Yahoo! Finance reports that 4Kids Entertainment has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy status. 4Kids confirmed last week that bankruptcy was an option for the company after Japanese companies TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems retracted 4Kids’ distribution license for the Yu-Gi-Oh anime franchise and filed a lawsuit against 4Kids charging unpaid debts. Chapter 11 bankruptcy will allow 4Kids to continue business operations. The company has been steadily losing money and was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange last year.
To refresh your memory or introduce you to an interesting opening animation sequence, I submit the very cinematic opening of the 1975 TV series Wanpaku Omukashi Kumu Kumu. The opening theme is “Kumu Kumu no Uta,” sung by Horie Mitsuko.
Question:
I may be giving too much credit, but my perception is that roughly every ten years Japan’s anime industry takes a subtle but significant step forward in the sophistication of its creativity. 1979′s Mobile Suit Gundam introduced revolutionary change to the anime world and arrived on the forefront of anime’s golden age, which was dramatically different from the decade before (and every decade since). 1990′s Fushigi no Umi no Nadia was, at the time, another striking advance in television anime design quality that marked a distinctly recognizable deliniation between the television anime of the 1980s and 1990s. In 2000, the FLCL OVA series stunned anime fans with its unique and distinctive visual creativity. That same year the Vandread television series brought a new level of polish and skill to the integration of CG animation merged with traditional 2D animation. Now I wonder if anime fans are seeing another new dawn arise as the first decade of the 2000s gives way to the second.
The NHK television network has released a two-minute trailer for its upcoming television series Phi-Brain: Kami no Puzzle. The adventure series about two high-schoolers that challenge dangerous “philosopher’s puzzles” will premiere in October.
Publisher ASCII Media Works has formally announced the development of an anime based on Hazuki Minase’s light novel series C³ ~ Cube x Cursed x Curious. The story begins when high school boy Haruaki Yachi receives a mysterious black cube from his father who is away overseas. The cube is revealed to contain a cute, unclothed girl. The novel series premiered in 2007. Its eleventh volume is scheduled for Japanese release on the 10th.
Navarre Corporation has formally announced its $24 million dollar cash sale of FUNimation to a group of investors that includes Funimation’s founder and chief executive officer Gen Fukunaga, John A. Kuelbs, Doug Deason, and billionaire Darwin Deason. Gen Fukunaga was a part owner of FUNimation in 2005 when Navarre bought the company for a stock-price adjusted $114 million, after an initial offer of $142 million. FUNimation’s 2010 fiscal year net sales have been estimated at $35 million with a pre-tax income of $10 million. Navarre will continue to serve as FUNimation’s distributor and logistics and fulfillment services provider.
Tokyopop has announced plans to revamp its website on on April 26, a move which will eliminate all user-provided content on the site. In July 2006 manga publisher Tokyopop relaunched its website as a “manga lifestyle” social networking and commercial publisher site. The result was marked by bugs and other problems and has been tweaked and fixed repeatedly since. Tokyopop states that the April 2011 website relaunch and removal of user-generated content is designed to eliminate website bugs.
Good job, Tokyopop, on finally returning to core values and providing a publisher website that actually functions as a publisher website.
Sentai Filmworks has announced its acquisition of home video and digital rights to this month’s new Maria Holic Alive anime television series, a sequel to the 2009 Mariaholic television series that Sentai currently distributes domestically. The Anime Network will begin streaming the new TV anime on on April 10, three days after its Japanese broadcast premiere.
Why can’t we all just agree that the title is a play on “alcoholic” and spell it as one word, “Mariaholic”?
FUNimation has announced its acquisition of home video, theatrical, broadcast, digital, and merchandising rights to Production I.G’s 2009 anime feature film Tales of Vesperia ~The First Strike~. The adaptation of Namco’s 2008 Xbox 360 RPG will hit American DVD & Blu-ray disc next year.
FUNimation has also announced plans to release the Fractale and Freezing anime television series on domestic DVD & BD next year.
Warner Bros. has scheduled a July 26 domestic release for the 22 episode Supernatural: The Anime Series OVA series. The Madhouse produced anime based on the American live-action television series features live-action series co-star Jared Padalecki (“Sam”) dubbing his character on all 22 episodes and co-star Jensen Ackles (“Dean”) dubbing his character for select episodes. The show will be released domestically on bilingual DVD retailing at $49.98, bilingual Blu-ray retailing at $54.97, and will be released digitally.
To refresh your memory or introduce you to an interesting opening animation sequence, I submit the opening of the 1985 TV series Showa Ahosoushi Akanuke Ichiban. The opening theme is “Ikinari WANT YOU,” sung by Pink Cross.
Enjoy the first trailer for creator Tsuzuki Maki’s (Lyrical Nanoha manga) fantasy action anime television series Dog Days. Keizou Kusakawa (Asura Cryin’, Inukami) directs at studio Seven Arcs (Asura Cryin’, Sekirei, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha). The show will premiere tomorrow.
The homepage for the upcoming Baby Princess 3D Paradise 0 OVA has released its “long version” trailer. The 3D OVA about a young man invited to start living with the 19 sisters he didn’t know he had will have its public premiere screening in May.
