AnimeNation Anime News Blog

Japanese anime studio Sunrise has announced plans to finish the American DVD release of the 7-episode Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn DVD release that was started by Bandai Visual. The first two bilingual DVDs were originally released domestically at $29.98 each in June 2011 and February 2012. Sunrise will re-release the first two DVD volumes on August 20 at $29.99 each. The third DVD containing episodes 5 & 6, which was never previously released domestically, will tentatively debut this fall. The fourth DVD volume containing episode 7 & bonus features will tentatively be released next spring to coincide with the Japanese release of the episode. The DVD re-release will be distributed domestically through Right Stuf Entertainment.

The 22nd collected volume of Yuki Suetsugu’s karuta hobby/shoujo manga Chihayafuru will be released in Japan on September 13 in a regular edition and a limited edition that includes an exclusive OAD. The manga spun off a 25-episode anime TV series adaptation in 2011. The second season of the anime is airing now.

Source: Anime News Network

Question:
What exactly is the difference between Shoujo-ai and Yuri and Shonen-ai and Yaoi? I’ve always been told that Shonen-ai and Shoujo-ai deal with crushes and romances between characters of the same sex and that Yuri and Yaoi deal with pornography and erotica between characters of the same sex. But, some sources say that the terms are interchangeable, Shoujo-ai with Yuri and Shonen-ai with Yaoi, what the real truth here?

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The first five minutes of director Makoto Shinkai’s latest short film Kotonoha no Niwa has appeared on YouTube after being broadcast on Japanese television two days ago. The 46-minute-long romance film will premiere in Japanese theaters on the 31st. Sentai Filmworks has announced plans to release the film on bilingual domestic home video later this year.

Source: Anime News Network

Production IG has released a 90-second theatrical trailer for the upcoming Ghost in the Shell Arise: border:1 Ghost Pain short film. The first of four 50-minute prequel films that detail how Motoko Kusanagi, employed by the 501st Secret Unit, transitioned to employment with Public Security Section 9. The first movie will hit Japanese theaters on June 22 before being released to home video on July 26. Veteran animation director Kazuchika Kise is serving as the film series’ chief director and character designer. Tow Ubukata (Le Chevalier D’Eon, Mardock Scramble) is composing the screenplays.

Part of me thinks that this looks like smart, exciting entertainment. My conflicting reaction is that I would have been entirely happy to never see a younger, impulsive, unconfident Motoko Kusanagi.

Source: Anime News Network

The homepage for creator/director Hiroyuki Imaishi’s next anime television series, Kill la Kill, has added a new, second teaser trailer. The schoolgirl battle action anime will be the first original series developed by Imaishi’s animation studio Trigger. Kill la Kill director & screenwriter Hiroyuki Imaishi & Kazuki Nakashima previously worked together on Gainax’s 2007 television series Gurren Lagann.

Source: Anime News Network

Shout! Factory has announced plans to release a double-disc “Starzinger: The Movie Collection” DVD set on August 20 at a $19.93 retail price. The DVDs will contain an English dubbed American edit of Leiji Matsumoto’s 1978-79 sci-fi space adventure television series SF Saiyuki Starzinger. The original anime series about three guards escorting a future queen across the galaxy was inspired by the classic Chinese Saiyuki folk tale. The three Starzinger “movies” were edited & dubbed by William Winckler Productions. The Starzinger television series was previously edited, dubbed, and broadcast on American television by Jim Terry Productions in 1980 under the name “Spaceketeers.”

Shout! Factory’s delayed release of the English dubbed Gaiking: The Movie Collection will hit stores this month, on the 21st.

Source: Anime News Network

Question:
What’s the significance of all-girl high schools? I’ve recently seen a slew of all-girl schools in anime like K-On!, Girls Und Panzer and the recently premiered Yuyushiki. It looks interesting.

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Discotek has announced plans to re-release the two-episode Oira Uchu no Tankofu (“Mighty Space Miners”) OVA series from 1994. AD Vision released the two episodes on domestic VHS in 1998. The sci-fi drama from studio Triangle Staff and late director Umanosuke Iida (Gundam MS 08th Team, Towa no Quon) was originally planned to be six-episodes but was canceled after only two episodes were produced.

Regrettably, while this series had a lot of potential, the first two episodes do little more than introduce the characters, making the existing episodes pretty pointless and forgettable.

Discotek has announced plans to release the 1981 Fantastic Adventures of Unico and 1983 Unico in the Island of Magic movies on a double-feature Blu-ray later this year. Discotek released the two films on bilingual DVD last year. The bilingual Japanese Blu-ray is scheduled for release on July 23.

Kadokawa Shoten has confirmed the development of an anime based on Hajime Segawa’s ongoing “afterschool psychic action” manga series Tokyo ESP. Segawa launched the current manga in 2010 after concluding his supernatural action manga series Enchained Spiritual Beast Ga-Rei. Tokyo ESP revolves around a schoolgirl who mysteriously gains the ability to walk through solid matter.

Source: Anime News Network

The current issue of Comic Earth Star magazine includes a formal announcement that Masato Hisa’s sci-fi action manga Nobunagun will be getting an anime adaptation. The unique characteristic of the schoolgirls versus monsters action manga is the fact that the girls use weapons infused with the spirits of great historical figures. For example, the passive resistance proponent Mahatma Gandhi powers a shield generator while Japanese warlord Nobunaga Oda is reincarnated as the protagonist’s machine gun.

Source: Anime News Network

An official website has launched to announce the anime adaptation of Yuji Terajima’s baseball manga Ace of Diamond (Daiya no Ace). The Kodansha Manga Award-winning serial about a high school baseball team aiming for the national championship premiered in 2006. The anime will tentatively premiere this fall.

Source: Anime News Network

Studio Xebec has formally revealed its development of Maken-Ki! Two, a sequel to the 2011 fan-service action anime produced by studio AIC Spirits based on Hiromitsu Takeda’s manga. First series screenwriter Yousuke Kuroda will return to write the second series, along with the OAD episode from studio Xebec that will be released as a premium with limited edition copies of the 11th volume of the manga this September. First series director Koichi Ohata will give way to second series director Hiraku Kaneko (Seikon no Qwaser). Nobuteru Yuki provided character designs for the AIC series. Kanokon character designer Akio Takami will provide character designs for the second series.

Source: Anime News Network