Tokyo based event organizer Elegirl Label will host the “Tokyo Anime AMEN” music party on March 27th at the Shibuya O-Floor. The event will feature DJs including Kindhearted-OBAKE, Kato Kentaro, gogopulse, Edoboru(ZENDAN), and many others spinning anime songs on every floor of the building for a night of dancing and cosplay.
CG anime studio IDA, the studio behind Cat Shit One: The Animation, has released an original teaser for the tentative alien invasion monster anime Gomera. The teaser is original footage designed to encourage investment in the production of a longer work.
Source: Twitch
To refresh your memory or introduce you to an interesting opening animation sequence, I offer the nicely animated opening of the 1989 Madou Ou Granzort TV series. The opening theme is “Hikari no Senshi-tachi,” performed by Kenji Suzuki.
Question:
This September will represent 5 years since Beet the Vandel Buster went into a hiatus when Koji Inada became sick. What is Koji Inada sick or injured with? I really like him and am concerned about his health so I’m curious. If Koji Inada never does come back then could the show still finish in, say, an OVA format? Given that the anime was popular enough to last 52 episodes and inspired a 25 episode filler spin-off along with a number of games, it doesn’t seem unreasonable enough that the rest of the story could be told via OVA format. All us Beet the Vandel Buster fans really miss the show and would like to no longer be in the dark about what’s going on with it behind the scenes.
Last summer the Japan Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) reported that it would sponsor anime studios Ascension, Telecom, P.A. Works, and Production I.G for the development of original 23 minute anime shorts that would be used as hands-on training exercises for new animators under the guidance of experienced directors. The effort, now known as “Project A,” will premiere in Japanese television broadcasts starting March 5.
P.A. Works’s Bannou Yasai Ninninman, directed by Masayuki Yoshihara (Higashi no Eden episode director), will premiere on March 5. Telecom Animation Film’s Ojisan no Lamp, directed by Teiichi Takiguchi (Kara no Kyokai movie 4), will premiere on March 12. Ascension’s Kizuna Ichigeki, directed by Mitsuru Hongo (Outlaw Star, Sakura Taisen), will premiere on March 19. And Production I.G’s Tansu Warashi, directed by Kazuchika Kise (Higashi no Eden movie 2 animation director), will premiere on March 26.
These look great!
Source: Moon Phase
The TV Tokyo network has announced an April 4 premier for its Sengoku Otome ~Momoiro Paradox~ (Warring-States Era Maidens ~Pink Paradox~) anime television series. The show is based on the
Sengoku Otome pachinko game from developer Heiwa that magically transports a modern-day junior highschool girl to Japan’s historical Sengoku era in which all of the pivitol warlords are re-envisioned as women. TMS Entertainment is animating with Hideki Okamoto (Da Capo, Nagasarete Airantou) directing.
Following the success of Koihime Muso and Sengoku Basara, I suppose this hybrid of the two was a natural and inevitable evolution.
Source: Anime News Network
A four-episode live action television series adaptation of Miyoko Motomura’s 1969 shoujo manga Okusama wa 18-sai (My Wife Is 18 Years Old) will air on the Fuji TV network’s CS satellite channel starting March 27. 40 year-old pop singer & actor T.M. Revolution (Takanori Nishikawa) will star alongside actress Natsuna Watanabe (Gantz). The manga was adapted into a hit TV drama back in 1970.
Source: Anime News Network
Acclaimed cult film director Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo series, Tokyo Fist, Haze) recently created his first work of animation, a 24 second clip for the Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, Italy. Professor Maria Roberta Novielli of the university’s film studies department succinctly described the piece as, “Really intense, at an amazing high speed. It’s very Tetsuo-like in genre and mood, and also a kind of homage to cinema itself.”
Source: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow & Twitch
Musician Sinitus Tempo has completed his latest anime tribute alubm, the Soul Eater EP. The entire album is available to sample and purchase online.
To refresh your memory or introduce you to an interesting opening animation sequence, I offer distinctively Masami Obari crafted opening of the 1998 Weiss Kreuz TV series. The opening theme is “Velvet Underworld,” performed by Weiss.
For better or worse, since Masami Obari only worked on the opening animation, the show itself looks nothing at all like its opening animation.
Question:
Is yaoi and shounen-ai popular in Japan? If yes, then why are there so little anime created with these categories? And if there are created they tend to be in the old styles [bulky, strong men and etc.]. Why are the new styles [like in 'Gravitation' anime and 'Oujisama' manga] not used [I mean they are so much cuter]?
Japanese television network TBS has announced the development of an anime TV series based on American artist Suzy Spafford’s line of “Suzy’s Zoo” greeting cards. Digital Media Lab will animate “Suzy’s Zoo Daisuki! Witzy” with Hidekazu Ohara (Professor Dan Petory’s Blues) directing. The show will premiere in April.
Source: Anime News Network
Kodansha has formally announced the development of an anime TV series adaptation of Hidekichi Matsumoto’s four-panel comedy manga Honto ni Atta! Reibai-Sensei. The supernatural comedy manga revolves around a teacher with a talent for performing exorcisms who’s more familiar with the spirit world than her own human world.
Source: Moon Phase & Anime News Network
Japanese associate professor of economics at Keio University and member of the Japanese government’s Research Institute of Economy, Trade & Industry, Tatsuo Tanaka, has personally published a research paper that determines that unauthorized anime streaming and peer-to-peer distribution results in a marginal increase in commercial DVD sales. Tanaka studied 105 different anime television series found on YouTube, 58 of which were also distributed via peer-to-peer download system Winny. His findings were that “a 1% increase in YouTube views correlated with a 0.25% increase in DVD sales.” “A 1% increase in Winny downloads resulted in a statistically inconclusive 0.06% increase in DVD sales… and a 1.11% decrease in DVD rentals.” These findings suggest that streaming anime does encourage consumers to purchase official DVDs, and unauthorized downloads may have little impact, or a marginal net improvement on DVD sales.
If anyone cares, it’s no secret that I download and watch anime without official authorization. I also spent over $400 purchasing licensed American anime DVDs just this past week alone.
Source: Anime News Network
To refresh your memory or introduce you to an interesting opening animation sequence, I offer the second opening of the 1985 TV series Choujuu Kishin Dancougar. The opening theme is “Honto no Kiss o Okaeshi ni” sung by Rie Fujiwara.
