Media Factory has released its first (censored) trailer for the risqué supernatural school romantic comedy/adventure television series High School DxD. Studio TNK and director Tetsuya Yanagisawa (Kannazuki no Miko, UFO Princess Valkyrie) are producing the adaptation of Ichiei Ishibumi’s light novel series.
Source: Anime News Network
The free Japanese cel phone moé game Ai Mi! Moe Can Change! will be getting an anime OVA. The simulation game from developer Ambition places players in charge of raising a female android.
Source: Anime News Network
Reportedly the next issue of Viva Tales of Magazine that goes on sale in Japan on the 28th will formally reveal the development of an anime based on Namco’s Tales of Xillia PlayStation 3 RPG. Earlier entries in Namco’s “Tales” game franchise, Tales of Eternia, Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, and Tales of Vesperia, have all gotten anime adaptations.
Source: Anime News Network
Kodansha has announced that the seventh collected volume of Tozen Ujiie’s school comedy manga series Seitokai Yakuindomo will be released on July 17, 2012 in a limited edition that includes the franchise’s third OAD. The risqué series’ second OAD episode was released with the sixth manga volume earlier this week.
Source: Anime News Network
A new trailer for the Japanese language version of Madhouse’s anime film Tibetan Dog: Golden Dao Jie (Tibet Inu Monogatari: Kiniro no Dao Jie) has appeared online. The Chinese/Japanese co-production, based on a popular Chinese children’s novel, was animated by Japan’s Madhouse with directed by Masayuki Kojima (Monster, Piano Forest). The Chinese language version of the film opened in Chinese theaters earlier this year and recently hit Chinese home video. The Japanese language version will open in Japanese theaters on January 7.
Source: Anime News Network
Seventeen magazine model Mariya Nishiuchi will star in a live-action TV series adaptation of Natsumi Aida’s comedy manga series Switch Girl. The ongoing manga that premiered in 2006 revolves around a high school boy who discovers that the fashionable and stylish girl Nika Tamiya is actually lazy and slovenly and only “switches on” her cool personality when in public. The TV series will premiere on December 24 on the Fuji TV Two satellite channel.
Source: Anime News Network
Model kit from last month’s Spooky Empire horror convention in Orlando, Florida. Paint job courtesy of Justin Cartisano.
Question:
What is your take on the recent noitaminA shift, real or perceived, toward otaku-centric programming? If it’s real, do you think the shift is permanent?
Weekly Young Jump Magazine has formally announced the development of a TV anime adaptation of Yasuhisa Hara’s historical manga Kingdom. The ongoing manga that launched in 2006 is set in ancient China’s “Three Kingdoms” era and follows two pesant boys that dream of becoming respected & powerful warlords. Studio Pierrot (Fushigi Yuugi, Naruto) will animate for broadcast on the NHK network.
Source: Anime News Network
Publisher Fujimi Shobo has announced the production of an anime based on author Koshi Tachibana’s fantasy romance comedy light novel series Date A Live. The novel series revolves around a teen boy that has to date a powerful magical warrior girl to distract her from once again destroying much of civilization. The third Date A Live novel will go on sale in Japan this weekend.
Source: Anime News Network
Anime studio Sunrise has formally announced plans to produce two feature films based on its sleeper hit superhero parody television series Tiger & Bunny. At least the first of the two films will premiere next year.
Source: Anime News Network
Maho Sensei Negima creator Ken Akamatsu has revealed that an extended cut of the Maho Sensei Negima: Anime Final motion picture will be released as a premium with limited edition copies of the 37th collected volume of the Negima manga on February 17. The “Negima Movie: Supervisor Ken Akamatsu’s Cut” will run 84 minutes, nearly double the length of the theatrical cut released last August. In addition to new scenes, the “Supervisor’s Cut” will feature rewritten dialogue that makes the characters seem a bit smarter.
The feature film, produced by Shaft, presents an alternate ending to the Negima story, different from the manga story ending. The movie was released as a double-feature with the Hayate no Gotoku movie. Animation studio Shaft has developed a reputation for just barely finishing its anime productions by initial release date and finishing productions for later home video release.
Source: Anime News Network
Next April’s 50 minute long Uchu Senkan Yamato 2199 feature film will actually be just a compiled edit of the first two episodes of a new Yamato television series, the first since 1980′s Space Battleship Yamato III. The TV series from studios XEBEC and AIC will be a remake of the 1974 original anime television series. Rahxephon creator Yutaka Izubuchi will direct the new series. The pilot movie will screen in 10 theaters throughout Japan beginning April 7, 2012.
Source: Anime News Network
Kan Sakurai & artist Jun Hayase’s ongoing drama manga series Ekiben Hitoritabi (A Solo Journey for Station Bento) will be getting a live-action television series adaptation starring Yoshinori Okada (Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e, Densha Otoko). The manga series follows a Japanese man whose hobby is traveling by train around Japan and sampling regional bento boxed meals. The live-action series will focus on the protagonist’s visit to the earthquake & tsunami ravaged Tohoku region.
Source: Anime News Network
Question:
How come there are so few Arabian influences in anime? Besides the Heroic Legend of Arslan and Otoyomegatari, and one character in Ladies vs. Butlers, I can’t think of any anime/manga that pull strongly from that culture. It’s a mystery to me because Arabian culture is rich with its own visual flare and mythology and esoteric names that I’m sure would make for great plot devices (instead of relying on the same old Norse/Japanese/Chinese stuff). I mean, come on, the word “harem” comes from the Ottomans – and we know Japan loves harem anime.
