AnimeNation Anime News Blog

In its latest e-mail newsletter, Conlan Press has formally announced that the 1982 animated film The Last Unicorn will be getting a theatrical re-release next year. “Starting early next year and running through the middle of 2013, there will be more than 80 special digital theater screenings of The Last Unicorn taking place in America, Canada, Great Britain, and Germany. [Last Unicorn author] Peter [S. Beagle] will be at every one of these events to do audience Q&A, meet people, and sign stuff.”

Furthermore, the film will also be getting a five-million dollar digital overhaul. “Not remastering, mind you, but renovating: going through The Last Unicorn from end to end and top to bottom, spending five million dollars to upgrade the special visual effects and soundtrack, smooth out and improve character animation, finish background paintings that were never completed, and add five to eight minutes of entirely new shots and sequences that will bring the story to a whole new level. And when the work is done, this wonderful new 30th Anniversary Version will be given a worldwide theatrical release in both 2D and 3D.”

The 1982 film was produced by American production company Rankin/Bass Productions and animated by Topcraft, the Japanese studio that animated Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind two years later.

Viz Media has revealed plans to phase out its print version of Shonen Jump in favor of the digitally distributed Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha. The final print version of Shonen Jump magazine will be the April 2012 issue that hits newsstands in March. Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha will go on sale on January 30th, 2012.

Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha will be a full English translation of Japan’s Weeky Shonen Jump magazine with each English language issue appearing online two weeks after Japanese publication. Issues will be accessible online and on multiple mobile devices via the Viz website and proprietary reader application.

Source: ICv2

The first episode of the second Kaichu! web anime series is now streaming. The adaptation of Yuki Hayashi’s school archery club comedy manga revolves around a cross-dressing male archery prodigy. Kaichu! got its first two-episode web anime adaptation last year.

Source: Anime News Network

Author Sadanatsu Anda’s and illustrator Yukiko Horiguchi’s light novel series Kokoro Connect (Heart Connect) will be getting an anime adaptation. The ongoing five volume novel series details the strange goings-on of a high school culture club that begin with the club members switching bodies with each other.

Source: Anime News Network

Shonen Sunday magazine has formally announced the development of a Shijo Saikyo no Deshi Kenichi (History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi) OVA. Shun Matsuena’s martial arts comedy manga series was adapted into a 2006 fifty-episode television series by TMS Entertainment. Brains Base (Baccano, Kamisama Dolls) will animate the OVA.

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese publisher Kodansha has formally announced that a Fairy Tail feature film will open on August 18 but has not specified whether the film will be animated or live-action. Hiro Mashima’s shounen manga has been adapted into a popular ongoing TV series and three OADs.

Presumably this will be the franchise’s first anime film, as it’s about due for one, if not overdue for one by now.

Source: Anime News Network

A live-action film adaptation of authors Yoshiki Sakurai & Team G.V. and illustrator Kuroko Yabuguchi’s 2011 manga series Kami Voice will open theatrically on November 19. Kami☆Voice ~The Voice Makes a Miracle~ is the story of two childhood friends that aim to become professional voice actors. The film will include appearances from prominent voice actors including Kouichi Yamadera, Shigeru Chiba, Mayumi Tanaka, Masako Nozawa, and Romi Park. Production I.G will produce an animated sequence that will appear in the film.

Source: Anime News Network

Question:
With the current explosion of moé anime series in Japan, I can’t help but notice that they are all targeted at men and feature cute girls. Why do you suppose that there aren’t moé shows made for female otaku that feature cute boys? Must moé shows feature girls, or do you think there would be room for moé featuring cute boys also?

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Sentai Filmworks has acquired the domestic rights to Production I.G’s six film fantasy/mecha movie franchise Break Blade. The anime adaptation of Yunosuke Yoshinaga’s manga series will premiere on The Anime Network later this month with a DVD & BD release to follow next year. The film series will be distributed under its Romanized titled “Broken Blade.”

Sony Pictures has contracted Shinji Aramaki, director of the CG Appleseed movies, to direct a CG animation film titled Starship Troopers: Invasion. The spin-off of Robert A. Heinlein’s seminal 1959 sci-fi novel is written by Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay video game writer Flint Dille and produced by Halo Legends producer Joseph Chou. Sony will release the picture next summer.

Source: Anime News Network

The G4 television network will begin airing AIC Spirits’ 2009 sci-fi action anime television series Viper’s Creed on October 21 at 11:30 pm Eastern, immediately after the premiere of the first episode of Madhouse’s X-Men anime series. The series has been streaming in English on Hulu & Crackle since last April.

Just not gonna let this show die, are they?

Source: Anime News Network

Studio Gokumi, a new production studio consisting of animators that worked on Gonzo’s 2009 Saki television series, will produce an anime TV series adaptation of Ritz Kobayashi and Aguri Igarashi’s manga series Saki ~ Achiga-hen episode of side-A. The manga is a spin-off from Kobayashi’s 2006 bishoujo mahjong manga series Saki. The new Saki anime will premiere next April.

Source: Anime News Network

Bandai Visual, in collaboration with Duckbill Entertainment, Baku Enterprise, and Singapore based Sparky Animation, has announced the development of a CG anime TV series based on Yuichi Kimura’s 1994 children’s novel Arashi no Yoru ni (Stormy Night). The popular novel series about an unlikely friendship between a sheep and a wolf has had seven books and numerous adaptations, including a 2005 anime feature film directed by Gisaburo Sugii. The TV series will premiere next April. Shiki & Macross 7 director Amino Tetsurou will helm the production.

Source: Animation World Network

The homepage for Yasuhisa Kubo’s ongoing horror comedy manga series Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san has announced that the series’ eigth collected volume will be released on May 23, 2012, in a limited edition that includes the franchise’s third OAD. The exclusive 25 minute anime will adapt the manga’s “Lucifer” story arc. Production I.G and director Tsutomu Mizushima, who produced the prior two OVAs and the spring 2011 television anime, will produce the third OAD.

Source: Anime News Network

Acclaimed anime director Mamoru Oshii has announced his latest project, a digital media narrative titled “Chimamire My Love” (My Blood-Stained Love). The animated manga for mobile devices will be a romantic comedy about a young boy who tries to solicit blood donations for his vampire girlfriend. Oshii cites the work has his return to slapstick comedy after directing Urusei Yatsura anime in the early 1980s. The work will premiere at next year’s International Short Film Festival & Market held in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Source: Anime News Network