The January issue of Monthly GanGan WING magazine has formally announced that School Rumble creator Jin Kobayashi’s current manga series Natsu no Arashi! (Summer Storm!) will be developed into an anime television series. The humorous sci-fi romance series will be directed by Akiyuki Shinbo (Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, Tsukuyomi ~Moon Phase~) and animated by Shaft
Source: Anime News Network
Anime production house Barnum Studio has formally announced its development of a an anime series titled “Hoshi ni Negai wo,” which literally means “Wish Upon a Star,” but also happens to be the Japanese title of the classic Disney theme “When You Wish Upon a Star,” from the film Pinocchio. Barnum Studio has previously assisted in the production of anime including Kyoran Kazoku Nikki, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, Devil May Cry, and is currently involved in the production of the Kemeko DX series.
Kazuya Ichikawa, director of the 2004 CG Shadow Skill OVA, will direct. Additional information about the production will be announced at next month’s Comic Market convention.
Source: Anime News Network
The Mainichi Newspaper has announced that Mangatarou’s Chinyuki manga series will be adapted into a Flash animation OVA. The Chinyuki manga originally published from 1990 to 1992 is a parody of the classic Saiyuki fable, detailing the westward journey of a violence prone kabuki actor and a monk that has been magically transformed into a monkey.
Mangatarou’s Jigoku Koshien (Hell Baseball Tournament) manga will premiere as a Flash animation OVA on February 13, 2009. An OVA adaptation of Yo Nimo Kimyo na Mangatarou (Extremely Bizarre Mangatarou) will follow next spring. The Chinyuki anime will be released next summer.
Source: Anime News Network
Twitch now hosts translated excerpts from Hayao Miyazaki’s press interview for the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, which was conducted last week.
ICv2 is speculating that Disney may begin American distribution of Hayao Miyazaki’s current Japanese box office hit Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea as early as this spring. Viz’s “Art of Ponyo” and “Ponyo” film comics are scheduled for domestic release in March and early April. In past years, Viz has released its domestic publications devoted to Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away only a month from the films’ official US debuts.
It seems difficult to imagine a domestic release of Ponyo just around the corner since Disney has revealed so little about its domestic distribution plans for the film, but getting the movie out in early 2009 would strike while the title is still hot, and would give the film plenty of time to generate DVD sales throughout 2009.
The official website for Madhouse’s upcoming TV series RideBack, based on Tetsuro Kasahara’s manga, is now open. The show is scheduled to premiere in January.
Maybe this will substitute for that Megazone 23 TV series that seems unlikely to ever materialize.
Source: Moon Phase Diary
The new video game and Asian pop culture magazine Now Loading has announced plans to debut next month. The independent monthly publication from IROIROMODE Media will cover Asian pop-culture trends, anime, tech gear, drama, music, travel spots, and niche content not commonly found in video game editorials, such as profiles of everyday gamers.
Monthly issues available online in digital format will retail at $2.99 and an introductory annual subscription price of $9.95. Print copies will retail at $5.99 monthly, or $19.95 for an annual subscription. Promotional sample copies of Now Loading will be available at various conventions throughout the coming year.
Fan site All Anime World has announced the launch of its eighth annual “Cutest Anime Girl” competition. All Anime World is currently accepting e-mail nominations for cute female anime characters. Visitors to the All Anime World website will be able to vote on final nominees from December 1st through 24th. The winner will be announced on December 27th. Voting will be open to all, but registered members of the All Anime World website will be entered into a drawing to win a copy of the Street Fighter II movie DVD from Manga Entertainment.
Previous winners are:
2001 - Kinomoto Sakura (Card Captor Sakura)
2002 - Chii (Chobits)
2003 - Mihama Chiyo (Azumanga Daioh)
2004 - Yuzuyu (Aishiteruze Baby)
2005 - Misuzu Kamio (AIR TV)
2006 - Nyuu (Elfen Lied)
2007 - Tsukasa Hiraagi (Lucky Star)
Crunchyroll has formally announced that its distribution partnership with Japanese broadcastor TV Tokyo will include the current Shugo Chara! & Skip Beat! shoujo anime series. Shugo Chara! made its television premiere in October 2007 and is currently ongoing. The Skip Beat! television series premiered in Japan last month. Subtitled episodes of both series, along with Naruto Shippuden, will premiere on Crunchyroll on January 8th.
An official website has launched to announced the February 13th release of a Flash anime OVA adaptation of Mangatarou’s 1996 manga series Jigoku Koshien (Hell Baseball Tournament). The site features a streaming trailer for the upcoming OVA. Business Jump magazine announced last August that Mangatarou’s Yo Nimo Kimyo na Mangatarou gag manga series would be adapted into video format.
Jigoku Koshien was adapted into the live action feature film “Battlefield Baseball” in 2003 by director Yudai Yamaguchi, who also directed the 2003 live action adaptation of Mangatarou’s “Babaa Zone” gag manga.
Source: Anime News Network
Moviefone now hosts the first teaser trailer for Imagi Entertainment’s full CG Astro Boy motion picture. The film is scheduled for theatrical release on October 23, 2009.
Source: Twitch
An official Japanese website for the spring 2009 Pretty Cure motion picture has launched, confirming that the “Precure All Stars” motion picture will feature all three sets of Pretty Cure heroines.
Source: Saishin Anime Jouhou
The Moon Phase diary reports that Gonzo is tentatively planned to develop an anime adaptation of Ritz Kobayashi’s manga series Saki, the story of a high school girl with a unique talent for playing mahjong. Japanese producer/distribution company Pony Canyon has registered the website domain saki-anime.com.
+D Games now hosts four new screenshots of the upcoming Street Fighter ~Aratanaru Kizuna~ (Street Fighter: Renewed Bonds) OVA scheduled for Japanese release with the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game. The screenshots appear to reveal that new Street Fighter IV characters will appear in the 60 minute long anime. The home version of the Street Fighter IV fighting game is scheduled for Japanese release on February 12, 2009.
Source: Rakugakidou
Film School Rejects reports that actor Will Smith has confirmed that he has plans to star in director Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi manga series Oldboy. Contrary to speculation that surfaced two weeks ago, the Spileberg & Smith production will not be a re-make of director Chan-wook Park’s 2003 Korean film based on the Japanese manga. Will Smith stated about the planned American film project, “We’re looking at that right now. Not the film though, it’s the original source material. There’s the original comics of Oldboy that they made the first film from. And that’s what we’re working from, not an adaptation of the film.”
