sunday website has also today added an English translated preview chapter of creator Mitsuru Adachi’s original Cross Game manga. Viz will release the first domestic volume of the Cross Game manga on October 12.
DC Comics has announced plans to shut down its CMX imprint for English translated manga. “Over the course of the last six years, CMX has brought a diverse list of titles to America and we value the books and creators that we helped introduce to a new audience. Given the challenges that manga is facing in the American marketplace, we have decided that CMX will cease publishing new titles as of July 1, 2010,” said DC Comics Co-Publishers Jim Lee and Dan Didio.
Fred Gallagher’s American comic series Megatokyo will transfer from the CMX imprint to DC Comics and continue publication unabated. The fate of CMX manga titles scheduled for release in July or afterwards, and the jobs of CMX staffers, are still being decided. High profile titles published by CMX include Tenjho Tenge, Emma, Crayon Shin-chan, Densha Otoko, From Eroica With Love, and Gon.
Hopefully we’ll see CMX simply scaled back and most, if not all of its titles shuffled into other publishing labels instead of just being dropped altogether. But that’s probably wishful thinking.
Source: Anime News Network
Discovery Communications and Hasbro’s forthcoming children’s television network The Hub will host the American premiere of the first 52 episodes of the 65 episode Deltora Quest television series that originally aired in Japan in 2007. 52 episodes of the series dubbed in English by Canadian studio Blue Water are presently airing on the Cartoon Network in Australia and New Zealand. The Deltora Quest anime is based on Australian author Emily Rodda’s novel series. Deltora Quest is scheduled to be one of The Hub’s debut programs when the network launches nationwide on October 10.
Geneon announced plans to distribute the series in America in 2007 but never released the show. Former Geneon parent company Dentsu Inc. has been trying to arrange American distribution for the series since 2008.
Sword & sorcery fans will have something new to look forward to. The show isn’t bad, so it’s long been a mystery to me why it’s taken so long for it to get American release despite active efforts from Dentsu to get it released in America.
Source: Anime News Network
