Sentai Filmworks has announced its acquisition of creator/director Jun Awazu’s 2010 CG anime film Planzet. The 53 minute movie details the last remaining member of a human military resistance against an alien invasion who initiates “Plan Z,” Earth’s final hope to repel the overpowering aliens. Creator Jun Awazu leapt to prominence with his 2007 independent CG anime short film Negadon: The Monster from Mars. Sentai will release the film digitally and on domestic DVD and BD later this year.

Not a bad acquisition, but regretably like Negadon, Planzet isn’t without its weaknesses, including a climax that feels abbreviated and underdeveloped.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Disney’s domestic release of The Secret World of Arrietty, studio Ghibli’s 2010 film Karigurashi no Arrietty, will screen in over 1,200 US theaters beginning February 17, the widest American theatrical release of a Ghibli film so far. Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s film is an adaptation of British author Mary Norton’s 1952 novel The Borrowers, with its setting shifted to present day Japan. The film will screen nationally with an American dub starring Bridgit Mendler, Will Arnett, and Amy Poehler.

Ugh. This dub. Call me elitist if you will, but I can’t even bear to listen to the whole trailer.

Source: Anime News Network

Production I.G & SANZIGEN Animation Studio have released a new teaser trailer for director Kenji Kamiyama’s upcoming CG anime film 009 RE:CYBORG. However, the new trailer doesn’t appear to include any new, previously unreleased footage.

This latest anime adaptation of Shotaro Ishinomori’s classic 1964 manga Cyborg 009 will tentatively open simulataneously in theaters in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea this fall.

Source: Anime News Network

FUNimation has announced its acquisition of broadcast, home entertainment, merchandising, and streaming rights to the 2001 magical girl anime TV series Shin Shirayuki Hime Densetsu Pretear (New Legend of Snow White, Pretear). ADV Films released the 13-episode series on domestic DVD in 2003.

The Fuji TV network has revealed the fifth Noitamina anime series to be directed by Kenji Nakamura (Ayakashi, Mononoke, Kuchu Buranko, C). Tsuritama, a fishing anime set on Japan’s Enoshima island starring four teen boys and a pet duck, will premiere in April. Yuichi Takahashi (Macross Frontier, Iron Vendetta) is providing the animation character designs based on concept designs by Atsuya Uki (Cencoroll). A-1 Pictures is animating the series.

Looks amusing, and it has a very unique, interesting production staff.

Source: Anime News Network

Media Works has released three lengthy trailers for its upcoming Dengeki Anime Bunko OVAs. Although originally scheduled for release last fall, all three episodes are now scheduled for Japanese release on February 15. ufotable is producing the three anime adaptations of Mikage Chihaya’s comedy manga Minori Scramble!, kashmir’s comedy manga Yuri Seijin Naoko-san, and Junji Ito’s horror manga Gyo.

The Gyo trailer is only streaming on the Dengeki homepage.

I’ve been anticipating these three OVAs for a year, and all three of them look tremendously entertaining. Can’t wait!

Source: Anime News Network

TMS Entertainment has released a trailer for its upcoming ZETMAN horror/superhero anime television series, based Masakazu Katsura’s 2002 manga, itself inspired by Katsura’s 1989-1994 ZETMAN mini-series manga. The show will premiere in April.

Since the 2002 Barom-One anime failed to do the job, might this finally be the present generation’s Guyver?

Japanese website Cinema Today has premiered the teaser trailer for Toei Animation’s forthcoming feature film Niji-Iro Hotaru ~Eien no Natsu Yasumi~ (Rainbow-Colored Fireflies: The Eternal Summer Vacation~). The adaptation of Masayuki Kawaguchi’s 2007 novel tells the story of Yuta, a sixth-grade boy grieving over his father’s death who gets the opportunity to experience a joyous summer vacation after time-slipping 30 years back in time. Yuta will be voiced by 14-year-old actor Akashi Takei (Kamen Rider Decade).

Konosuke Uda (Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Fantasy) is directing with Hisashi Mori (Samurai 7) providing character design and serving as animation director. The film will hit Japanese theaters on May 19.

I recognize that the simplified character design is intentional style, but I’m still a little disappointed to see fluid animation come at the cost of detailed art design.

Source: Anime News Network

While I have a little difficultly associating the whimsical design and tone of this animation with whiskey, this short does re-confirm that 4°C does its best work when it’s producing esoteric, experimental animation rather than mainstream, conventional anime.

Source: Crunchyroll

Toei has released a 30 second preview of next week’s first episode of Smile Precure. The ninth Pretty Cure television series will take over Suite Precure’s timeslot on February 5.

This is increasingly obviously looking like a remake of 2007′s Yes! Precure 5 with marginaly younger characters. The trailer footage from :16 to :18 appears to even begin the story in a library, just like the first episode of Yes! Precure did.

Source: Anime News Network

Cowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe is helming the anime adaptation of Yuki Kodama’s drama manga Sakamichi no Apollon. The April Noitamina series tells the story of an introverted intellectual high school boy in the 1960s who finds common ground through jazz music with his new school’s female class president and a delinquent boy. The manga was the winner of the “Best General Manga” category in this year’s prestigious Shogakukan Manga Awards. The anime from studio MAPPA/Tezuka Productions is an all-star production reuniting director Watanabe with Cowboy Bebop music composer Yoko Kanno. Nobuteru Yuki (Escaflowne, Paradise Kiss) provides character design. Ayako Katoh (Chihayafuru) & Yuuko Kakihara (Persona 4 the Animation) are co-writing the scripts. Yoshimitsu Yamashita (Hyoge Mono) is serving as animation director. Shinichiro Watanabe hasn’t directed a full anime production since helming his “Baby Blue” segment of the 2007 anthology film Genius Party.

Can’t say that I immediately like the CG animation, but this is already assured of being one of 2012′s most acclaimed and respected shows simply based on its pedigree. It is certainly nice to see Noitamina getting back to unconventional adult oriented anime.

Source: Anime News Network

Nico Nico Douga has announced plans to simulcast next month’s Black Rock Shooter television series online with subtitles in eight languages. The show will premiere on the Fuji TV network’s Noitamina programming block on February 2. The show will debut online at 11:00pm on February 3 for online viewers in the United States, Canada, France, Belgium, Monaco, Switzerland, Andorra, Italy, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and Singapore.

Source: Anime News Network

Source: Anime News Network

Source: Anime News Network

The flick has a much more “Ghibli-esque” look to it than Hosoda’s previous works, which isn’t a complaint. With the fan community increasingly calling contemporary Ghibli movies stale, perhaps Hosoda can give us the sort of golden era Ghibli film that Ghibli itself seems to not make anymore.