Father Geek back again with another of Scott's fantastic fact filled Anime/Manga reports for this week.

Man, these columns of his require sooooo much code to post that ol'Father Geek is beginning to have nightmares full of giant <'s and terrible little >'s chasing me around some strange TRON-istic world, with blood spirting from the tips of all my fingers. They're like a jillion of those old Pacman guys chasing me from maze to maze, over and over again, never stopping, chomping the whole time... weird.

Well, enough of my pitiful cry for help... here's everything you could possibily need to know about this week's whole wide world of Manga & Anime plopped down in one convinent spot...

The AICN Anime Report...

By Scott Green

Manga Spotlight: No. 5 by Taiyo Matsumoto

Published by Viz Comic's Pulp label

No. 5 is an exquisitely strange sci-fi adventure, unlike anything you've seen before. At an unspecified point in the future 70% of the world has become covered by harsh desert. The still malleable new world order is part cult, part dictatorship Regulations have been place on machine, and land development, arms sales, and population growth is being strictly controlled. The Rainbow Council of the International Peace Keepers, a group of nine extraordinary individuals has become embroiled in an internal problem. One other own, No. 5, an expert sniper and strategic genius, has gone rouge. He has taken a woman, who he may have impregnated, and left. Already one of their number has been killed tracking him.

Everything has settle after being stirred by the changes. Stranger, and more interesting than the new fauna, like the lionsheep, and the rhino-elephants, is the new shape humanity culture has taken. The new shape borrows distinctive patterns from across the spectrum of the old. The centers of the rainbow council use subsets of elements from mosques, European castles, gothic cathedrals, and Buddhist temples to make a few.

Like the intricate renditions of nature, and culture in the world of No. 5, there is a depth and divergence in the philosophies of the gingival members of the Rainbow Council. You see both the influence of their background, and their individual philosophy.

By the end of the volume the modus operendi, and is established for most of the key players, but their agendas, the points of conflict remain largely shrouded. The book introduces some interesting concept and conflicts, but it will take further volumes to judge the depth of No. 5.

The structure of the story is best illustrated in a flow chart that appears late in the volume. There is a sequential progression, but it not necessary linear, it is more like a poem, or computer program, with forks, and parallel progress. This is compounded a sense of inner-loops of meaning from the ubiquitous presence of icons, symbols, they're everywhere, from the Rainbow Council member's monikers, and garb, to the Chinese dragons every where, twenty century icons like an Abbey Road poster, or saucer eyed anime girl on a wall., to the woman No. 5 ran off with, who closely resemble a Russian doll.

The depth of the art work is on par with the ideas. There is a fanciful nature to the imagery. Animal crowd around the character, and the sun often sports a face.

The character design has a sense of realism to it, like the faces where taken were, then reduced in detail until the essential pattern is all that's left, or roboscoped, like the recent "Waking Life". The resulting design leaves a sense of unidealized reality, and personality.

It features several show downs and shoot outs with a branding of cinematic kinetic energy reminiscent of a John Woo, or Robert Rodriguez movie, that should thrill any action junky.

Creator Taiyo Matsumoto stated "American comics are powerful and cool. European comic seem very intellectual. And Japanese comics are very light-heart. If you could combine the best of all three you could create some really tremendous work." By all accounts he succeeded in doing this with No. 5. It pulls together action, ideas, and flare, and offers something you will not find elsewhere. No. 5 tops the list of manga to seek out, and follow.

Anime Spotlight: Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Volume 1

Releases By Bandai

The Federation put down the colony of Zeon's rebellion in the One Year War, but remnants of the Zeon are striking back. Their ace pilot was able to steal a state of the art federation Gundam mobile suit, armed with a nuclear arsenal, they've linked up with another group of Zeon who have taken on a casually vicious pirate-like mode of operation, and they have begun a propaganda war against the federation. The stolen Gundam is used as a symbol of the Federation's illegal arms proliferation, and the Earth elite's subjugation of the citizens of the orbiting colonies. The small group of Federation chasing after the Zeon including a number of veteran pilots, Kou Uraki and Nina Purpleton, a Anaheim Industry technician.

Kou Uraki is the primary focus of the series. He's a young man with exceptional potential as a pilot, but socially unskilled. He's not merely award, he's devoted his thoughts to piloting to the degree where everything else slips away. This causes everyone grief, but he is needed as part of the Federation, unit, and because he is growing closer to the technician Nina Purpleton (there is almost a love triage between Kou, Nina and the Gundam).

The episodes in this volume comprise the familiar incident where the young hero over reaches his bound. When his hasty action meets with utter disaster he looses his confidence, and retreats from the playing field until he can again find his footing. It's been seen before, but as a Gundam series, it is accompanied by a likable cast, and engaging battles between giant robotic armors.

Stardust Memory delivers of Gundam's promise for a military/political sci-fi epic. It is largely a text book hero's quest, with great battle scenes, but the dressing of politics are interesting. The series raises some relevant issues such asymmetric warfare, and peace time arms proliferation, but it remains to be seen whether it follows through with the though, or uses it like window dressings.

The greatest draw to Gundam is always going to its visual aspect. Its carefully designed machinery, and settings reveal a thought that has been paid to the working of the battle ships, mobile armors, and colonies.

The battle scenes are the eye-popping spectacles of diverse weaponry, explosions, and complex maneuvers you would expect from a Gundam OAV series.

This Week's Anime and Manga Releases

Anime

• Devadasy
• Lupin the 3rd - Secret of Twilight Gemini
• Magic Users Club:Should I Do
• Medabots - Transport Metabee (Vol. 1)
• Rurouni Kenshin - Holy War (Episodes 71-74)
• Strange Dawn, Vol. 2: Strange Journey

Manga

• Blade Of The Immortal #66 Beasts (Part 1 Of 7)
• Cannon God Exaxxion #6 Stage 1 (6 Of 8)
• Geobreeders Book 3
• Initial D Vol 1 Gn
• Joan Complete Gn Set
• Love Hina Vol 1 Gn
• Medabots Part 1 #2
• Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 Vol 4 Tp
• Silent Mobius Turnabout #4
• Tomie Complete Gn Set

Devadasy is an echi (risqué) taken on the post-Evangelion kid with giant robot genre, where Earth is showing significant signs of the stress from the size of the human population, and pollution. When aliens attack the UN uses giant robots powered by sexual energy to repel them.

Initial D is a street racing series set in the mountain roads of Japan's Gunma Prefecture.

Joan is a retelling of the story of Joan of Arc. It is an unusually instance of colored manga series.

Love Hina is a relationship comedy about a boy who, after failing his college entrace examples, takes a job at his family's girl's boarding house/hot spring.

Lupin III is a heist series with James Bond-like gadgets and situations, and Cowboy Bebop-like characters. ). Lupin III is the grandson of French literary gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. He is accompanied in the series by his accomplishes, the somber gunman Jigen, the stoic samurai Goemon and his love/rival Fujiko, as well as the Interpol agent tracking him, Zenigata

In "Secret of the Twilight Gemini", Lupin travels to Morocco to find a treasure willed to him by past connection. He becomes entangled with a group of oppressed rebels with a connection to the treasure. The films shows a bit more skin than other Lupin entries.

Tomie is an horror comic from Uzumaki's Junji Ito.

TOKYOPOP Website Update

TOKYOPOP has put up their new website. Amongst the new features are expanded descriptions of Tokyopop's manga and anime titles, trailers, and sample clips from music CDs. Check it out at Tokyopop.com.

Hellsing Site Opens

Pioneer has opened a site for the upcoming anime Hellsing at www.hellsingdvd.com

Right Stuf describes as the as: From studio Gonzo (GATE KEEPERS, VANDREAD), the series follows the gun slinging vampire Arucard. For reasons of his own, Arucard has become the agent of the Hellsing Organization, a group dedicated to ridding the world of the Undead, and stalks the world to destroy those of his own kind. But there are dark undercurrents to this deadly game and Arucard himself is the target of the Iscariot Organization, a secret branch of the Vatican who have their own methods for dealing with the undead.

A mix of Trigun and Vampire Hunter D, this show is one that anime lovers are going to want to grab quick.

Ninja Scroll TV Series

Urban Vision's web site reports Ninja Scroll, the TV series is now in production. The series will be supervised by Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust) and directed by Tatsuo Sato (Nadesico), with character designs by Takahiro Yoshimatsu (Trigun). Ninja Scroll is a face paced, hyper-violent movie about a ronin, a ninja woman, and an elderly government spy who work together to thwart the conspiracy of a group of eight super-powered warriors.

Noir ADV Press

From the ADV Films release:

Directed by Koichi Mashimo (Dominion Tank Police) from scripts by creator Ryoei Tsukimura (El Hazard), and featuring an acclaimed soundtrack by composer Yuki Kajiura (Blood: The Last Vampire), Noir was an immediate hit with Japanese fans after the series' TV Tokyo debut on April 15, 2001.

"The fans have literally been screaming for Noir," said ADV President John Ledford. "And they've literally been hounding our reps on the internet for any information on our release ever since the word first leaked out that we had it. Not that that's so surprising, since everything about Noir - from the engaging story and characters to the dynamic animation and sophisticated soundtrack - combines to form a completely euphoric sensory experience. In many cases where a show has this kind of hype, the show itself often has trouble matching the advance buzz, but Noir not only surpasses the hype; it blows it away with a couple of high-powered hand guns, then digs a hole, drops the hype in and shovels dirt on top of it."

In Noir, the beautiful and renowned assassin Mireille Bouquet receives a mysterious e-mail beckoning her to "make a pilgrimage to the past, with me." Intrigued by the cryptic message, and the attachment that plays a haunting music box melody, Mireille travels to Japan to meet the source of the email: Kirika Yuumura, a quiet young girl well-versed in the killing arts, with no memory of her past. Together, the young women form an uneasy alliance as the assassin duo "Noir," in an effort to uncover Kirika's background, as well as her links to Mireille's own troubled past.

ADV Films News

From Anime News Network's reports from the Anime Central Convention, and Anime on DVD's report of Sakuracon.

ADV Films has acquired the rights Noir, Full Metal Panic, Angelic Layer, and Najica Blitz Tactics.

Angelic Layer is the CLAMP (a team of four women manga creators) take on the game/merchandise based manga/anime about an earnest young girl who starts playing a game with miniature robot angels. Because the anime is based on CLAMP manga you can expect cute character designs, and interesting twist on what you would expect from the genre.

Najica Blitz Tactics is a 12 episode TV series produced by the creators of Agent Aika and involves similar amounts of fan service. Taking place 30 years after a cataclysm which submerges 17% of the Earth's surface under water, Najica follows the secret Agent and Perfumist Najica as she is sent on a mission to rescue another secret agent, Kira who turns out to be much more than a run of the mill agent.

The comedy/parody Excel Saga will be released using a 5/4/4/4/4/5 episode per release distribution, which ADV has adopted as its standard for 26-episode TV series. Extras on the discs will include "ADVidNotes" (optional on-screen notes for anime and cultural references littered throughout the series). Additionally, each DVD of Excel Saga will include items such as an ACROSS membership card, a board game, and posters. The DVD will include Easter Eggs.

Saiyuki will be released under the English title "Paradise Rangers". Saiyuki is a bishonen (pretty boy, popular amoung girls) version of the a Chinese "Journey to the West" legend. The series mixed designs from various periods of Chinese and Japanese history with modern technology to create a world where humans and goblins/demons are living in peace. In order to stop a goblin rampage a priest, and three goblins Son Goku, Sha Gojyo, and Cho Hakkai must travel to the west to stop the resurrection of the bull demon Gyu Mao.

The MSRP on the Miyuki-chan in Wonderland DVD, CLAMP's panty shot filled rendition of Alice in Wonderland, is $12.98, and will include a .pdf (DVD-ROM side) of a paper doll that can be printed and cut out.

Noir is on a "fast track" to release. The "Making of Noir" documentary is currently not part of the licensing agreement but may be acquired separately and included as an extra. The rumors of a "director's cut" or different version of the series for U.S. release are not true. The only difference between the two versions will be minor clean-up done on the DVD's. (This also means that no blood will be added to any of the places it does not appear in the Japanese version). The DVD will feature the region 2 covers and extras.

The AnimeTrax line of soundtracks will include OST's of Ninja Resurrection, Princess 9, Giant Robo, All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, Nadesico and Boogiepop Phantom. The Boogiepop Phantom image album will be released as well.

The DVD release of Burn Up Excess will include what Williams referred to as a "jiggle counter version 2," inspired by the v.1 used in Plastic Little. Details are yet to come but some of its functions will include counting for simultaneous jigglage across multiple characters as well as the cumulative jigglage after each episode.

Kenshin 2nd OVAs- they will have Samurai X logo, but they will also be reversible. Rurouni Kenshin is the story of Himura Kenshin, who was once the feared swordsman political assassin and bodyguard known as the Hitokiri Battousai, who swore never to kill again, and took a reserved edged sword. The new OAV (direct to video release) follows the life Kenshin's life after the events of the anime and manga series.

You're Under Arrest movie & mini-specials. Dub being done by Coastal Carolina. Maybe able to get DTS track for movie- still working on it. The You're Under Arrest Movie is a more action, and suspense story about the two women traffic officers.

Other current projects include Zone of Enders , Daiguard, Sakura Wars- OVA and TV, and Wild Arms- (English Dub by Bang Zoom).

Full Metal Panic will be released across 6 discs (their standard for new releases), starting in late 2002, early 2003 release date.

Nadesico movie, Slayers movies and OVAs (Presumably the referring to the Gekiganger III 70's giant robot show parody).

The Nadesico movie, Princess of Darkness takes place years after the close of the Nadesico TV series, where Ruri, now captain of the Nadesico is looking for the missing Akito, and Yuriko. Nadesico follows the odd crew of the private battleship Nadesico as they try to find Earth from invades known as the Jovian Lizards. It is a genre hopping series that sifts from relationship comedy, to giant robot action, to big idea scif-fi, with a large amount of anime in-jokes thrown into the mix. .

Rune Solider are all in early stages of production and hope to street late 2002 or early 2003. ADV is close to finalizing a contract for subtitled Sailor Moon TV and Sailor Moon R. The need to produce a dub for Nuku Nuku is holding up release these to DVD. When asked if anyone would buy a subtitle only Nuku Nuku, most of the room raised their hands.

DLW showed off the Excel Saga DVD, especially the pop-up cultral notes and menus. This release is just top-notch. It is hard to describe the menus, other than to say that everything works and fits perfectly.

ADV is also working on converting the rest of its back catalogue over to DVD and they hope to have this completed by the end of this year or early next. Dragon Half will be coming to DVD this Fall and though he was hounded about it he had no word on when Nuku Nuku would come to DVD. Though there were no specifics given ADV is also in negotiation with several outlets for possible broadcast of ADV properties.

According to Anime Nation a DVD version of All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku-Nuku is now in production. According to AD Vision's David Williams at last weekend's Sakura Con, the Nuku-Nuku DVD is being delayed to allow for the production of an English dub.

Matt Greenfield revealed at Fanimecon that AD Vision will be distributing the recent live-action Japanese futuristic samurai/action movie Shurayuki Hime under the American title "Princess Blade." Mr. Greenfield also explained that the reason the Sailormoon Sailorstars television season has not yet been licensed for American release is because Toei Animation of Japan is hesitant to allow American distribution of the series for fear that its potentially controversial subject matter may detriment American sales of Sailormoon videos and merchandise and adversely affect Sailormoon's "family friendly" status in America.

Bandai News (Including Arjuna, and Gundam)

From Anime News Network's recent convention reports

The big announcement from Bandai was the acquisition of Earth Girl Arjuna though Bandai will title it Earth Maiden Arjuna. No projected street date was given as this title was only just picked up. Also acquired was Kaze Makase Tsukikage Ran. The official English title of this release will be "Carried by the Wind" with "Tsukikage Ran" as the subtitle. Additional titles announced though not news were Fancy LaLa, Escaflowne Movie, and Char's Counterattack, the conclusion of Gundam's feud between Amuro Ray and Char Aznable.

Earth Girl Arjuna was one of the biggest hits in Japanese animation last year. The ecologically themed series was directed by Shoji Kawamori (Macross, Escaflowne). The series takes a look at human mismagment and materialism through the eyes of Arjuna, a girl who sees the future after dieing in a motorbike accident.

Kaze Makase Tsuki Ran is an episodic samurai action/comedy soon to be released in the US by Bandai. Tsulo Kage Ran ("Moon Shadow Orchid Blossam") is a wondering swordswoman with a taste for sake, accopmanied by Miyao, a Chinese kung fu artist.

The Escaflowne Movie will street on 23 July in two versions, the standard one-disc at a US$29.98 MSRP and the $54.98 Ultimate version. The latter is a 3-disc set consisting of the movie itself, a disc of extras, and a soundtrack. Extras include: overlapping real-time storyboards, multiple audio tracks, trailers, interviews with the Japanese staff and cast, and footage from the Japanese premiere, promotional concert, and the US premiere at Anime Expo 2000.

It will include an extra where all the Theatrical Posters they made for the us theatrical run but did not use are in an image gallery.

The included figurine is the Black Escaflowne armor from the scene where the armor turns all black. It will be limited to 10k numbered copies.

The Escaflowne TV box set will be released shortly; the full box set will also include a bonus collectible action figure. The box alone will be offered for sale as well.

Bandai is pushing for a theatrical release of Char's Counterattack as well as a Fall broadcast on Cartoon Network. Cities listed as screening sites were New York, Los Angeles and Seattle. Others may be added. Also Bandai is pushing G Gundam as the next Gundam to air on CN. Unlike the previous Gundams to air Bandai will be going on an all-out mainstream advertising push for G Gundam. They will be advertising this one beyond the normal anime media. The Kikaider anime has been postponed indefinitely due to the higher priority of Bandai's current projects.

The Gundam Trilogy (movies) will be released with no English-language audio and a special foil box and individual DVD cases. Char's Counterattack may possibly be released by Fall '02.

Bandai has also signed some merchandising agreements around Cowboy Bebop which has received a considerable sales boost since its run on Adult Swim. Interestingly enough Jerry Chu cited that Cowboy Bebop has scored exceedingly high in the 6 - 11 year old demographic. So much for Adult Swim being for adults. Among the merchandise scheduled to hit the shelves this Fall are character busts, a Faye resin kit, Cowboy Bebop Zippo cigarette lighters, an Ein plush and an Ein dog dish. Oddly enough all of this merchandise is already available in Japan. Also Bandai is relaunching their website at www.bandai-ent.com with a new look, streaming content and current information on their current and future projects.

Only the Love Hina TV series has been licensed so far; thus, there are no plans to release the Christmas or Spring specials, nor the "Again" OVA series recently released in Japan.

The DVD release of Brain Powerd will include both the Japanese and U.S. opening, with one of the two as an extra.

According to Anime Nation while earlier this month the Cartoon Network announced that a second season of Big O anime was now in pre-production, as of this past weekend Bandai America president Jerry Chu was not aware of any plans for more Big O animation. It remains to be seen if Bandai America was uninformed or if the Cartoon Network's statement was made without factual support.

The DVD release of Silent Mobius will include a limited-edition poster and a mini-comic.

Viz Communications Anime Central News

From Anime News Network's report from the Anime Central Convention, and Anime on DVD's report from Fanime.

Two new mnangatitles have been acquired for US release: The Professonal - Golgo 13 and Blood: The Last Vampire.

The Professional, one of the longest-running manga series ever, will be released as a 13-issue limited monthly series, with issue taken from a different representative point in the manga. The first three issues will have cover art by Tim Bradstreet, who has also worked on The Punisher, Hellblazer, and several Vampire: The Masquerade sourcebooks. Golgo 13 will be released in chronological order, but due to the length of the series, not every story will be published. Expect the first volume (80 pages, b&w) to ship in October this year.

Viz will be bring back Short Program in Animerica Extra in September. This is the 2nd novel in terms of graphic novels. The stories are 4 page shorts.

Animerica Extra will also get a page extension with the addition of Banana Fish. .From Pulp's description of the series "1980s New York: Corsican Mafioso Dino Golzine took in runaway Ash Lynx as a boy, forcing him into prostitution even while grooming him as his heir. Ash rebelled, gathering a gang around his personal charisma and deadly skills. Their truce shatter over Dino's plot to exploit a nightmarish drug - code named "Banana Fish" - that drive Ash's late brother mad in Vietnam.

Viz has picked up the right to the Blood manga, based on the anime series by the same name. Blood featured a vampire, who appeared as a somber teenage girl, employed by the US military to dispose of vampires on a military base on the verge of the Viet Name war.

By May, Viz will also release the volume 6 graphic novel of the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga and complete release of volume 7 as monthly issues.

In terms of anime news, Horn stated that Viz had the rights to both the anime and manga versions of Project ARMS, but did not elaborate on that statement. one by the artist of Spriggan. Anime due at the end of August in a three episode volume.

Viz has the film comic(July, 5 volumes) of Sprited Away, and The Making of Sprited Away Artbook(August). They Will use the original film to make the comic, plus have access to all digital artbook Ghibli used.

Viz has obtained the home video and manga rights to Hamtaro, connected to the hamster anime series that will soon be airing on Cartoon Network.

Alita Last Order is scheduled for a September 2002 release. Last Order is Yukito Kishiro's revisitation of his cyber-punk epic Battle Angel Alita, which he cut short due to health problems

Ranma DVD boxed sets have been selling very well, and Season 3 (Hard Battle) will be out for $119 in late July.

Viz still has the rights to the Inu Yasha anime, and are working on getting it on Cartoon Network. They are very confident that it will be broadcast on CN but at this time they don't know when. The home video release dates will depend on when the broadcast dates are agreed on.

By the licensor's insistence, CLAMP's will be released only in graphic novel form.

The big Fanime announcement is Viz has the Trouble Chocolate anime, about a magic student who has forgotten that he is 120 years old, or who he has sent time with.

After a limited theatrical run of the Uzumaki live action movie it will be released on video in September. Uzumaki is a horror story about a town haunted by the shape of the spiral. The manga ran in the Pulp anthology, and one volume has been released.

Maison Ikkoku, Rumiko Takahashi's (of Ranma fame) 96 episode soap opera, is not on the schedule for this year, must be seen as viable .

Viz is going to start pushing merchandising Ranma 1/2 Watches limited edition in a tin. 29.95 Female watch and a panda watch.

Viz has the rights to the first live action from Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno. "Love and Pop" was about group of teen age prostitutes who works to support a pop, materialistic life style. The movie is shot on a mini digital camera. Other Evangelion alumni working include manga artist, and anime character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, who provides the cover art, and Megumi Hayashibara, voice of Rei, who provides voice work for the feature.

Media Blasters Anime Central News

From Anime News Network's report from the Anime Central Convention.

Berserk will hit the street in May. This title has been dubbed by NYAV, who have also done Knight Hunters (Weiss Kreuz) and Magic User's Club (Mahou Tsukai Tai!).

Extras on the DVDs include: production sketches and extensive menus. Additionally, the boxed set is a non-standard three-fold strong cardboard case with images on both the outside and inside. Additionally, Media Blasters confirmed that a second season of Berserk is entering pre-production. However, due to its extremely violent nature, it is uncertain if any Japanese TV stations will be willing to air.

According to Mr. Sirabella, Knight Hunters has been selling well. The name was changed from its original Japanese title, "Weiss Kreuz", by the Japanese licensor to prevent any possibly association with Nazi imagery. The Knight Hunters OVAs are part of the licensing agreement, and will be released after the TV series is completed. Furthermore, the success of Fake (a shonen ai or male love/homosexual usually for a female audience cop show) and Weiss Kreus has made MB interested in what Sirabella called the "grass-roots side" of anime fandom; accordingly, licensing the fan favorite Gravitation is being seriously considered.

Media Blasters has also acquired a number of 12-13 episode TV series for release through the rest of 2002 and 2003. These include Gundress with character design by Ghost in the Shell's Masamune Shirow, Babel II, Genma Wars, Space Pirate Mito, Leiji Matsumoto's of Battleship Yamato fame's western Gun Frontier, and Go Nagai's Dante's Inferno.

On phone with John Sirabella we later confirmed that four additional titles that MB has licensed are Wild Seven, Dog World, Mars, Cosmo Warrior Zero, and Varoom One. Two of the first titles due to enter production are Cosmo Warrior Zero and Babel II.

A Kite or Mezzo Forte TV series is "not in the cards" due to lack of interest on the Japanese side.

Kenshin has only 6 more DVDs until the entire series is released in America.

CLAMP's Magic Knights Rayearth has been considered for TV broadcast by several networks, but ultimately rejected.

Super Techno Arts Press Release Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure Press Release

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure out on Region 1 DVD Fall/Winter of 2002

Based on the original manga series by Hirohiko Araki, the first volume of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" DVD will be released in Fall/Winter of 2002. 13 episodes will be available on total of 6 volumes, with sound and music upgraded to 5.1 surround system for the original 6 episodes. Character design and animation director by Junichi Hayama, music composed and arranged by Marco d'Ambrosio of MarcoCo., and sound design by Tom Myers of Skywalker Sound.

Street Date: Fall/Winter 2002 (date TBA) Episode count: 1st Volume 3 Episodes x 30 minutes each Format: Region 1 DVD Animation Production: A.P.P.P. Executive Producer: Kazufumi Nomura Distribution by: TBA Official Super Techno Arts Inc. Website Launch Date: 5/01/02 http://www.supertechnoarts.com

More than 100 years have past since the battle between Jonathan Joestar and the vampire, Dio Brando. Dio's escape from the ocean depths awakens the psychic power known as "Stand" within Josef Joestar and Jotarou Kujo (JoJo). They join forces with other Stand Users to face the ultimate evil to save JoJo's mother Holly from the deadly curse.

According to Anime News Network report on Sakura Con's Super Techno Arts panel, they is concentrating its primary efforts on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure looking towards a Fall/Winter release. They also have plans for Sci-Fi Harry but clearly JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is their flagship title. They also have the rights to the classic Robot Carnival but that work isn't yet on their production calendar. JJBA is being updated with a Dolby 5.1 audio mix. In addition to the six episodes of the original OVA their producing seven prequel episodes. They also stated the desire to produce more JoJo in the future based upon how well it's received. Evidently there is plenty of manga to draw upon for stories. The release plan is 3/2/2/2/2/2. The episode count is a little thin in order to meet the production schedule but they said that the price point would be set accordingly. Given the trend of larger companies cramming more episodes onto their DVDs this might work against STA. Sci-Fi Harry is targetted for release early next year. After production and release of JJBA and SFH are complete STA is looking to produce other APPP titles for the North American market. They are also relaunching their website (www.supertechnoarts.com) on May 1st and are promoting it as a source of information on the progress in their efforts to release their titles.

Lone Wolf and Cub Wins Two Harvey Awards

Dark Horse Comic's release of Lone Wolf and Cub won two of the comic industry's Harvey Awards, "Best Graphic Album Of Previously Published Work", and "Best Presentation Of Foreign Material".

Soultaker Spinoff On The Horizon.

According to Anime Daisuki the TV anime Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magical te begins broadcast in August. The costume play idol singer saves the earth as a magical girl. This Anime has derived from Soul taker as Pretty Sammy has derived from Tenchi Muyo. See www.komugi-club.com. In Soul Taker Komugi-chan is an agent of the Hospital organization, with the disposition of Cowboy Bebop's Ed, and a giant syringe as a weapon.

New Astroboy Anime And Manga Status

According to Anime News Service a new Tetsuwan Atom (Astroboy) TV anime is slated for broadcast in April 2003, with broadcast lined up for Southeast Asian countries (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, etc) likely for around October 2003.

The full CG Hollywood Tetsuwan Atom movie is scheduled for release in July 2004, with simultaneous release in Japan and in the US. The movie will be a joint production of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Jim Henson Pictures. Director will be Eric Leighton (who worked on Disney's "Dinosaur").

Production costs are estimated at 10,000,000,000 yen with a similar budget for advertising. Apart from the two anime, a new manga will be published by Shogakukan commencing October 2002 and various Tetsuwan Atom events are planned, including on Atom's birthday on 7 April 2003.

Interesting Metropolis Article

The recent release of Osamu Tezuka's Metroplis featured character patterns that are seen across Tezuka's anime and manga works Anime Jump has posted an article here that tracks the history of these designs.

Studio Ghibli Spirited Away Q&A

Anime Tourist has posted a Q&A about Studio Ghibli's Spirited Aways here.

New Protoculture Addicts Released

Anime magazine Protoculture Addicts has been released. The cover story are looks at Heavy Gear, Spriggan, and FLCL.

Heavy Gear is a robotic exo-suit series based on the pen and paper Dream Pod 9 role playing game.

Spriggan is an action movie about an elite soldier dispatched to Turkey to prevent the retrieval of the reamins of Noah's arc. The article has features a look on ADV's theatrical run of the movie, and an interview with the company's co-founder Matt Greenfield.

FLCL is the strange collaboration between Gainax (Evangelion), and Production IG (Jin-Roh, Blood). The series will soon be released by Synch-Point.

Other anime write ups include The Ah! My Goddess movie, Angelic Layer, Gene Shaft, Initial D: Third Stage, Sadmitsu the Destroyer, Tales of Eternia, and Kaze Makase Tsuki Ran.

Gene Shaft was one of last year's most popular new anime series. After humanity perfected cloning, and genetic manipulation measures where taken to improve the species by adjusting the gender ratio to 90% women to 10% man, and engineering people to fit a specific function. After an the ruins of an alien satellite is found on Ganymede and ring appears around Earth.

Tales of Eternia is based on the Namco swords and sorcery Playstation game.

Sadmitsu the Destroyer is a '70's retro series from director Koichi Ohata (MD Geist, Blue Gender) about a juvenile delinquent who finds a body armor used to seal and deport criminal extra terrestrials.

Central Park Media Anime Central News

From Anime News Network's report from the Anime Central Convention.

CPM will be discontinuing its line of monthly manga issues. However, it will still offer titles in graphic novel format, including considering graphic novel/DVD packages for some of their titles. What was announced as the "Black Rose Saga" of the Revolutionary Girl Utena TV series will be released late in '03; by that, CPM means episodes 26-39 of the series. There will also be a box set of the entire TV series, and although no further information was made available, one of the representatives stated there would be "something crazy" with it.

The old Slayers TV boxed set (with the switched/phase-inverted audio problem) will be replaced. In the next few weeks, look for information about the matter on the CPM Website. Currently, the plan is to send the defective DVDs (just the DVDs, not the box or cases) to a mailing address, and new DVDs will be shipped back, as well as a $20 Off coupon. Please be aware that these plans may change before they are finalized.

The Right Stuf Anime Central News

From Anime News Network's report from the Anime Central Convention.

"Kare Kano is going to hit its May deadline!", Right Stuf announced at their panel.

At the start of the TRSI panel, Neil Nadelman walked in with a FedEx package containing the check disc of Kare Kano. Director Jeff Thompson watched this check disc of Kare Kano for the first time, along with the entire panel. While there were still some problems with the disc, Jeff seemed confident that Kare Kano will still hit the street on its May 26th deadline. Kare Kano will span 5 DVDs in a 6/5/5/5/5 format. Kare Kano's wacky "next episode" previews have been reproduced in the English version. In the Japanese version, two voice actresses were filmed as they announced the upcoming episode. In the English version, the same applies, but now some of the previews include hand puppets, costume changes, and all sorts of other silly things. The DVD should branch to the appropriate scene (Japanese or English) depending on which audio track has been selected.

Amongst Kare Kano's features are selectable sign subtitles and voice subtitles. As Kare Kano utilizes a large amount of on-screen writing, the need to have selectable subtitles for both on-screen writing and voices was necessary. The dub itself is very well-done, and each voice actor and actress took the part and made it their own. Arima's quiet-yet-stiff voicing sounded peculiar at first, but once Arima's past is revealed, it makes sense that he act that way. Yukino and family were all wonderful and extremely diverse in their roles. It seems the audience was quite pleased with the dub, and are anxiously looking forward for more. Because of the incredible diversity of options and features in Kare Kano, this title will receive a DVD-only release.

As we announced previously, Right Stuf picked up Comic Party, a 13-episode series about High School students getting involved in producing doujinshi (fan-made manga). No other information about this title could be announced yet.

Amongst TRSI's other titles, Dangaizer and KO Century Beast are continuing production. Jeff Thompson said that he recently heard a rough mix of the Dangaizer dub.

AnimEigo Anime Central News

From Anime News Network's report from the Anime Central Convention.

One of the biggest announcements from AnimEigo at Anime Central was that You're Under Arrest will enter the DVD authoring stage of production on May 1st. AnimEigo expects YUA to consist of 4 boxed sets. The first three boxes will contain 3 DVDs with episodes and an extra "bonus" disc. In the final boxed set, each DVD will contain episodes and bonuses. Additionally, the third box set will contain a fanart gallery. Fans wishing to submit artwork to be considered for placement in a "fanart gallery" on the 3rd Box set will be able to download a permission form from AnimEigo's website. AnimEigo representative Scott Carlton said that pre-ordering might begin as early as this May.

If you missed out on the big Macross Boxed Set order, don't worry; AnimEigo is planning to release the series in Mini-Box format. The 9-disc Boxed set will be broken into three mini-boxes, with a price point of under $100.00 per box. Additionally, if mini-boxes aren't enough, AnimEigo will also release individual Macross DVDs sometime after releasing the mini-boxed sets.

One of the other major announcements from AnimEigo was the planned dubbing of Urusei Yatsura Movie #1: Only You. AnimEigo cited a strong desire to place UY in the retail market, and including a dub on the DVD will make it much more desirable to brick-and-mortar retailers. If sales of the movie are strong, then AnimEigo will continue to dub other UY features.

AnimEigo holds the license to the Crusher Joe OVAs and Movie, but currently has no set production schedule for the title. Crusher Joe will be worked on, depending on how much time AnimEigo's other projects take. Ideally, this title might be released on a DVD-10, a two-sided DVD, with the OVAs on one side, and the Movie on the other.

"The days of 4 to 5 year preordering are hopefully ending", Scott Carlton said when asked about future boxed pre-orders from AnimEigo. Scott also noted that the production department at AnimEigo has grown from Shin and an aide to 6 people, with a 7th currently being hired. Finally, Scott also noted that this was AnimEigo's 12th year of operations, making it the oldest surviving anime company around.

Manga Entertainment Anime Central News

From Anime News Network's and Anime on DVD's recent convention reports.

Macross Plus, will be released at the end of next month, with Virus, and Ghost Sweeper Mikamia released the following month. Music was added to the silent scenes in Ghost Sweeper because Manga felt that they were too quiet.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 in preproduction, a year from now.

The usual question, will the DVDs be anamorphic, came up. The answer has been, and continues to be "No".

The other important question for the Eva Movies is how the subtitles will be handled, as the movies are very on-screen text-intensive films. The answer is that there will be two subtitle tracks, one for the on-screen text, and one for the voices.

Eva movies are DVD10s, design on the small inner circle with a Ffature on one side and a Makouji(Information) Report - 2 hours special on the other side with an outline of everything practically, suchs explanation the tenchologies of the series. They are trying to get an interview with Anno on End of Evangelion.

The rights to the Fists of the North Star are a bit of the mess, and they only have the rights to the first 36 episodes of the TV series

Pioneer Production Schedule

From Anime News Network's and Anime on DVD's recent convention reports Pioneer announced their projected release schedule as follows:

June - Armitage Dual Matrix.

July - Hellsing. The series will be released across four volumes (3/3/3/4 episode distrobution_, and its first volume will be available with or without a box to hold the series.

August - I, My, Me, Strawbery Eggs, retitled Strawbery Eggs for the US market.

September - X TV plus the Episode 0 OVA (8 volume release, 3 episodes per disc), Vandread Second Stage (4 volume release).

The Tenchi Muyo Pretty Sammy OAV, and Mihoshi specials are being worked on.

No comment was made on inqueries regarding Sailor Moon Stars, Card Captor Sakura second movie, Galaxy Police TV and Tenchi Muyo 3rd OVA but express difficulty in getting the Card Captor Sakura Tomoyo Video Diary omakes .

Pioneer keeps an eye on fansubs, but with the market so competive, they often have to buy series sight unseen just to get them.

Marmlade Boy Anime Release Information

TOKYOPOP will be releasing the first volume of Marmalade Boy on 7/30 with six episodes for $29.99.

His and Her Circumstances Release Information

The second volume of His and Her Circumstances will be released on 6/25, in hopes of releasing the series on a monthly basis.

TOKYOPOP Anime Central News

From Anime News Network's report from the Anime Central Convention.

Tokyopop stated that they are committed to the "Authentic Manga" line of unflipped graphic novels released at a US$9.99 MSRP using thinner Japanese-style paper to make turning pages easier. They sy nine titles released so far have enjoyed "phenomenal" success. The second wave, due out by mid-May, includes Love Hina, Initial D and Angelic Layer. The line will also include a number of mahn-wa (Korean manga) titles that can not be announced at this time. Release schedules for the Authentic Manga titles will largely be bi-monthly. The only notable exception is Love Hina, which is expected to be monthly.

Studio Representative Ken Lee also stated that at present, Tokyopop has no plans to re-enter the anime fandom magazine market they left with the demise of Tokyopop Magazine.

Before the end of the year, Tokyopop's anime division plans to release Real Bout High School, Reign (aka Alexander), Brigadoon, Initial D and Marmalade Boy.

Real Bout HS will also be available in a limited edition first pressing complete with a translucent DVD case. Extras on the title include extensive liner notes, Japanese TV ads for the series, outtakes, interviews, a music sampler with three OST tracks, and menus design inspired by fighting video games.

Initial D will include a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Additionally, there has been "definite" interest in broadcasting it on American TV. No further comment could be made at this time, however.

Unfortunately, Tokyopop stated that due to low sale volumes, the remaining DVD volumes of St. Tail will not include an English dub track. Instead, the remaining DVDs will include 7 episodes until the end of the series.

New Distribution Deal for Manga Entertainment

Manga Entertainment, which already has its products distributed by a major player (Sony Music Video) in Canada, announced to day that they had a new distribution deal with entertainment industry powerhouse, WEA Home Video.

Excerpt from the press release:

Palm Pictures Home Entertainment Division, which releases films from both Palm Pictures and Japanese animation label, Manga Entertainment, announce a new distribution deal through WEA Home Video effective immediately. RYKO Distribution previously distributed the Palm/Manga library.

Fanboy Entertainment/Studio PLEX Anime Central News

From Anime News Network's report from the Anime Central Convention.

During his panel, Tetsuya Aoki, who had previously worked on designing mecha for the Transformers, Power Rangers and Ultraman series, announced the launch of Plex's first English-language manga title, Angel Wing. The first two volumes of this full-color work, produced through a partnership with U.S.-based Fanboy Entertainment, are available now through Diamond. MSRP for the issues is US$7.95.

New Anime Video Clips

From Anime News service

Short ads for Gatekeepers 21 (volume one of which is to be released on April 24th) are available for streaming download here. The Nakoruru website has updated with a 90 second promo now available for download. A promo for the upcoming Sentou Yousei Yukikaze can now be downloaded here.

Animate.tv has uploaded preview trailers for all episodes of the Kannon anime, view them here

6 Angels Site Opens

The official website for the coming anime film 6 Angels has opened at here.

Production IG 15th Anniversary Pictures

Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell, Jin Roh, Blood)has posted pictures of their 15th anniversary celebration here

Vandread News

Anime News Service reports Vandread.com has announced the production of a Vandread Gekitou Hen, as a new part to the Second Stage. It's the second installment of "another Vandread" by director Higuchi Shinji, with new theme music.

Vandread is a young boy pilots giant robot story set in a gender civil war from Studio Gonzo, best known for thei CGI work.

Sailor Moon Release Dates

Anime on DVD reports Sailor Moon volume 7: Fight to the Finish and Volume 8: The Doom Tree Strikes will be released on 9/03.

Generator Gawl Collection

Anime on DVD has learned that ADV will be releasing the Generator Gawl Perfect on 9/03, with the entire series for $59.98.

Nasu Anime Coming From Madhouse

According to Anime News Service part 1 of Kuroda Iou's Nasu (Eggplant), "Andulusia no Natsu" (Andulusian Summer), is to be animated by Madhouse. The manga, published by Kodansha, deals with bicycle racing. The anime will be directed by Takasaka Kitarou from Studio Ghibli.

Blue Gender 3 Pushed Back

Originally due out on 5/7, FUNimation has informed Right Stuf that they have decided to push the release date of Blue Gender 3 (VHS / DVD) to 6/4.

Mahoromatic Series 2 Confirmed

According to Anime News Service this month's issue of Comic Gum contains the official announcement of a second series of Mahoromatic, confirming the earlier fan speculation and circulating rumors.

Mahoromatic, is based on a manga series from Comic-Gum and is produced by Gainax (of Evangelion fame) the anime will be directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga, director and scriptwriter of "Ouritsu Uchugun - Oanemisu no Tsubasa"

The story revolves around the female-type combat android V1046-R Vesper Hyper Soldier Mahoro. In the early 1980's these androids were produced to save the Earth from alien invasion. Without any humans noticing these Vesper Hyper soldiers fought off the alien attack. Mahoro, the strongest fighter, fought for 9 years and was on the verge of termination. As a reward for her fighting she is allowed to live a free life, but after her weapons are removed she'll only function for another 398 days.

Japan's Toho posts record profit of $78.5m

According to ScreenDaily Toho, Japan's largest film distributor and exhibitor, has posted a record-breaking net profit of $78.5m (Y10.29 billion) for the fiscal year 2002, ended February 28, an increase of 16.2% over 2001.

The impressive profit surge is largely thanks to the unprecedented local success of Spirited Away, Hayao Miuyazaki's animated feature which has grossed $230m (Y30.19 billion) and recorded 23.33 million admissions since its Japanese release on July 20 last year.

Among Toho's other hit titles were Celebi: A Timeless Encounter, the latest feature in the Pokemon series which took $29.7m (Y3.9 billion), Onmyoji, Yojiro Takita's CG period action drama which took $23.6m (Y3.1 billion), followed by two hit animated series Doraemon: Nobita And The Winged Warriors which took $22.9m (Y3.0 billion) and Detective Conan: Countdown To The Heaven which took $22.0m (Y2.9 billion) at the box office.

Dragon Ball Z game tops Game Boy Advance sales

From the FUNimation Press Release:

Gamers, your dreams are about to come true. Two years ago, a magazine poll showed that the number one video game that gamers had "been dreaming of" was Dragon Ball Z. Consider their wishes granted. Based on the top-rated animated series produced by FUNimation Productions, the Game Boy Advance game "Dragon Ball Z The Legacy of Goku,"is set for a May 17 release in stores.

The game has the makings of a smash hit. Pre-sale orders have been phenomenal for retailers nationwide. It has graced the covers of the popular gamer magazines, GAMENOW and GAMEPRO. Dragon Ball Z is described by GAMEPRO as "the buzz in just about every household and school from coast to coast." "The Legacy of Goku" is listed in GAMENOW as one of their top three picks for May - and is their only Game Boy Advance pick. And, even though the game is not yet released, it is already the top selling Game Boy Advance game on Amazon.com, ahead of many popular games, such as "Super Mario World" and "Sonic Adventure."

"The Legacy of Goku" game follows Goku through wild and often surprising adventures from the Dragon Ball Z animated series. But even the most loyal of DBZ viewers will expect plenty of surprises and some all-new adventures. It is a role-playing game that should prove challenging and exciting for all video game fans.