AnimeNation Anime News Blog

An official website and teaser trailer have launched to formally announce that director Yutaka Izubuchi’s Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 motion picture will open in Japanese theaters on April 7, 2012. The film is a remake of classic 1974 television series. Shoji Nishizaki, the adopted son of the late Yamato co-creator Yoshinobu Nishizaki, is producing the film. Makoto Kobayashi (Dragon’s Heaven, Gundam ZZ, Yamato Resurrection) is handling the film’s mecha designs. Director Yutaka Izubuchi is a veteran of mecha & sci-fi anime, having created & directed Rahxephon, and prominently worked on anime including Patlabor, Dunbine, the Macross movie, and Char’s Counterattack.

Source: Anime News Network

The second season of Unorthodox Media’s popular anime-related TV show, The Ki Anime Report, will premiere in Virginia November 13th. The news and entertainment based show that covers anime, video games, manga and special events will air in over 750,000 households through the cable distributor Cox on channel 9 in Roanoke, channel 11 in the Hampton Roads area, and On Demand in Northern Virginia on Sunday, November 13th at 9:30 p.m. with repeats airing Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 12 p.m. Viewers outside of the Virginia area can still catch the show on iTunes, through the Ki TV video podcast, segments posted on YouTube, and full episodes on Blip.tv.

Both artist Yoko Nemu’s short manga story “Nokonoko” and artist Dodo Yamasaki’s short manga story “Change” will be adapted into short live-action movies directed by Akio Oku. Both slice-of-life manga stories were originally published as chapters of Feel Young Magazine’s 2007-2008 narrative project “Tokyo Mujirushi Joshi Monogatari ~ Tokyo Nameless Girl’s Story.” The two short films will premiere next summer.

Source: Anime News Network

75 year-old manga writer Kazuo Koike has announced his plan to write a magical girl manga series titled “Maho Shojo Mimitsuki Mimi no QED.” Koike, the acclaimed creator of Lone Wolf & Cub and Crying Freeman, explained that he was excited and inspired by the Puella Magica Madoka Magica anime television series, encouraged to try creating his own magical girl story that involves advancing science and medicine making magic obsolete. In order to emphasize the theme of fewer girls studying modern “magic,” and the real life trend of fewer Japanese women studying engineering, the “Mimitsuki Mimi” manga story will be drawn by an actual female engineering school student.

Source: Anime News Network

Independent animator Jesús Orellana’s cyberpunk short film Rosa is now online in its ten-minute entirity. Although the short has nothing to do with anime, most anime fans should find it worthwhile viewing.

Question:
Why do you think Warner is so obssessed with doing an Akira movie to the point that they’re pretty much willing to hire anyone (who’s not Asian) for the job? Their DC label doesn’t own the original manga, and they don’t have the home video rights to the movie. Is this like the upcoming Superman movie, in that, if it doesn’t happen soon, they allegedly lose the rights to the property? Is it a pathetic attempt to make up for the Speed Racer and/or Green Lantern films? Or are they so desperate for a successor to the Harry Potter and/or Nolan Batman films that they’re just greenlighting anything similar in tone to those franchises? Or, could it be WB’s execs are afraid a rival studio already has the rights to another well-known anime-manga property, and if they don’t get Akira off the ground first, it will look like an also-ran by comparison?

(more…)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica animation producer Atsuhiro Iwakami has formally confirmed that a trilogy of Madoka Magica feature films are now in development. Two of the movies will condense the spring 2011 television series story while a third film will present an entirely new story.

This announcement certainly seems to reinforce the widely adopted perception that Madoka Magica is, in multiple respects, the Evangelion of magical girl anime.

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese media retail chains bk1 and HMV independently report that AIC is developing an anime adaptation of Sai Sumimori’s forthcoming light novel Maho Tsukai Nara Miso o Kue! (Eat Miso to Become a Sorcerer!) that will stream online on sites including Nico Nico Douga. Sumimori’s concept, set in an alternate world in which magic is a practical skill, won the New Author Award in the 1st Kodansha Light Novel Bunko Awards competition. The first Maho Tsukai Nara Miso o Kue! novel will be released on December 2. Kodansha has not formally confirmed the reports of an anime adaptation.

Source: Anime News Network

Sentai Filmworks has announced its acquisition of domestic rights to this year’s A-Channel and Un-Go anime television series. bb Kuroda’s slice-of-schoolgirl-life comedy manga series A-Channel was adapted into a 12 episode television series by Studio Gokumi. The show aired from April to June and currently has an OVA in production. Studio BONES alternate reality detective series Un-Go is airing on Japanese telelvision now, having premiered last month. The series is currently simulcasting on Crunchyroll.

Despite being a moé slice-of-life show, A-Channel seems to have developed quite a supportive following. Despite its all-star production staff and foundational inspiration in classic Japanese literature, Un-Go seems to be a disappointment so far.

Source: Anime News Network

ICv2 has published a three-part exclusive interview with Viz Media founder Seiji Horibuchi. The interview covers Horibuchi’s San Francisco commerce & entertainment complex New People, Horibuchi’s observations on the current domestic manga market, and Horibuchi’s perspective on the current domestic anime market.

Texas based production company Animetropolis has secured Japanese production company IDA Entertainment as a partner for its planned development of a CG animation based on author Tad Williams’ 1985 fantasy novel Tailchaser’s Song. IDA is best known for producing Studio Anima’s CG pilot film Cat Shit One, although Studio Anima has not been attached to this production. Animetropolis’ Paul Alvarado-Dykstra and Samantha Inoue-Harte will produce the Tailchaser’s Song animation in collaboration with IDA President Junya Okabe. Original author Tad Williams will serve as a creative consultant on the production.

Source: Deadline

Question:
Boku no Pico is probably the single most infamous anime among American fandom. Due to it’s…. how do I say this gently…. “inappropriate sexual material” it’s become extremely notorious to the point that some websites deliberately troll new users by always advising them to watch it as a kind of sick joke.

Having said that, I gotta know…. what’s the most infamous anime of all time among the Japanese fandom? Has there ever been anything that truly offended or made them say, “That’s really messed up,” or are the Japanese just impossible to offend when it comes to anime?

(more…)

Crunchyroll has announced plans to begin streaming the current Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time television series for viewers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The series, a sequel to last year’s 54 episode Digimon Xros Wars television series, premiered on Japanese television on October 2. Crunchyroll will not stream the 2010 series, only the current sequel series.

The homepage for next year’s Inu × Boku SS television anime has released a 30 second teaser trailer. The adaptation of Cocoa Fujiwara’s manga revolves around an heiress protected by a fox spirit in the guise of a handsome butler. The TV series will premiere next January.

Source: Anime News Network

In the character song CD included in limited edition copies of the ninth collected volume of Coharu Sakuraba’s Minami-ke manga, voice actresses Rina Satou, Minori Chihara, and Marina Inoue reveal that a new Minami-ke anime is in development. The slice-of-life comedy about three young sisters has been adapted into three anime television series and an OVA series.

Source: Anime News Network