AnimeNation Anime News Blog

Acclaimed anime director Osamu Dezaki passed away on April 17 due to lung cancer. He was 67. Dezaki joined the Mushi Productions anime studio in 1963, and made his directorial debut with the 1970 Ashita no Joe television series. Dezaki and Masao Maruyama co-founded MADHOUSE in 1972. Osamu Dezaki is widely recognized for his trademark use of stylized freeze-frames, split-screens, and split-screens. He is fondly remembered as the director of anime series including Ace wo Nerae!, Ganba no Boken, Takarajima, Space Adventure Cobra, Rose of Versailles, the Golgo 13 and Black Jack anime films, and most recently the 2009 Genji Monogatari Sennenki television series.

Source: Anime News Network

The opening animation for the upcoming three-episode Katteni Kaizo OVA series is now streaming on the show’s official homepage. The first episode of Shaft’s adaptation of Koji Kumeta’s (Sayonara Zetsub? Sensei) gag comedy manga series will go on sale on May 25.

Source: Anime News Network

The official homepage for the Pocket Monster movie franchise has added a new trailer for the series’ 14th feature film installment. The first “Best Wishes” feature will actually be two movies. Pocket Monster Best Wishes! Victini to Kuroki Eiyu Zekrom and Pocket Monster Best Wishes! Victini to Shiroki Eiyu Reshiram will both open theatrically on July 16.

I wonder if this will be basically the same movie with different scenes that incorporate either Zekrom or Reshiram or if these are two entirely different movies. I suspect the former.

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese film distributor Shochiku has begun streaming a teaser trailer for this summer’s Prince of Tennis feature film. Tennis no Ouji-sama: Eikoku-shiki Teikyujou Kessen! will open theatrically on September 3.

Source: Anime News Network

Reportedly the June issue of Jump Square magazine that goes on sale in Japan this week will formally announced the development of a new installment in the Rurouni Kenshin anime franchise. The most recent RuroKen anime was 2001′s Ruroni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan Seisohen OVA series.

Source: Anime News Network

TV-Tokyo has launched a website announcing Inazuma Eleven Go, a new anime television series based on Level 5′s sports simulation soccer game. The new Inazuma Eleven series will premiere on May 4. The current Inazuma Eleven television series is presently up to 126 episodes. The new series will introduce an entirely new cast.

Source: Moon Phase

Reportedly cult favorite director Sion Sono has confirmed plans to film an adaptation of Furuya Minoru’s 2001 psychological drama manga series Himizu. While Minoru may be best known to Americans as the creator of Let’s Go! Inachuu Ping-Pong Club, Himizu is “a dark tale about a troubled junior high boy whose life falls apart.” Sono is the director of twisted, psychological horror films including Suicide Circle, Strange Circus, and Love Exposure.

Source: Twitch

To refresh your memory or introduce you to an interesting opening animation sequence, I submit the The Big O TV series from 1999. The opening theme is “Big-O!,” performed by Rui Nagai.

After animating the smash hit Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya television series in 2006 then following it with the equally successful Lucky Star television series the following year, the rapidly ascending Kyoto Animation production studio did what came naturally: a third consecutive anime series revolving around the daily lives of cute high school girls. The 2009 K-On! television series became a massive sensation in Japan, creating a legion of devoted fans, setting sales records, and even contributing to invigorated sales of affiliated products like guitars and high-fidelity headphones. After an excruciating two year wait, the beloved K-On! anime series is finally coming to America, courtesy of Bandai Entertainment. For eager fans, the wait will be rewarded. For the uninitiated, the event will allow an opportunity to see, and hear, what the fuss is all about.

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NIS America has announced its acquisition of domestic DVD rights to the Arakawa under the Bridge and Katanagatari anime television series. The complete Arakawa Under the Bridge first season and the first half of Katanagatari will be released in deluxe subtitled DVD with BD collections in July.

The 13 episode adaptation of Hikaru Nakamura’s bizarre gag comedy manga Arakawa under the Bridge aired in 2009 and was followed by a second series. A live action TV series and feature film have been announced. The series’ story revolves around a wealthy young man who takes up living underneath a bridge with the strange homeless girl who saved him from drowning.

The 12 episode Katanagatari television series, based on author NisiOisin’s twelve volume light novel series, is a satirical historical fiction adventure about a young government agent and a cloistered martial artist charged with locating and securing twelve scattered legendary swords. The series’ 50 minute long episodes were broadcast monthly on Japanese television.

Nice acquisitions, Katanagatari being the slightly better of the two, in my opinion.

Merely a week after announcing plans to overhaul its official website, Tokyopop Senior Vice President Mike Kiley has confirmed that the 14 year old publisher will close its Los Angeles office and cease North American publishing on May 31. The company’s film production efforts will continue, and its Hamburg, Germany office will remain open to continue global acquisition, publishing, and distribution. A company spokesperson stated, “Tokyopop will announce the future of specific titles and other releases in the coming weeks.”

Tokyopop founder and CEO Stuart Levy has revealed plans to devote the next year to filming a documentary about the effects of the March 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami on Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture. Proceeds from the film will be contributed to relief efforts.

Levy founded “Mixx Entertainment” in 1996 with $500,000 in capital from Japan based Mitsui Venture Capital Corp. and Nippon Venture Capital Co. The company started business operations in 1997 and changed its name to “Tokyopop” in June 1999. In 2002 the company launched its “100% Authentic” publishing campaign to print manga in “unflipped” Japanese right-to-left format. Tokyopop lost its distribution rights to its catalog of Kodansha owned manga titles in 2009 when Kodansha announced plans to self-distribute its titles in America. Levy has also stated that the 2011 bankruptcy of the Borders Group bookstore chain had a significant impact on the publisher, causing several Tokyopop staff layoffs.

Japanese publisher publisher Fujimi Shobo has announced the development of an anime based on author Ichiei Ishibumi’s High School DxD light novel series. The ongoing novel series that premiered in 2008 revolves around Issei Hyodo, a lecherous ordinary high school boy murdered during his first date and sent back to Earth as a devil underling to Riasu, a high-level devil who is also the school’s prettiest girl.

Source: Anime News Network

The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) has issued its State of the Content Market in America 2010-2011 white paper. According to the report, the American anime market (excluding manga) was valued at $2.741 billion USD in 2009, down from a high of $4.84 billion in 2003. The figure includes $2.42 billion in character goods sales, of which 60% was Pokemon related, and $306 million in DVD sales, down from a 2002 peak of $415 million. American anime DVD sales fell even further in 2010, declining from $306 million to $200 million.

Domestic manga sales peaked in 2007 at $210 million, declining to an estimated $112 million in 2010.

Source: Anime News Network

Coroner Records has just released Princess Ghibli, a collection of 12 heavy metal covers of classic Studio Ghibli movie theme songs. European and Japanese musicians including Disarmonia Mundi, Blood Stain Child, Destrage, Living Corpse, and Neroargento reinterpret familiar Ghibli tunes from films including Laputa, Totoro, Kiki, Nausicaa, and Ponyo. The album is distributed in Japan by Media Factory’s Overlap Record label.

To refresh your memory or introduce you to an interesting opening animation sequence, I submit the 1984 Gu-Gu-Ganmo TV series. The opening theme is “Ganmo Doki!,” sung by Suzie Matsubara.