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 href="http://www.tokyopop.com">Tokyopop.com.

Hellsing Site Opens

Pioneer has opened a site for the upcoming anime
Hellsing at href="http://www.hellsingdvd.com">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 href="http://www.animeondvd.com">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 href="http://www.animeondvd.com">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 href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com">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 (href="http://www.supertechnoarts.com">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 href="http://www.anime-daisuki.com">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 href="http://www.komugi-club.com/">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 href="http://www.animenewsservice.com">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 href="http://www.animejump.com/cgi-bin/go.cgi?=features/metropolis/index">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 href="http://www.animetourist.com/article1049.html">here.

New Protoculture Addicts Released

Anime magazine href="http://www.protoculture-mag.com">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 href="http://www.animeondvd.com">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 href="http://www.animeondvd.com">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 href="http://www.gate-keepers.com/event/cm.htm">here. The Nakoruru website has updated with a 90 second href="http://www.groove.or.jp/anime/nakoruru/promo.html">promo now available for download.
A promo for the upcoming Sentou Yousei Yukikaze can now
be downloaded href="http://web-tv.chara-ani.com/free/yukikaze-pv.html">here.

Animate.tv has uploaded preview trailers for all
episodes of the Kannon anime, view them href="http://www.animate.tv/pv/dvd_pv/dvd_pv_list.html">here

6 Angels Site Opens

The official website for the coming anime film 6 Angels
has opened at href="http://www.groove.or.jp/anime/6angels/">here.

Production IG 15th Anniversary Pictures

Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell, Jin Roh, Blood)has
posted pictures of their 15th anniversary celebration
href="http://www.production-ig.com/news_IG_15year.html">here

Vandread News

Anime News
Service reports href="http://www.Vandread.com">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 href="http://www.animenewsservice.com">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 href="http://www.rightstuf.com">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 href="http://www.animenewsservice.com">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 href="http://www.screendaily.com/story.asp?storyid=7983">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.