Director Kazuyoshi Yokota passed away on September 7 due to an unspecified cause. Yokota worked as an assistant or episode director on anime series including Jarinko Chie, Osomatsu-kun, and Dog of Flanders in addition to directing anime including Haikara-san ga Tooru, Uchusen Sagittarius, Maetel Legend, and Cosmo Warrior Zero.
Source: Anime News Network
This December the NTV network will air a two-hour live-action Ranma ½ TV special, based on Rumiko Takahashi’s popular romantic comedy manga. Kento Kaku (Paradise Kiss, Gokusen) and Natsuna (Gantz) will play the male and female versions of Ranma Saotome. Yui Aragaki will play Akane Tendo. The special will be an original story revolving around the Akane Tendo character.
Source: Anime News Network
To refresh your memory or introduce you to an interesting opening animation sequence, I submit the unique opening of the early 2011 television series Fractale. The opening theme is “Harinezumi” performed by Hitomi Azuma.
Question:
While roaming online, I found the question, “What are some anime characters that will be fondly remembered years from now? You know, characters like Char, Lupin, Minmay, Astro Boy, etc.” I thought the question was intriguing and wanted to address it myself.
A pair of Japanese TV commercials advertising the 36th collected volume of Kentarou Miura’s Berserk manga have premiered in Japan. Both short clips reveal previously unreleased footage of the upcoming Berserk Golden Age Arc I: Egg of the Supreme Ruler motion picture. The 36th manga volume hits Japanese bookstores this week. The first of three Berserk movies will premiere in January.
The 2D is very nice, but the CG is hideous. 4°C began working on this movie three years ago, but I didn’t expect three-year old test footage to actually appear in the final film.
Source: Anime News Network
An English narrated Japanese trailer for the full CG Dragon Age: Blood Mage no Seisen motion picture has premiered online. The production from anime studio Oxybot and producers FUNimation, BioWare, and Electronic Arts is based on BioWare’s franchise of Dragon Age console RPGs. The movie will open in a dozen Japanese theaters on February 11 followed by an American home video release next year under the title “Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker.”
To my mild dismay, this almost looks better than the Berserk movie because at least the CG in this looks like it’s completely rendered rather than half-finished.
Source: Anime News Network
To refresh your memory or introduce you to an interesting opening animation sequence, I submit the opening of the recently concluded Steins;Gate TV series. The opening theme is “Hacking to the Gate” performed by Kanako Ito.
Question:
Why are Japanese anime companies reluctant to do sequels to manga adaptations, even when they have the material for them? Everyone’s been waiting for new Berserk in animated form, not just a shiny retread of what’s already been available. Is it because the later conent in Berserk is too “violent” to sell on certain timeslots? Though even the Fist of the North Star and Saint Seiya anime franchise had follow-ups, even if it took a few decades. And the same question applies to Hunter X Hunter. Or is it just possible that the OAD market isn’t as lucrative as the industry would prefer, and it’s currently cheaper to stick with the formulas which were successful, even if everyone who was interested already bought the original incarnations of those properties? And does the fact that Hellsing Ultimate’s been a disappointment also factor in with anime companies’ reluctance to adapt newer material?
Aniplex of America has announced that Niconico will stream next month’s Fate/zero television series worldwide with subtitles in Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, Korean, and Spanish. The first episode will go online on October 1 at 8:30am Pacific. Each weekly episode will only be available online for one week. The adaptation of Type-Moon’s Fate/zero PC adventure game is a prequel to the Fate/stay night game that was adapted into a 2005 anime TV series and 2010 motion picture.
Right Stuf International’s adult anime label Critical Mass has acquired the domestic distribution rights to the 2002 three-episode adult OVA series The Urotsuki. The series is the fifth and final installment of the Urotsukidoji supernatural erotic horror anime series. The OVA series was released domestically by Central Park Media in 2004 under the title “Urotsukidoji: New Saga.” Critical Mass will re-release the series on domestic DVD on December 6.
A third OAD based on Yasunori Mitsunaga’s Princess Resurrection ~ Kaibutsu Oujou manga will be released with limited edition copies of the 16th collected volume of the manga on October 7. A trailer for the episode has just appeared online.
Source: Anime News Network
The November issue of LaLa Magazine will formally announce this weekend that Natsume Yujincho Shi, a fourth Natsume Yujincho television series, will premiere next January. The current Natsume Yujincho San television series is scheduled to end on the 29th.
Source: Anime News Network
Anime production studio TMS will premiere its latest feature film, Hal no Fue (Hal’s Flute) at next month’s 24th Tokyo International Film Festival. The 48 minute long anime film is based on a 2009 picture book that Anpanman creator Takashi Yanase published when he was 90 years old. The story revolves around a tanuki that finds a human baby. The tanuki uses its shapeshifting ability (a standard of Japanese folklore) to transform into a human mother to raise the child.
Source: Anime News Network
Director Goro Miyazaki’s second feature film, Kokuriko-Zaka Kara, “From Up on Poppy Hill,” got off to a slow box office start on July 16, but as of September 11 the Studio Ghibli film’s box office receipts have overtaken the Pocket Monster Best Wishes movie double feature to become the highest grossing Japanese produced film of the year in Japan so far. The film has accumulated roughly 3,300,000 theatrical views and grossed $53,799,452 USD. The film will now continue to screen in 300 Japanese theaters into October.
Despite mixed reviews, director Goro Miyazaki’s first film, Ged Senki, became Japan’s highest grossing domestic film of 2006.
Source: Anime News Network
Sunrise has announced its development of an original TV anime series titled “Natsuiro Kiseki” (Summer-Colored Miracle). The four vocalists of the pop group Sphere will provide the voices of the series’ primary characters. The show will premiere next year.
Source: Anime News Network
