Father Geek here, fresh from peeling off what seemed like a gallon of professionally applied liquid latex, foam appliances, glue, and various other sticky, crusty, and bloody substances which I endured (along with about 25 or 30 others who helped turn Austin video store PEDAZO CHUNK into a full service makeup studio) from 2pm till a little after 2am for an incredible screening of SHAUN OF THE DEAD at the ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE with the Director and its two principle stars attending.

Just how much fun was this AICN special event? Well, riotious enough to send the usually well composed SIN CITY Director Robert Rodriguez to his feet, screaming and waving his hat repetedly in the air. Cool enough to have several professional Effects Makeup people who had nothing to do with making the British flick babbling about it until the early morning hours in a nearby Austin pub that the film crowd literally took over.

Well, that's enough of Zombies and their kin... lets get on to Scott's regular weekly column concerning the worlds of Manga & Anime...

AnimAICN...

by Scott Green

Manga Spotlight: Berserk Volume 4 By Kentaro Miura

Released by Dark Horse Comics and Digital Manga Publications

It is amazing to watch someone become captivated by the anime adaptation of Bersek. Ostensibly a medieval action story arc, with encroaching, and finally encompassing supernatural menace, the characters have a quality that rivets viewers to their exploits. Transcending subject matter preferences and exceedingly shocking material, no one who has seen Berserk has expressed disinterest.

For those without exposure to the Berserk anime, the first three volumes of the manga were an unfortunately tentative exercise in several expanding arcs of conventional monster killing, negatively set apart by a patently unlikable lead, and at times boundlessly grotesque content.

Volume four set into motion the events adapted into the anime series and introduces the elements that establish the work's power: a view into a character's addictive cycle of violation and revenge and a family of personalities who age and change with experience. The volume begins baring the souls of fascinating individuals whose actions and motivations beg pondering starting with a fiercely emotion moment of pain, with immediate resonance of how it could shape a personality.

"The Golden Age" arc began with the newborn Guts' discovery under the hung body of his anonymous mother. After his adopted mother's death by plague his new guardian began taking the child onto the battlefield during his mercenary endeavors. The previous volume ending with Guts showing up his guardian on the battle field, and volume four begins with his absolutely chilling retribution, which introduces Guts to the domino fall of revenge.

The second face of the volume is an older teenage Guts' ungraceful introduction to the Hawks, an upstart, upwardly mobile group of mercenaries that will serve as his dysfunctional family for the defining stretch of the series.

The triangle that will support the band and the series is Griffith, a man of extraordinary intellect, personality, physical beauty and swordsman whose ambition founded and drives the Hawks, Casca a young woman who serves as Griffith's fiercely loyal second, and Guts, whose extraordinary ability makes him the object of Griffith's desire and Casca's distrust.

The adopted family of circumstance glued misfits quick begin demonstrating interesting dynamics with its balance of military unit and support system, frequently fueled by the rivalries, snide, jester/antagonizer mouth of Corkus, one of the captains.

The volume also begins to showcase a new aspect to Kentaro Miura's skill as an illustrator. Previously this was best exemplified in horror set pieces and the grotesque. The accompanying skill for a diversity of facial expression carries over but here, the stunning new facets is some of best medieval battle scenes and duels in comics. All these successes stem, or at least bolster by one quality in his illustration: there are startlingly few short cuts. Not just an immense level of detail with an expansive level of design, distinct patchworks of armored pieces and weapons on each combatant, background that establish a greater locale, but that when there is an opportunity to mask or neglect he doesn't take it. The small figure in has a full design rather than a blurred shape, the face mostly obscured by a helmet is reveal through the covering break. The small details build, and Berserk becomes an immersive world.

Anime Spotlight: Master Keaton Volume 1: Excavation

Released by Geneon/Pioneer

The medium and style of anime doesn't always lend themselves to subtly or restraint, making Master Keaton, a globetrotting serial for the introspective and curious is a pleasant surprise. Urasowa Naoki is one of the woefully unexposed creators in the domestic anime/manga market. His works has range from sports manga Yawara (recently receiving another round of mentions due to its connections to Olympic judo) and Happy to psychological patch works Monster (currently being animated and airing on Japanese TV) and 20th Century Boys (his most recent work, currently running in Japan), all with a grand touch for characterization. If for no other reason, as his only domestically available work, Master Keaton is working seeing to sampling to see Urasowa Naoki's brand of intelligent plotting and character usage.

Master Keaton is a mature and subdued globe trotting adventure with a character who has the functional qualifications of an Indiana Jones or a McGuyver, but whose exploits are more rewarding for their appeal of location, history, and twists of intellect or perspective than style or physical confrontations. Consequently rapid anime pacing, leading to a visually intensive finally are absent.

Unassuming looking half Japanese, half British Taichi Keaton lives a rare Renaissance man life, he's a former SAS survival instructor and Falkland Islands veteran, an Oxford grad, a history professor, an archeologist and an investigator for Lloyd's of London. The episode length short stories take Keaton across European, generally in the capacity of an agent of Lloyd's.

In the first volume the tasks range from investigating the suspicion death of a Greek salvager/archeologist, to resolving custody child battle among the Italian elite, to overseeing the bloodless surrender of a German terrorist. Keaton's mild mannered but not zen-blank demeanor and quick thinking, but low key MO is unique and fascinating to watch.

His small manipulations of perception and capabilities in a psychical confrontation drive the series, despite a lack of big action. The episodes build to some key moment. The clincher may be Keaton in action, or it may be a piece of history (or historical fiction), character drama, or insight into Keaton's mind beyond the capacity of battle.

Urasowa Naoki has an interesting ability to give the viewer a glimpse into the way a character thinks, nothing especially elaborate, but a small detail the observe can latch onto an use to connect with a character. Keaton's personal interactions aren't unpredictable, but they are satisfying. In a formulaic fashion, Keaton meets the players of a given episode and they mistrust and or underestimate them. An aspect of the story's resolution is the revealing of the nature of the initial disconnect. The player may still be a thug or a malcontent when the whole picture is reveal or they may be something more interesting or sympathetic, but they aren't left as cardboard obstacles.

Beyond the thrill of exploring corners of history, seeing a well executed plan or an exotic locale, the hook of the series is that Keaton lives an exceptional life in a very familiar way. The most compelling moments come when he confronts the fears felt by almost everyone over a certain age, whether one's occupation and life style is taking them away from what they though their contribution in life would be, whether what one does servers the import people in one's life as well as possible.

There is an air of post Cold War, pre 9/11 vacuum to the series. Not that there is faux-innocence or even necessarily apolitical view but that there is a dimension of suspicion not appearing in this equation. No one is trying to piece out the position of others' roles in a global agenda. It is notable that a character can travel the world and generally deal with local concerns, even if there historical root do runs deep and wide.

Manga Spotlight: Galaxy Angel Volume 3 By Kanan

Released by Broccoli Books

Galaxy Angel succeeds at its not completely lofty ambition: adorable characters that are always appealing to view and comfortable stories. Three volumes in, the series has gotten a lot of mileage out of incredible cuteness and light fairytale, quasi-romantic situations, using sci-fi trappings for look, while deflating the potential to become an epic.

The series isn't for everyone, and maybe not for fans of general sci- fi anime/manga, but if the early parts had appeal, it hasn't gotten tired three volumes in.

There is a plot, a more or less continuous one at that, but galactic empires, ancient technologies, and mystery goddesses are boiled down to small character humor moments (as opposed to the anime quick, elaborately odd engagements).

The five young woman of the Angel Brigade continue to protect Prince Shiva, the young sole survivor of a coup. This volume is more static than the galaxy spanning story tends to be, with the Brigade, along with their command Takudo Meyers staying in one place to protect their charge.

The volume mainly deals with intruders, and focuses on Milfeulle the very pink, without being too cloying by default of maintaining the most face time, lead of the series, and Mint, the polite, semi-demure member of the Brigade. Each character has few interesting aspects, that adds little extra complexity and endears them into memorablity. Mint's arbitrary secretiveness and manipulative streak are nice additions to the volume (Mint brushing off an explanation of her fuzzy lamb ears is a highlight)

Cohorts Forte and Vanilla fans get a bit of short shrift in this volume and to some degree the series in general, while jokes about Ranpha's bad cooking a reminder of how the series can touch upon a familiar routine with relying upon it to the series' detriment.

Given its unavoidable ties to merchandising efforts, its hard to avoid an evaluation of Galaxy Angel's character design, which are well constructed, but not over elaborate, using uniforms while maintaining distinctive and memorable appearances. There is an interesting non- threatening iconishness to them, which, depending on your acceptance of commerciality is exceptionally desirable or insidious.

Manga Spotlight STONe Volume 1: by Hiromoto-Sin-Ichi

Releases by TOKYOPOP

With the storm of manga the currently being released, there are some rewarded surprises like STONe that have the unfortunate potential of falling under the radar. STONe takes a character designer's Kill Bill style genre amalgamation of sci-fi and uses it to showcase come some intensely bizarre sights.

Hiromoto-Sin-Ichi constructs an unmissable visual appeal, with few other distractions. The series is simply fun to look at, but design is the chief strength. Ideas feed the visuals with a relationship between premise, design and action that serve each other in a video game-ish fashion: elaberate staggings, rewarding developments with new sights. There isn't the mental or emotional content of many well regarded manga series, but almost on look alone, it is a STONe is a dynamic, blazingly fun read.

Given the pastiche nature of the work, the editor's preface takes an odd step in introducing sand seas as a foreign concept. Desert epics have been a staple of story telling, especially quasi- religious story telling, probably since the beginning of story telling, and science fiction extrapolation of seas of sand is nothing new. Ironically, the best known use is Star Wars, which STONe's creator adapted into manga. More so because Star Wars references are strewn across STONe(impressively including a sand-sea craft that is Bobba Fett's Slave 1 rotated 90 degrees), alongside other sci- fi/horror classics from Hellraiser to Neoen Genesis Evangelion. The dressing of re-appropriated design is enmployed in a rewarding Easter-egg hunt.

The wow moments begin when the series offers up a strange new apocalypse. In another case of odd localized descriptions, such as the one on TOKYOPOP's web site, after taking the already seen and making it presenting it as new, t takes the new and makes it sound already seen. In the "not-too-distant future" a sea creature called "STONe" consumed five continents, and the seven seas (not depicted yet, but the prospect of given Hiromoto-Sin-Ichi's illustration its a highly appealing proposition), leaving a truly bizarre sandy version of Water World.

The situation gave birth to some very interesting new fauna. Under the sand seas, covered cities, planes, ships and submarines, random city blocks flowing in the submerged jetsom provides habitat ithiasaur like creatures, serpent turtles, odd tendril creatures, and most fearsome devourers, dolphins whose who body opens into jaws and leviathans, whales with gaping mouth's of needle-teeth.

Set against the world's empires, traditions, and forces of nature are Zizi, a wild young woman with strange powers to sense the currents of the Sakai (sand sea), and Suv a grizzled pirate nee "aggressively persuasive merchant".

The young messiah in a strange new environ is a bad penny in fantasy/sci-fi, but a wild-child assertive and confident hero with a really force of presence plays off the bizarre design and gives STONe a wild energy.

Manga Spotlight: World of Narue Volumes 1 & 2 By Tomohiro Marukawa

Released by CPM Manga

The story of an average guy dating a strange alien/supernatural/something else girl has been a force in anime and manga for a while now, and maybe World of Narue is a sign that the convention has matured to the point where its adherents can just be clever and entertaining, rather than overly pandering, attempting to elicit an emotional investment in the characters or intellectual investment in the plot.

World of Narue doesn't have the memorable characters of some of its genre siblings, but it does have a great opening, and largely successful chain of comic circumstances.

The first four pages might be a candidate for the funniest guy meets girl illustrated. Kazuto, an anime fan, but not an extreme one, pretty average but not weak spined in the male oriented relationship comedy tendency, is walking to school in the rain when he happens upon an adorable abandoned puppy. He's about to take the puppy in when a girl in a school uniform pushes him aside and clubs the puppy to pulp with a baseball, and informs Kazuto the his just averted a trap at fangs of the the space organism...er altered...er poisonous dog. The girl runs off leaving her name tag labeled baseball bat. Upon returning it, Kazuto begins dating the half alien Narue. (There isn't much to the plot, why Narue's father is on Earth or the reason for occasional dangerous space dogs or assassin).

The series is seeded with similar scenes and concepts that make it worth while, not universally intelligent or successful, but including a number of clever jokes, such stock sci-fi fan/conspiracy nut classmate being obsessed with disproving that Narue is an alien (a rather poorly hidden and generally accepted fact), the snap shot history of Narue's alien home Planet Japan (Japanese history in a 50's sci-fi motif) or Narue's chronologically older sister from her father's first marriage, who, by the laws of relativity and space transportation, is physically younger.

The flaw with the collection is that collection is that nature of the short chapter based stories. They are quick, amusing, read like they were written for an anthology. Collection editions didn't seem to be in the mind of the author, so it occasionally hits pacing problems. The first volume in particular is a rather dizzying in not quite joint loud confrontation. As the series progresses and the volume lowers, the seems become less visible.

Initial ImaginAsian Station Listing

ImaginAsian, a new Asian entertainment network with anime programming launched August 30th on the following stations:

• Las Vegas, NV: KTVY, channels 7 and 63
• Ventura, CA: KIMG-LP, channel 23
• Denver, CO: KKTV-DT, channel 11
• Minneapolis, MN: K07UI, channel 7
• Atlanta, GA: W55CR, channel 45
• Seattle, WA: K58DP, channel 30

Linkin Park Anime Video Wins MTV Award

Linkin Park's music video of "Breaking the Habit", anime by anime studio Gonzo won MTV's Viewers Choice Award at the r cent Vide Music Awards.

November Box Sets

From Anime on DVD AnimEigo will be releasing a box set of the 8 Bubblegum Crisis OAV episodes and 2 music video OAV on November 9th for $69.99.

TOKYOPOP will be releasing the first 15 episode collection of the Initial D street racing anime on November 9th for $89.99. Volume 8 will also be released on that date.

Upcoming Ghost in the Shell Dates

Volumes 6 and 7 of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex will be released on May 24th July 26th 2005 repestively. Volume 7 concludes the first season of the series.

Bandai will be releasing box sets Big O II Complete Collection ($49.98) Please Teacher Complete Collection ($49.98) and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Limited Edition Box Set ($199.98) on Novembe 23rd. Please Twins volume 1 will also be released on that date.

Cowboy Bebop Audio Remix

Anime News Network reports that Cowboy Bebop will be remixedfor a Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese release. The 26 episode collection will be released in Japan on December 23rd for 42,000 yen (US$384)

I'm Gonna Be An Angel Volume 3 Date

The third volume of the spuratically release anime-on-Addams Family- like comedy I'm Gonna Be An Angel will be released on November 30th.

Broccoli Books Licenses Until the Full Moon

Broccoli Books announced that hey have acquired the publishing rights for the series Until the Full Moon. The first volume of Until the Full Moon is set for October 27, 2004, and will be released as an exclusive to Borders Bookstore, Brentano's Bookstore, Waldenbooks, and Anime Gamers for three months.

Known as Full Moon ni Sasayaite and published by Biblos in Japan, Until the Full Moon is done by manga artist Sanami Matoh, who also did the well-known series FAKE.

A two-volume fantasy-romance Manga series, Until the Full Moon is like a fairy tale, only about vampires and the darker side of the supernatural spectrum instead. "It's our first non-Broccoli title, and I believe fans of bishounen titles like Juvenile Orion will enjoy Until the Full Moon," says managing editor Shizuki Yamashita.

Publisher Hideki Uchino comments, "Juvenile Orion did great at Borders Group, and we're happy to be continuing our relationship with them on our newest title."

About Until the Full Moon

Marlo has a problem. On the night of the full moon, this half- werewolf, half-vampire undergoes a mysterious and terrifying transformation:

He turns into a girl.

Desperate for a cure, his parents call on Doctor Vincent, a long time family friend. But Marlo wants to keep his condition secret from Vincent's son, the vampire playboy David.

Unfortunately, the secret gets out, and a new problem surfaces: David is interested in Marlo's female form! If a remedy can't be found, their parents believe the next best solution is marriage - a marriage between Marlo and David!

Gundam SEED Destiny Trailer

A trailer for the new Gundam SEED sequel series Destiny is online here.

Naruto Movie Opening

Anime News Network reports that the Naruto movie has openned in first place in the Japanese box office. Akira creator Katushiro Otomo's Steamboy has been pushed off the top ten. Pocket Monster Advance Generation: 2004 (Pokemon) is 4th place after 6 weeks in the top 10, and anime movie Konjiki no Gash Bell: 101 Banme no Mamono is in 10th place after 3 weeks in the list.

Last week's complete list was:

• 1 Naruto Movie
• 2 Farenheight 911
• 3 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
• 4 Pocket Monster Advance Generation: 2004
• 5 Spider-Man 2
• 6 Tsuribaka nisshi
• 7 Shrek 2
• 8 The Chronicles Of Riddick
• 9 King Arthur
• 10 onjiki no Gash Bell: 101 Banme no Mamono

Anime Merchandise

From Figures.com

Anime related figures shown at the San Diego Comic Con can be see at: Fewture including Blood: The Last Vampire and samurai manga Vagabond

Toyami including InuYasha, Robotech/Macross, SpeedRacer and Voltron

Takara USA

Mattel including Mega Man,YuGi-Oh and Shaman King

Kotobukiya including Full Metal Alchemestic and Star Ocean

Kaiyodo

Yamato USA will be releasing 5" PCV figures from the cute anime serie Bottle Fairies later this year. Images can be seen here They will also be releasing 6" PVC statue of Trigun's Vash the Stampede, seen here.

Diamond has will be soliciting Kotobukiya's first series of 5" Full Metal Alchmemsic figures. The line which includes Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, Roy Mustang, and Winry Rockbell and will retail for $5.99 can be seen here.

Anime Game News

Anime News Network reports the DragonBall GT Playstation game Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout, wich was released in 1997 and subsiquently became a collector's item selling for $200 has been re-released by Atari in limited quantities with exclusive cover art from Toei Animation.

Namco has announced that it has licensed FUNimation's Rock the Dragon theme from Dragonball Z for the new PS2 game the 'Taiko: Drum Master' which will be released in late 2004.

Spong.com reports super natural Shonen Jump action Bleach will be adaptated into a video game from Sony.

From The Magic Box Mobile Suit Gundam: Never Ending Tomorrow, the Playstation 2 sequel to 3D action game Megurial Sora can be seen here

Sega's Sakura Taisen V: Saraba Aishiki Hitoyo the lastest in the frequently anime tied-in game franchise is 30%, and schedule for a Japanese released in Summer 2005. Screenshots can be seen here.

Sakura Taisen V: Episode 0 Kouya no Samurai Musume, to be released in Japan September 22nd can be seen here. The game will have interactive features with Sakura Taisen V: Saraba Aishiki Hitoyo, you can raise a character in this game and reuse the same characters in the other game.

Not anime related, but something for samurai fans, a follow up to Fu- un Shinsen Gumi in which the player was tasked with protecting lorder from attacking Tenchu ninja, called Fu-un Bakumatsu Den, in you play the assasins, will be released in Japan this winter. Screenshots can be seen here.

Forbes Profiles ADV Pres

Forbes has protested a profile of anime and manga distributor ADV's John Ledford here.

Gundam X Revival?

AnimeNation reports that Sunrise has launched a new site for Gundam X a 1996 TV series cancelled after 30 episodes.

New Robotech Series In Production?

Anime on DVD points out that Robotech.com has been updated with an item stating that a fourth Robotech installment is being producted.

There is a new timeline section created that has "August, 2044: Operation is begun to locate the missing SDF-3 and Admiral Hunter." This gives hint that they're looking to go along something in the Sentinels timeline once more but likely in a new way as they're titling this new series Shadow Force. The only other text available at this moment is an vague setting paragraph: "With the unexpected conclusion to the war with the Invid, the people of Earth are finally liberated and an expedition prepares to search for Admiral Hunter's missing fleet. However, another mystery unfolds as a deadly new advesary threatens to test the limits of the Expeditionary Force's use of Shadow Technology."

Upcoming in Japan

From Natsume Maya Victorian romance manga Emma, not based on Jane Austin's novel will be adapted into an anime series.

Zipang, the anime adaptation of the manga by Kaiji Kawaguchi, creator of political and military manga series Eagle and Silent Service will begin on Japanese TV October 7th. Direction and series composition by Furuhashi Kazuhiro, main character design by Umakoshi Yoshihiko, main mecha design by Obara Shouhei, music by Sahashi Toshihiko, animation production by Studio Deen.

Tactics, the anime adaptation of the manga series by Mystical Detective Loki creator Sakura Kinoshita will air on Japanese TV starting October 5th.

TAB Pro's website states that a Bleach TV anime will commence broadcast on TV Tokyo at 6.30pm on October 5th 2004.

Official website for the ninja clan warsBasilisk - Koga Ninpou Chou TV anime which will commence broadcast in April 2005. The manga version (based on the original novel) finished serialisation in Uppers magazine not too long ago.

TBS Anime Festa 2004's website for the upcoming Oh! My Goddess TV anime here.

Digi Charat creator Koge Donbo will begin a new manga series entitled Kohime Soushi in the November issue of Dengeki Comic Gao!, on sale in Japan September 27th.

A website has been posted for Production I.G's recent fuedel action series Otogizoushi. The series will be released doemsticall by Media Blasters.

Gonzo Changes

Anime News Network reports that Gonzo's, best known for their digital animated series such as Last Exile and Full Metal Panic, parent company Gonzo Digimation Holdings has partnered with French industry veterans to form GO-N productions. GO-N is to produce French and European animation, as well as investigate possible French / Japanese collaborations opportunities.

The company has also changed its name from "Gonzo Digimation K.K." to "Gonzo K.K." on July 1st, 2004. Gonzo Digimation was formed when two companies, Gonzo and Digimation merged in 2002.

Ghost in the Shell 2 To Be Promoted on Anime Network

Go Fish Pictures, a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures, has selected Anime Network as the platform for its fall television advertising campaign for the highly-anticipated animated film "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence."

The studio's substantial ad commitment encompasses Anime Network's 24- hour cable channel as well as the network's video-on-demand (VOD) service and will include the airing of the full 75-second trailer for "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence."

"The advertising buy for 'Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence' validates not only the growth of Anime Network but its ability to reach and deliver the elusive young adult male and core 18 to 34 demographic groups," explains Kevin Corcoran, President of Anime Network. "Go Fish Pictures, like many competitive media buyers today, also recognizes the strength and influence advertising with our video-on- demand service provides. In fact, while VOD advertising is still very much in its infancy, astute marketers are becoming savvier about the benefits of VOD advertising."

As the first and only anime film to screen in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" has brought the distinct Japanese animation style to an even wider audience. The film is the second anime feature film to be released under the Go Fish Pictures banner, a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. Written and directed by Mamoru Oshii, "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" tells the story of a solitary cyborg desperately fighting to retain what little humanity he has left in a world where human souls are an obscurity.

Charlize Theron Injured on Aeon Flux Set

According to the Associated Press, Charlize Theron was injured while shooting Paramount Pictures' Aeon Flux adaptation in Germany. A studio spokeswoman said the Monday accident was caused while Theron was doing her own stunts. Filming in Berlin has been halted for at least 3 weeks to allow her to recover. Word has it that Charlize didn't break any bones, or suffer any major cuts during the complex "wire-work" accident.

Scott McCloud to Examin Manga

Newsarama.com reports Scott McCloud creator and analyst Scott McCloud will be following up his examinations of the comic medium Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics with a third volume entitled Making Comics. Among the volume's topics will be a look at manga. In the "Understanding Manga" section, McCload hopes to explain why many readers find manga story telling compelling.

The book is tenatively planned to be released in 2006.

Rave Master to Go Daily on Cartoon Network

ICV2 reports that this fall, aquatic fantasy anime Rave Master will be moved from its current Saturday night slot on Cartoon Network to a weekday airing.