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Anime Spotlight: Coyote Ragtime Show Volume 1 Released by ADV Films
Given the resume of the studio and creators behind it, Coyote Ragtime Show seems like it was probably an experimental attempt to take a step forward. It is the first full production from studio ufotable. Series director Matsuri Ouse had helmed one previous project, Futakoi Alternative . Director Takuya Nonaka had animated various projects over the years, with some limited direction, Dokkoida?! and Armitage: Dual-Matrix, specifically. Script, storyboard and episode direction are spread out fairly wide given the series 12 episode run length, almost comparable to what Production I.G did with Otogi Zoshi. In other words, Coyote Ragtime Show has a lot of people attempting to demonstrate what they can do. The series earns high marks for effort. ufotable tries hard to be hip, visually interesting and new. They offer dynamic character animation. Mundane or familiar actions, such as eating rituals or raising arms in preparation for a fight are given complex, showy choreography. They offer massive action set pieces. Its mini space-cowboy revival has a sort of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly three sided standoff with representatives from government agencies, the "Criminal Guild" and independent pirate Coyotes. This confrontation is initiated a 'The Rock' style collection of action movie premises crammed into a prison. And finally, ufotable tries to offer a current, captivatingly stylishness. Love loli-goth fashion or hate it, a memorable element of the anime will be the first episode's introduction of the Twelve Sisters, a hit squad of 12 young to very young assassins, each of which sports a variant on black, white and red, lace trimmed elaborate attire, looking creepily exhibitionist as they baronet foes, toss potato masher grenades, machete throats and such. If nothing else, Coyote Rag Time Show gets points for trying new ideas in an anime. From attempting to do a gospel revival (about as laughable as it sounds) to finding new ways to animating blood spurts, to paying attention to bear bottles being throw and a fat slob getting ready to fight in a bar brawl, it makes the effort that anime productions should make, but frequently don't. Unfortunately, something that may very well be inexperience hamstrings the work. On a series wide scale, the continuous story doesn't build as a narrative. It is not so much disjoint, as it is poorly fit together. Akin to something like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the pebble-skip like McGuffin chases and halts for bits of back story information just drag on the pacing. There's an objective to the odyssey, but because of the poorly managed sight-seeing, and a tone that should be fast rather than sprawling epic, it feels hampered by pointless delays. The same is true on the level of specific scenes. While lighting, character movements and effects are often captivating to look at, the whole engagements don't build on the smaller pieces. Movement and effects present themselves almost as distinct ideas rather than contributing to something like a coherent fight scene. While Coyote Rag Time Show isn't a work of especially quick cut editing, only disconnected particles stick out. With everything thrown onto the field approach, the series is often less than the sum of its parts. Coyote Ragtime Show's character problem is less severe, but it is still troubled by miscalculations. The initial impression of the characters is that they could be interesting, but the effort isn't made to reel in the hook. While the "Criminal Guild" and their proxies, such as the 12 Sisters are the antagonists of the work, the Coyotes and cops are set up as dual protagonists. The agents are Angelica Burns, a fast talking, fast eating, fast thinking, mental juggernaut, and her until recently, cop, Doctor Watson-esque partner Chelsea Muir(gifted with a good data aggregation mind). The Coyotes are represented by "Mister", a bearish ring leader of a small gang who is taking caring of Pirate King Bruce's daughter and legacy. Unfortunately, the series evidences little beyond the sketches of the characters. Worse, it overshoots a targeted irreverence and becomes kitschy. The series wants to establish an emotional resonance with the characters, but operating in heist/chase mode, there is little room for more than a Lupin III/Zenigata dynamic. Unlike Cowboy Bebop, which created the room for character moments, Coyote Ragtime Show is all motion. As such, Mister is just a thumbnail uncouth rogue with a heart of gold and code of honor; Angelica Burns is just a professional shark. In Coyote Ragtime Show, ufotable establishes themselves as a studio to watch. Maybe not for great works, but for enjoyable ones. Even if you don't care for some of the aesthetic choices (such as the loli-goth assassins or shaggy rogues) it is gratifying to see a group bring new flair into entertainment anime. They aren't as experimental or exciting as Studio 40C or Madhouse's recent work, but their work in character motion is attention commanding. At the same time, ufotable’s inexperience, especially with works that aren't quick comedies, does haunt Coyote Ragtime Show. With exciting ideas for confrontations and set pieces that don't turn out to be as exciting as they sound, the results are often closer to a curiosity than a well formed series.
Anime Spotlight: Black Cat Volume 1 Released by FUNimation
Black Cat is just about the closest thing to a Shonen Jump style story to come out of studio Gonzo. With a very Gonzo driven staff at the helm, the match of studio and source material present a quandary. Gonzo has earned a reputation of front loading their work. Though not in every situation, there has been a tendency to put the most creative, dynamic, visually interesting animation in the opening episodes of their series. With a Shonen Jump formula, the reader/viewer invests emotion and time into the heroes. The biggest spectacles should happen when the heroes finally, decisively have the opportunity to battle the series' villains. In that way, the viewer expects the highest production effort in the story's climax. In Black Cat. episode quality is rather consistent in this first set of episodes, which might suggested that Black Cat well paced series. There are bits are literally brilliant with eye catching effects that include scenes framed by stain glass, neon light and shadow,color washes and flares, a hologram globe with talking faces masked onto the service or bright sparks of confetti and fireworks. All these seem t leverage the kind of digital work that Gonzo excels at and none seem to be taxing their reserves. However, the anime also re-orders events from the source manga, which might have implications in this regard. Like Coyote Ragtime Show, Black Cat is a bit of a return to the sci-fi gunslinger shows of the late 90's. "Sci-fi" comes with an asterisk. The difference between Black Cat's society and anime's take on modern society is present, but slight. By the same token, the sci-fi accoutrements aren't anything that would not be fit into an anime set in the current day. While there is some evidence that it does take place in the future, so far, there hasn't been anything that could be set now in a fictionalized country, with organizations gifted with unheard of technology. The characters are introduced at a welcome medium point, that refers to popular ideas without slavishly reproducing them. It revolve around Cowboy Bebop (or maybe emo Lupin III) character dynamic chiefly built on the tripod of Train Heartnet aka Black Cat, a semi-detached former assassin; Sven Vollfied, a well dress, but badly shaved "sweeper"/private investigator; and Rinslet Walker, a cute thief/unreliable partner. Compared to the manga, the anime plays with the time line, mostly moving back-story to happen concurrently with events that set the stage for the key storyline. In doing this, the anime passes the point of view from Train to Sven. This raises Train's mystique, which is a boon to the series. The shift also makes Train's moral situation more dynamic, making the intrigue concerning his state of mind one of the driving forces in these early episodes. Sven's appeal is a bit more complex. If you look at the history of characters like Train and Sven, the initial state was characters like Lupin III and his partner Jigen. These were reprobates that guys were amused to watch, in the mode of the Three Stooges. These characters and their descendants, especially Spike and Jet of Cowboy Bebop, became decidedly cooler. You can be forgiven for mistaking a series like Azumanga Daioh or Kamichu for works aimed at a female audience. Their aesthetic and focus would certainly suggest that. Yet, at least in Japan, they were marketed to a male audience. If Black Cat hadn't been published in Shonen Jump, it would also seem like Black Cat was an inverse case: a series that looked like it was for a male audience, targeted at a female audience. It's been speculated that Shonen Jump took notice to the fact that female readers could be attracted to shonen series with yaoi overtones. The universal popularity of works like Ruruoni Kenshin would seem to be another motivation for Black Cat's direction. Despite, or perhaps because of his calculated scruffiness, Sven like Train approaches the bishonen (pretty boy) aesthetic. Part of the formula for a character like Sven is a sense of humor. In this series, depending on your taste, the idea can be a bit irritating. He is a bit of a cheesy character. The anime doesn't deal with the irony of a hard boiled Sam Spade who forgoes a real weapon in favor of terribly gimmicky gadgets, including hot candy, catnip bombs and a smoke spewing briefcase. It stops just short of a boxing glove on a spring, or a flower that shoots water. Rather than a two sided personality in the Kenshin/Trigun model, this silly rather than clever approach comes off as a goofy conceit for a character who, to some degree, is supposed to be tragic. The anime tries to keep over-cutesy-ness reserved and appropriate or the context. Sven's devices are an exception to this, but the anime generally restrain the impulse in favor of the ending animation: "Puppypet", featuring cat-sketch versions of the characters. Gonzo's animation for Black Cat is generally tight, with few obvious slacking short cuts. If they are guilty of anything, it is distracting motion. Mostly this occurs in the early episodes in what looks like a misguided attempt to expand the scope of the anime's world. This might be a weaving drunk at a ball, or a party of carnival costumed figures eating voraciously in a tavern. At best/worst, these distracting figures advance the story in convoluted fashions. The problem of largely non-lethal fights with an abundance of gun-wielding combatants stands. Gonzo's handling of this warrants a split decision. The rush and halt approach where foes speed through obstacles towards each other, then stand and stare each other down both has a thrilling burst of motion and a frustratingly irresolute climax. In spots, the animation can be quite inventive and good. There is a great scene in these early episodes in which a gun slinging kimono clad young woman cuts angles jumping across the screen in a Noir-like neon lit environment. But scenes like this appear to be the exception. The ambition of Black Cat's animation appears to be competency, and it hits the mark. At 23 episodes, it didn't manage to become one the longer series that marks a successful Shonen Jump adaptation. Again, this could be a knock against or a benefit toward the anime's appeal based on the viewer's perspective. It isn't an anime with glaring flaws. Anime fans who enjoyed Trigun, Trinity Blood and Kenshin will probably find it satisfying, but it doesn't rise beyond that base level.
Live Action Spotlight: Ninja Vixens
Volume 3 "Devilish Angels"
Volume 4 "Ninja Dropouts"
Released by Neon-G
If the Ninja Vixens franchise was intentionally so-bad-it's-good, the work is genius. If not, from the one step above public access video quality, to ultra-softcore porn nudity, to the soap bubble special effects, to the over branded translation Ninja Vixens is still supremely fun camp. It almost makes an art out of bold idiocy. Because the best and worse thing is that the action and drama are laughable, don't bother approaching the work without a sense of irony. Local theatre production meets period exploitation situation, puts Ninja Vixens at the bottom of the media hierarchy, but, the features acknowledge their caste,, and more often than not, play to their station well. Ultimately, it becomes the kind of work you chuckle about whenever even the title crosses your mind.
The term "Ninja Vixens" is a liberal translation of kunoichi. It's a reasonable translation in terms of contextual usage, but hilarity ensues as the translation is applied semi-serious conversations. In both films (which run about 70 minutes each), there is at least some strait-faced pretext, concerning the vicious lives of the "Ninja Vixens" in the Era of Warring states. As the career path is spelled on in dialog: many are orphaned, then raised by clans and trained in the arts of seduction, spying and killing to be "Ninja Vixens". From there, it’s a constant live and death struggle as they engage in lethal missions.
There really isn't too much to the work beyond young starlets: AV actors, bad reality TV personalities, former idol singers, speaking about the "Ninja Vixen" life while playing out some sort of half-baked genre storyline, such as the ninja proving themselves, abandoning their clan, or reconciling with their nature.
Costumes have a bit of a synthetic fabric look to them. There are sets to speak of, but they seem to be built on back lots and a couple of acres of woods with a trickling stream. In an Ed Woodian sense, they are clearly the work of some one's effort, just not a very good effort.
"Devilish Angels" opens with a pan over the naked bodies of two of the leads, but the entry tries to be relatively serious. A starving young woman (who still manages to have cute, round facial features), encounters a rogue Ninja Vixen. The Ninja Vixen abuses the girl, including a beautifully melodramatic scene in which the Vixen buys a bowl of soup from a road side vendor, pays for it with a large gold coin, then dumps it into the forest leaves in front the girl. Another Ninja Vixen and a hunch back in a Tengu outfit track down the fleeing Vixen, and more point and laugh sentimental drama ensues.
"Ninja Dropouts" is more of a laugh-with than a laugh-at work. But still, when you see what passes for fight choreography (which is a few rungs below a video of someone LARPG-ing), and the special effects, you'll be laughing at the work. This one features a class of Ninja Vixens in training. They're the bottom of the barrel "N-Class", bunch of failures taught by the world's ugliest woman. Maybe you would call the person a man in drag, since it is a female character played by a male actor, but there really isn't an attempt to make the character look female. The group is made up of a fairly typical set of misfits. A fat girl, a geek, an ugly girl, a low intelligence pretty girl who sleeps around, and a girl knocked down to this level after cutting up the face of a former classmate.
Given how delightfully inane Ninja Vixens is, it presents an opportunity to guiltlessly laugh at the feeble without feeling mean. Regardless of whether you take the initiative to subject the TV screen with witty ridicule, the empty calorie offered by Ninja Vixens so memorably cracked, its hard to regret seeing or owning them.
Manga Spotlight: Battle Angel Alita: Last Order
Volume 8: Angel's Vision
By Yukito Kishiro
Released by VIZ, Media
Comparing Masamune Shirow's work on Ghost in the Shell to Yukito Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita is tempting. On a superficial level, Ghost's Major and Alita (or Gunnm as she was originally known) are two of manga's preeminent cyborg women. Both creators had a substantial reputation for working in the genre of sci-fi action/ The urge to jointly evaluate them wasn't so much the case in their first go around. Alita's tragic life cycle was clearly distinct from Ghost's cop techie action and subsequent evolution into something more conceptually metaphysical. But, when Shirow revisited Ghost in the Shell in 1997 and Kishiro when back to Alita in 2000 to replace his abbreviated ending, their approach to a backlog of ideas made for an interesting contrast. Shirow appeared to be cramming as much as possible in barely mediated form. As a result, Man-Machin Interface could charitably be called too dense to be easily read. Alternatively, Kishiro opted for the familiar format of the shonen/senein fight tournament. The choice isn't a vehicle that's well regarded for its intelligence, but Kishiro proved able to channel a stream of bizarre sci-fi ideas, along with kinetic action illustration into the structure.
That said, Volume 8 deviates Last Order's tournament formula. The first part features Alita going into a bit of a psyche/information dive. The cyber dreamscape and peak into the deeper aspects of the human condition are a bit uncompelling in their abstraction. The manga has most moving in its most personal moments. Detached from explicit character moments, it gets a bit too Ghost in the Shell.
The majority of the volume doesn't feature Alita, but it does demonstrate what Kishiro does better than anyone else: quick action with genre chimera. Specifically, most of the volume deals with Caerula, Alita's opponent from the Stellar Nursery Society (space-traveling war orphan care-givers). Coming from a fan's submitted design, with long blonde hair, winter coat and fur hat, Caerula looks like Kishiro's take on Leiji Matsumoto's Maetel. Except: a) she fights with a sword in a wuxia style that Kishiro carefully renders with kung fu details b) she is a vampire born in 1808 in Habsburg ruled Erdely (Transylvania). Her back story is related from a point longer before the events of Battle Angel Alita, when she's already a couple hundred year old, 10 years after a giant solar flare disabled most electronics on Earth, after which a 14 kilometer asteroid sent the planet into a ice age.
In a bent post-apocalyptic tale turned on its head, Caerula and her band of vampires, including her Dracula like lover, a hulking blind man, a quick on the trigger cowboy, and a slobbering, bandaged wraith, travel the frozen wastes, contenting with the human settlements. With mankind laboring frantically to set the species back on its feet, the vampire find that their prey has an agenda. Under extreme circumstances, the desperate betrayals channel compelling drama into bizarre remix of familiar ideas.
As Kishiro demonstrates in this volume, he doesn't take the readers interest in genre conventions for granted. Rather than rely on faith that someone reading his work would be excited by vampires, mutants and crudely armed human literally and figuratively at each other's throats in snow cover desolation, he illustrates it with such vigor that he ensures you get caught up in the idea. He consistently triggers the "wow, that looks dangerous reaction" and in his illustration like the spinning flexibility of wuxia sword work, Kishiro offers all you could hope for in an action scene from any medium.
More Hints on Miyazaki's Next Project
If you haven't seen it on various sources (including Nausicaa), reliable rumor has it that Hayao Miyazaki's next film will be an adaptation of Chinese story called "I Lost My Little Boy".
According to the January 5 production diary, C-part of the storyboard of the next film was completed.
Nausicaa.net also points out that Ghibli has announced that with the success of Aleksandr Petrov's "My Love", they plan to continue distributing Western animated films to Japanese audiences. The second film to be shown at Cinema ANGELICA in this initiative will be Michel Ocelot's "Azur et Asmar". Studio Ghibli President Toshio Suzuki mentioned that Ghibli has plans for a foreign animation director to create a film with Ghibli in the future.
Acedemy Rules on Arthur and the Invisibles
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has ruled that because Luc Besson's Arthur and the Invisibles is less than 75% animation, it is ineligible for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award. With the number of eligible films dropping from 16 to 15, by Academy rules 3, rather than 5 films may be nominated for Best Animated Feature.
Satoshi Kon's anime film Paprika is one of the 15 films eligible to be nominated.
Air Gear Ep 1 Online
IGN has the first episode of ADV's release of Air Gear online at here
Robotech Behind the Scenes Preview
Anime on DVD points out that Harmony Hold has posted about 10 minutes "Robotech: Birth of a Sequel" here.
Peach Pit Trouble
ComiPress reports PEACH-PIT's manga Rozen Maiden, released in North America by TOKYOPOP has run into troubl with its Japanese anthology Comic BIRZ. After going on hiatus, a post of EACH-PIT's information website "Ohirome Calendar" stated "Our work has been suspended, if the editorial team decides to explain the situation, it will be in the next issue [of Comic BIRZ], until then we cannot disclose any details regarding the matter, it is very regrettable."
Bandai Visual, including Freedom and The Wings of Honneamise in HD
Bandai Visual, Microsoft and Memory-Tech have agreed to collaborate on the development of HD DVD Authoring Technology for the release of “Freedom” (a New Anime Title), “Royal Space Force—The Wings of Honneamise”, “Patlabor The Movie” and “Patlabor 2 The Movie” as HD DVD Titles.
And the three companies are contributing to the building of services that make use of next-generation formats such as HDi. In this collaborations, Bandai Visual will handle production and packaging for DVD sales. Memory-Tech will handle the service infrastructure for the development of high definition products, and Microsoft will support HD DVD solutions for partners and users.
The above 4 titles will be used for:
1) Improvement of image quality with VC-1 video compression technology aimed at the creation of HD DVD products
2) Use of HDi authoring to add value to HD DVDs and develop promotion plans
3) Collaboration on new business models based on HDi network functions, Managed Copy and other functions that combine of packaged media with networks
About Freedom
A science fiction anime series whose use in Nissin instant noodle TV ads generated a lot of buzz. The drama unfolds on the Moon’s surface in the city of Eden, the last human settlement, and focuses on a youth whose actions threaten to shake the freedom and peace of Eden. The scale of the story and the dynamic action have earned the series high marks. Bandai Visual is confident that this work, which uses the latest concepts and technology to combine 3D-CGI with the 2D animation that has long been a key strength of Japan’s anime industry, is ideal as a technology development source for the next-generation medium of HD DVD. (Produced in 2006)
STORY
In the year 2105, by which time civilization on Earth has been wiped out by permanently abnormal weather conditions, people left on the Moon proclaimed the establishment of the republic of Eden, and over the years built up a city of about a million inhabitants as the last remaining human civilization. The people of Eden value freedom and peace above everything, but in time, the actions of a single adolescent, Takeru, come to shake that freedom and peace.
In Eden, children finish their compulsory education when they are 15 years old and become fully fledged members of the society, but they are given a brief period of freedom before taking up their duties as citizens. The year is now 2267, and like other boys before him, Takeru is going to take part in a race with his friends, using machines called “vehicles” designed for moon surface travel. What makes Takeru different from his peers is that he has made his own vehicle, and by doing so, he touches on a truth that Eden had long kept hidden. There are, it turns out, two kinds of freedom hidden within Eden.
CREDITS
Original story: Satoshi Takamatsu / Director: Shuhei Morita / Music: Yoshihiro Ike / Production: Sunrise Emotion Studio
About “Royal Space Force—The Wings of Honneamise”
Bandai Visual’s first ever anime movie for theater distribution, and the electrifying movie debut of the GAINAX creators who went on to give the world “Neon Genesis Evangelion”. The kingdom of Honneamise on an imaginary planet serves as the stage for telling the tale of the young men belonging to the Royal Space Force, a non-combat military unit. A feature-length anime movie that boasts an elaborate story and ultra-detailed artwork combined with an other-worldly music score by Ryuichi Sakamoto. (Produced in 1987)
STORY
Shirotsugh Lhadatt is a trooper in the Royal Space Force, a non-combat military unit that has a history of 30 years, but has been virtually abandoned by the government, and can’t even launch a satellite properly, let alone a manned spacecraft. Shirotsugu too has all but given up dreams of space travel, and frequently skips training drills. However, a chance meeting in town with Riquinni, a mysterious girl claiming to preach the word of God, changes his attitude dramatically. Weathering opposition from his fellow troopers, he volunteers to become the first astronaut in human history, and a plan is launched to send a manned craft into space and reestablish the credibility and honor of the Royal Space Force.
CREDITS
Executive producers: Toshio Okada & Shigeru Watanabe / Original story, screenplay, director: Hiroyuki Yamaga / Animation director and character design: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto / Animation directors: Hideaki Anno, Fumio Iida, Yuji Moriyama / Assistant directors: Takami Akai, Shinji Higuchi, Shoichi Masuo / Art director: Hiromasa Ogura / Cinematography: Hiroshi Isagawa / Sound director: Atsumi Tashiro / Music director: Ryuichi Sakamoto / Production: Gainax etc.
About “Patlabor The Movie”
The memorable first theater edition of “Mobile Police Patlabor”, directed by Mamoru Oshii who made his name with “Ghost in the Shell”. Set in a turn-of-the-century Tokyo (1998-2002) in which human-shaped construction work robots called “Labors” wander the streets and cybercrime has become endemic. The movie, a science fiction anime classic, is peppered with thrilling action as it tells the realistic story of a police squad that uses its own arsenal of Patlabor robots to combat crime. (Produced in 1989)
About “Patlabor 2 The Movie”
The second feature length movie to emerge from the wildly popular “Mobile Police Patlabor” series, and wizard director Mamoru Oshii’s disturbing vision of Tokyo in a state of siege against terrorists. Using ultra-detailed artwork and computer graphics, and a scenario in which one mystery gives rise to another, Oshii creates a picture of war-torn Tokyo with a deeply thematic plot that takes the movie beyond the realm of most anime. (Produced in 1993)
VC-1 is a video codec specification that has been standardized by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and implemented by Microsoft as Windows Media Video (WMV)9. Formal standardization of VC-1 represents the culmination of years of technical scrutiny by over 75 companies, leading to a codec that is well-documented, extremely stable, easily licensable, and accepted by the industry.
HDi is a specification of interactivity adopted by HD DVD. It supports various features for great interactivity including high definition graphics with transparency and animation, picture-in-picture, network, etc to create exciting user experience. HDi is based on the open-standard technologies and being used on most of the existing HD DVD titles in the world.
Managed Copy is a part of the AACS specification which is adopted by HD DVD. It is a function which will allow users to make legal copy of the content through authentication process over network. It will bring new user value and business model with great flexibility of supporting multiple formats of the content and business scheme.
Afro Samurai Ratings
Anime News Network reports that Spike TV's Afro Samurai premiere rated 0.6 at 11 p.m Eastern and 0.4 at 11:30 among males 18-34. The network informed ANN that the premiere averaged a 1.1 rating for males 18-49
Bobobo-bo News
With the first volume of absurd action send-up Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo scheduled for North American DVD release February 13, 2007, Toei Animation Inc., a subsidiary of Japan’s largest animation production studio, Toei Animation Co., Ltd., has announced that a second season will air on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block.
Illumitoon Entertainment and Westlake Entertainment's joint venture DVD release will contain unedited versions of the show, as well as an original Japanese soundtrack.
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo’s licensing is represented in the North America by Joy Tashjian Marketing Group, L.L.C.
Synopsis:
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo takes place in the year 300X, when a tyrannical emperor, Csar Baldy Bald 4th, seeks to prove his authority over the people by waging a "Hair Hunt," aimed at taking the hair of all the citizenry. While the populace trembles in fear, one man with a Golden Afro rises to take a stand - Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. Together with his fellow partners, Bo-bobo launches into battle against the "Hair Hunt Troops" to put an end to the "Hair Hunt" once and for all.
DMP Sale at Akadot
Starting January 4th, Akadot Retail began a 2 week sale with DMP manga up to 83% off. Featured titles include the hard-to-get Yoshitoshi Abe Lain Illustration Limited Edition hardcover book for only $23.95, the new series Enchanter for just $7.95, Kiss of Fire artbook, and Robot Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 for just $19.95. DMP/Dark Horse books such as Hellsing, Trigun, and Berserk are also on sale.
Noteworthy Q1 Viz Releases
Video (non-regular release)
1/16/07
Ranma 1/2 Season One: The Digital Dojo (2006 ed.) 450 min 49.98
2/6/07
Train_Man: Densha Otoko (VIZ Pictures, live action)
3/13
Full Moon volume 4
4/24
Linda Linda Linda (VIZ Pictures, Live action)
The Prince of Tennis volume 1
5/8
Taste of Tea (VIZ Pictures, Live action)
Manga (premieres)
1/2/07
Vampire Knight, Vol. 1
2/20/07
Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs, Vol. 1
Hot Gimmick S (Novel)
3/06/07
Backstage Prince, Vol. 1
The Gentlemen's Alliance + , Vol. 1
4/3/07
Dragon Drive , Vol. 1
Millennium Snow, Vol. 1
The Cain Saga (Part 1), Vol. 4
4/17/07
Shakugan no Shana , Vol. 1
Shakugan no Shana: The Girl With Fire In Her Eyes (Novel)
Anime News Network points out that the highschool girl rock band film Linda Linda Linda will be shown in Boston's (Cambridge really) The Brattle Theater on January 12-18.
Animation Deaths
Kyôko Kishida, best known for starring in Woman in the Dunes, died at 76 on December 17th. Her anime work included the Moomintroll, and the narrator of Princess Tutu amd Vampire Princess Miyu
Iwao Takamoto, an animator for Disney who went on to be influencial force at Hanna-Barbera has passed away at age 82. Takamoto directed the animated Charlotte's Web and designed Scooby Doo.
Cartoon Brew points out that Pete Kleinow, stop motion animator for Davey & Goliath, The Pillsbury Doughboy, and The Terminator passed away at age 72. He also wrote the Gumby song.
ADV Formally Announced 009-1
ADV Films has announced it has acquired exclusive home video and broadcast rights in North America for the new sci-fi action series 009-1
009-1 is based on the manga series by acclaimed artist and creator Shotaro Ishinomori (Cyborg 009, Gilgamesh, Kamen Rider) and brought to us from production studios Aniplex (Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto) and TBS (Chobits).
Synopsis: Set in an alternate world where the Cold War has continued on for over 140 years, civilization is split in two and the world lies on the brink of nuclear destruction. Mylene Hoffman is a cyborg with no past, who works as an undercover agent for a mysterious organization engaged in an international political war. Follow the exploits of Mylene as she uncovers political corruption, shocking revelations and government conspiracy.
12" HazMaPo Kow at New York Comic-Con
Urban vinyl/designer toy maker UNKL have announced that they will be releasing their 12" HazMaPo Kow exclusively through Toy Tokyo at this year's New York Comic-Con. HazMaPo Kow is the product of a collaboration between UNKL and Japanese action figure artist Kow Yokoyama (best known for Maschinen Krieger ZbV 3000
Upcoming in Japan
Twitch looks at the live action adaptation of the seinen manga Freesia here
New anime sites include
Kaibutsu Oujou
Koutetsu Sangokushi
El Cazador de la Bruja (via ikimashou.net
A new trailer for the One Piece: Episode of Alabaster movie is online at here
On the manga front, ComiPress reports A new manga titled Nennin Tsurebito by Akihito Yoshitomi (Ray, Eat-Man) began serialization in Magazine Z issue 2
ComiPress has also report that Isao Yoshino of Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd will be publishing a seinen comedy anthology called Comic Yoshimoto. The work will feature professional comedians from his company collaborating with professional artists to create 20-25 different stories.
Acording to Yoshino, he wants to prove that "comedy" and manga aren't something that don't go well together, but a combination that works really well. The targeted market of the magazine is males between the ages of 20-40.
DBZ Release News
A movie of FUNimation's remastering process for Dragon Ball Z is online at here
According to Anime on DVD, Madman will be using FUNimations newly remastered Dragon Ball Z for an Australian release. Information is online at Anime on DVD reports FUNimation parent company Navarre has penciled the following releases:
FUNimation Titles in the Pipeline (08:52 PM EST): A couple of astute readers noticed that the site of FUNimation's parent company, Navarre, lists titles that FUNimation has not solicited formally yet. We're not adding these but put them down as decent tentative with which to get excited about:
# Beck Vol. #1 - 05/15/2007
# Desert Punk Box Set - 05/22/2007
# Peach Girl Vol. #1 - 04/17/2007
# Shinchan Vol. #1 - 05/22/2007
# Suzuka Vol. #1 - 05/01/2007
# Slayers Season 1 - 07/17/2007
Anime Nation points out that Afro Samurai was also scheduled:
Afro Samurai (Spike TV version) volume 1 will retail at $19.98 beginning May 22.
Afro Samurai (uncut version) volume 1 will retail at $39.98 beginning May 22.
Beck adapts the popular shonen rock manga, following a teenage boy who casts of his mailase when he becomes involved with a rock band. The manga is released by TOKYOPOP
Peach adapts the popular shoujo manga, concerning an athletic girl whose relationships are undercut by lies of her best "friend." The manga is released by TOKYOPOP
Suzuka is an older age shonen relationship comedy drama. The manga is released by Del Rey
Slayers was a big in the 90's fantasy comedy action
Le Chevalier D’Eon Anime Channel Premiere
The Anime Channel has announced that the first episode of Production I.G's (Ghost in the Shell) Le Chevalier D’Eon will premiere on their Video On Demand service starting February 8th. ADV Films will release the first volume of the anime on February 20th.
Synopsis
Paris, 1742. A coffin floats in the shimmering Seine. On the lid, there is a word written in blood—Psalms. Inside is the body of a beautiful woman, Lia de Beaumont. Now her brother, D’Eon, seeks the reason for her mysterious murder, and uncovers an evil that shadows both the palaces of kings and the dark alleys of Europe. A power wielded by spell-casting Poets, and manipulated by royalty. A force so powerful it brings Lia’s soul back from beyond to seize the only weapon she can possess to avenge her death—her own brother. History meets horror. Fantasy meets mystery. Experience the next revolution in anime with Le Chevalier D’Eon.
Latest Newtype USA
The January 2007 Newtype US will feature previews of Death Note, Sergeant Frog, Code Geass and Le Chevalier D’Eon. It will also include a behind the scenes look at Paradise Kiss. A Preview DVD includes episodes of Coyote Ragtime Show, Utawarerumono and Best Student Council.
Game News
The Magic Box has screen shots of the PlayStation 2 Shijou Saikyou no Deshi: Kenichi (History's strongest Diciple Kenichi) fighting manga adaptation here
News Gundam Musou screen shots can be seen here. The official site is online at gundam-musou.jp/
The Magic Box also reports the football manga Eyeshield 21 will be adapted into a Wii game to be released in Japan on March 8th.
Their are unconfirmed reports that Atari will release Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai Another Road for PSP will be released on March 20, 2007, for $39.99.
English Dirty Pair Novels
Anime World Order points out that most have missed, an Anime on DVD forum goer has notice that Publishers Group West catalogue for Spring 2007 lists The Great Adventures of The Dirty Pair, by Haruka Takachiko with 20 illustrations by Yasuhiko Yoshikazo for North American release in July 2007. The 250 page novel will retail for $8.95
The pulp sci-fi classic follows the adventures of lovely trouble shooter Kei and Yuri.
Japan's Thoughts on Spin-Offs
Gunota reports Oricon has another poll of interest, this time regarding which movie or manga characters people would like to see a spinoff of.
Overall:
1) L - Death Note
2) Char Aznable - Mobile Suit Gundam
3) Kaede Rukawa - Slam Dunk
4) Roronoa Zoro - One Piece
5) Fujiko Mine - Lupin The 3rd
6) Krillin - Dragonball
7) Goemon Ishikawa - Lupin The 3rd
8) Masumi Okuyama - Nodame Cantabile
9) Shinichi Okazaki - Nana
10) Usopp - One Piece
Women's choices:
1) L - Death Note
2) Kaede Rukawa - Slam Dunk
3) Masumi Okuyama - Nodame Cantabile
4) Reira Serizawa - Nana
5) Shinichi Okazaki - Nana
6) Rui Hanazawa - Hana Yori Dango
7) Fujiko Mine - Lupin The 3rd
8) Goemon Ishikawa - Lupin The 3rd
9) Ryutaro Mine - Nodame Cantabile
10) Roronoa Zoro - One Piece
Men's choices:
1) Char Aznable - Mobile Suit Gundam
2) L - Death Note
3) Krillin - Dragonball
4) Roronoa Zoro - One Piece
5) Usopp - One Piece
6) Colonel Roy Mustang - Fullmetal Alchemist
7) Fujiko Mine - Lupin The 3rd
8) Inspector Zenigata - Lupin The 3rd
9) Daisuke Jigen - Lupin The 3rd
10) Sumire Onda - Bayside Shakedown
Universal Launching 'Mail Order Ninja' Comic Sunday
TOKYOPOP and Universal Press Syndicate has begun syndicating Joshua Elder and Erich Owen's English language Mail Order Ninja comic to newspapers starting Sunday, January 7th. The pair won TOKYOPOP's 5th "Rising Stars of Manga" talent competition.
Dark Horse Manga/Manwha June Releases
BANYA: THE EXPLOSIVE DELIVERY MAN VOLUME 4
Written and art by Kim Young-Oh.
After last volume's shocking cliffhanger, Banya's screams are still ringing across Gaya's wastelands, and the desert deliverymen are in some serious danger. The future is at stake, and fists are about to fly, as two bloodthirsty villains corner our heartbroken hero. He's kept his cool while mingling with the monstrous Torren, fighting off gargantuan pit bulls, and dodging the giant Gwichi worm's sneak attacks -- but now Banya has gone crazy with anguish and rage and is about to unleash a world of hurt on two mutated killers! This second-to-last volume of Banya: The Explosive Delivery Man isn't all gloom and doom, though, as Kim Young-Oh continues to mix incredible artwork and fast-paced storytelling with perfectly timed slapstick moments and surprising plot twists.
184 pages, black and white, $12.95, in stores on June 20.
BLACK MAGIC (2ND EDITION)
Written and art by Shirow Masamune.
Today, the planet Venus is a literal hell of furnace-like temperatures and dense, poisonous atmosphere. But millions of years in its past, Venus teemed with life and with a civilization far advanced to our own. The Nemisis supercomputer controls government functions, with bioroid "executors" created to carry out the system's utopian edicts. But trouble brews even in paradise, as different executors vie for control of Nemesis, forcing the governing system to secretly create Duna Typhon, a super-bioroid "sleeper," raised among the human populace, ready to use her awesome powers should Nemesis be co-opted to turn paradise into paradise lost.
From the imagination of Ghost in the Shell creator Shirow Masamune comes his first published series, Black Magic, a sweeping science-fiction epic that introduces many of the themes and ideas that influence all of Shirow's work.
200 pages, black and white, $14.95, in stores on June 27.
BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #124
Written and art by Hiroaki Samura.
"Barefoot," part 3 of 5.
32 pages, black and white, $2.99, in stores on April 11.
BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL VOLUME 17: ON THE PERFECTION OF ANATOMY
Written and art by Hiroaki Samura.
184 pages, black and white, $16.95, in stores on June 13.
GHOST IN THE SHELL 1.5: HUMAN-ERROR PROCESSOR #7
Written and art by Shirow Masamune.
24 pages, $2.99, in stores on April 18.
MPD-PSYCHO VOLUME 1
Written by Eiji Otsuka, art by Sho-U Tajima.
MPD-Psycho, the most-requested manga series in recently memory, has found a fitting home at Dark Horse Manga, where it will be presented uncut and uncensored in all of its controversial and unflinchingly grotesque glory! If Takashi Miike's MPD-Psycho television series still has you confused and reeling, the original manga series that inspired the show is sure to take you on a longer, darker journey into madness. Enjoy the MPD-Psycho series for all of its absurd twists, sci-fi touches, and inventive torture scenes, but you'll also be mesmerized by the plethora of odd conspiracies and case files found in Otsuka and Tajima's uncontrollable, urban horrorshow.
In MPD-Psycho Volume One, police detective Kobayashi Yousuke's life is changed forever after a serial killer notices something "special" about him. That same killer mutilates Kobayashi's wife and kick-starts a "multiple personality battle" within Kobayashi that pushes him into a complex tempest of interconnected deviants and evil forces. Earning praise for its consistently shocking plotlines and Tajima's clean, arresting art style, MPD-Psycho is the manga event of the decade!
184 pages, black and white, $19.95, in stores on June 6.
OH MY GODDESS! VOLUME 6
Written and art by Kosuke Fujishima.
Ever since a cosmic phone call brought the literal young goddess Belldandy into college student Keiichi's residence, his personal life has been turned upside-down, sideways, and sometimes even into strange dimensions!
With Urd in Terrible Master mode, the goddess once known for simply being wicked hot is now both hot and wicked! Having freed the great Fenrir Wolf, Urd has thereby activated the Ultimate Destruction Program, which promises just what it says . . . unless her sisters Skuld and Belldandy can stop it! Plus, four pages of color, notes, commentary, a message from creator Kosuke Fujishima, and your letters!
184 pages, black and white, $10.95, in stores on June 13.
OLD BOY VOLUME 6
Written by Garon Tsuchiya, art by Nobuaki Minegishi.
216 pages, black and white, $12.95, in stores on June 6.
PATH OF THE ASSASSIN VOLUME 7
Written by Kazuo Koike, art by Goseki Kojima.
312 pages, black and white, $9.95, in stores on June 27
XS HYBRID
Written and art by S. Ji-Hyung.
In a strange future where gifted, "hybrid" humans police the planet, Mina is a likeable tomboy with growing psychic powers. When a young boy falls into a coma after gazing into her eyes, it's clear that there's more to Mina than her pretty looks. This young boy, Hinchang, grows up to be quite a daredevil, and his awkward, secret love for Mina fuels his protective fire when mysterious men arrive, bringing the violence of the "hybrid" world with them!
102 pages, black and white, $10.95, in stores on June 6.
Worth Checking Out...
ComiPress has a piece of the possible origin of suspense hit Death Note here
Gunota
The top 10 anime news stories of the year, as chosen by Anime! Anime! News:
1) The "Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya" boom
2) The high profile of "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" in the entertainment industry
3) The big strides made by web animation
4) Japanese investing in ADV
5) Anime sales on the Internet & the growth of Internet anime distribution
6) The expansion of anime events with record years for the Tokyo Animation Fair, Anime Expo, and Japan Expo
7) Successive profit warnings from up-and-coming anime/manga-related enterprises
8) American Michael Arias becomes the first foreigner to direct a large-scale domestic anime production with "Tekkon Kinkreet"
9) Yoyogi Animation Institute files for bankruptcy
10) Mobile Suit Gundam TV released on DVD - Anime! Anime! writes a DVD is considered a hit if it sells 10,000 copies. So for a DVD box to have 120,000 sets shipped despite its priceyness makes it a big hit.
The summary pages for 1-5 and 6-10.
Right Stuf's Anime Today Podcast has started posting a three part interview with voice actor Crispin Freeman (Hellsing's Alucard). The episode also features Milton Griepp discussing the American Anime Awards.
Irresponsible Pictures looks at the stage adapation of Osamu Tezuka's classic shoujo Princess Knight here
Ikimashou.net points out this strange statue from Satoshi Kon's Paprika here
AniPages Daily looks at the work of Koichi Murata & Oh Pro here
Tekkon Kinkreet (aka Black and White) is reviewed here
FPS reviews the Paradise Kiss anime here
Twitch looks at from Studio Ghibli/Isao Takahata's Gauche The Cellis here. The site also looks at Nakashima Tetsuya's (Kamikaze Girls) Memories of Matsuko here
Via Manga Cast,the English version interview with AICN Anime favorite Moyoco Anno (Happy Mania, Sugar Sugar Rune, Flows and Bees) is online at here
C.B. Cebulski's blog presents... Hello Kitty bowling balls and very strange action figures
Via Alt Japan... interesting Comiket doujinshi, including ones featuring Tony the Tiger, Osama Bin Laden, and super deformed Hell Boy. Also, Comiket cosplay
From Cartoon Brew, Dave Brewster's restrospective on Arrow, an attempted action noir from Bill and Sue Kroyer (Ferngully) here, and animator/story artist/designer at Dreamworks Animation Gabriele Pennacchioli's online graphic novel Kamuc here
A spy report on Underdog, make of it what you will...
It sounds a bit bizarre, incredible even, but what about the project doesn't.
Personally, I'm curious to see exactly how Underdog and Polly Purebred are handled.
I know this may be a few months too soon but I think it’s the right time to tell you about what I saw being filmed for Disney/ Spyglass Entertainment’s Underdog. I know there is not too much news out their on the world wide web (because I am lame as hell and looking for it) and I have the inside scoop on a spoiler which explains the end of the movie. In the summer I was in Providence, RI acting (probably slacking) as an extra or as the casting directors liked to call it a “Citizen of Capital City” it was okay. I got to see a few of the stars I saw James Belushi(he swore at the director in front of everyone even little kids he’s my hero)Peter Dinklage (he was in a B.A. evil scientist suit) Alex Neuberger (the dude who played the son of Paul Walker in Running Scared) and of course Leo (wow don’t think I’m talking about DiCaprio because I’m not Leo is the name of the main dog they use to play Shoeshine).
The first scene I was in was there had been a car going down a hill and the brakes couldn’t stop and there was a lot of school kids at the bottom of the hill and just before the car can hit a kid the special effects guys rigged the car with some huge wires and pulled the car back up the hill (so it’s safe to assume that Underdog save the kids by pulling the car up the hill) and hear comes the spoiler the ending scene of the movie that they filled on Mr.Belushi’s last day of production was when Simon Bar sinister (Dinklage) is coming out of Capital City’s statehouse after leaving a deadly bomb in it but he gets caught by washed up cop played by Belushi catches him and arrests him. But while all that is happening Underdog goes into the statehouse and finds the bomb. He has no where to bring the bomb because the citizens of Capital City are surrounding the building, so he goes a few feet away from the building and @ a super fast speed he digs a hole and tries to plant the bomb but as he is doing this it is too late. The bomb goes off and huge burst of fire soaring way over 50 ft shoots Underdog into the air and back down to the ground. The citizens of the city run over to see if the dog is alright but when they get there Jack (Alex Neuberger) and his father (James Belushi) are crying as Shoeshine lays dead wearing a ripped up Underdog uniform in Jack’s arms. It was a crushing moment for everyone but like all happy go-lucky Disney movies Shoeshine comes back to life and the crowd applauds and that’s it. That is how Underdog comes to an end, I hope it will be good Disney left an opening for a sequel.
If you use this you can call me DarkMastSlick!
For more commentary see the AICN Anime MySpace
I've also jumped on the ComicSpace bandwagon. Manga fans should definitely check out the networking site. See my profile here.
If the Ninja Vixens franchise was intentionally so-bad-it's-good, the work is genius. If not, from the one step above public access video quality, to ultra-softcore porn nudity, to the soap bubble special effects, to the over branded translation Ninja Vixens is still supremely fun camp. It almost makes an art out of bold idiocy. Because the best and worse thing is that the action and drama are laughable, don't bother approaching the work without a sense of irony. Local theatre production meets period exploitation situation, puts Ninja Vixens at the bottom of the media hierarchy, but, the features acknowledge their caste,, and more often than not, play to their station well. Ultimately, it becomes the kind of work you chuckle about whenever even the title crosses your mind. The term "Ninja Vixens" is a liberal translation of kunoichi. It's a reasonable translation in terms of contextual usage, but hilarity ensues as the translation is applied semi-serious conversations. In both films (which run about 70 minutes each), there is at least some strait-faced pretext, concerning the vicious lives of the "Ninja Vixens" in the Era of Warring states. As the career path is spelled on in dialog: many are orphaned, then raised by clans and trained in the arts of seduction, spying and killing to be "Ninja Vixens". From there, it’s a constant live and death struggle as they engage in lethal missions. There really isn't too much to the work beyond young starlets: AV actors, bad reality TV personalities, former idol singers, speaking about the "Ninja Vixen" life while playing out some sort of half-baked genre storyline, such as the ninja proving themselves, abandoning their clan, or reconciling with their nature. Costumes have a bit of a synthetic fabric look to them. There are sets to speak of, but they seem to be built on back lots and a couple of acres of woods with a trickling stream. In an Ed Woodian sense, they are clearly the work of some one's effort, just not a very good effort. "Devilish Angels" opens with a pan over the naked bodies of two of the leads, but the entry tries to be relatively serious. A starving young woman (who still manages to have cute, round facial features), encounters a rogue Ninja Vixen. The Ninja Vixen abuses the girl, including a beautifully melodramatic scene in which the Vixen buys a bowl of soup from a road side vendor, pays for it with a large gold coin, then dumps it into the forest leaves in front the girl. Another Ninja Vixen and a hunch back in a Tengu outfit track down the fleeing Vixen, and more point and laugh sentimental drama ensues. "Ninja Dropouts" is more of a laugh-with than a laugh-at work. But still, when you see what passes for fight choreography (which is a few rungs below a video of someone LARPG-ing), and the special effects, you'll be laughing at the work. This one features a class of Ninja Vixens in training. They're the bottom of the barrel "N-Class", bunch of failures taught by the world's ugliest woman. Maybe you would call the person a man in drag, since it is a female character played by a male actor, but there really isn't an attempt to make the character look female. The group is made up of a fairly typical set of misfits. A fat girl, a geek, an ugly girl, a low intelligence pretty girl who sleeps around, and a girl knocked down to this level after cutting up the face of a former classmate. Given how delightfully inane Ninja Vixens is, it presents an opportunity to guiltlessly laugh at the feeble without feeling mean. Regardless of whether you take the initiative to subject the TV screen with witty ridicule, the empty calorie offered by Ninja Vixens so memorably cracked, its hard to regret seeing or owning them.
Manga Spotlight: Battle Angel Alita: Last Order Volume 8: Angel's Vision By Yukito Kishiro Released by VIZ, Media
Comparing Masamune Shirow's work on Ghost in the Shell to Yukito Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita is tempting. On a superficial level, Ghost's Major and Alita (or Gunnm as she was originally known) are two of manga's preeminent cyborg women. Both creators had a substantial reputation for working in the genre of sci-fi action/ The urge to jointly evaluate them wasn't so much the case in their first go around. Alita's tragic life cycle was clearly distinct from Ghost's cop techie action and subsequent evolution into something more conceptually metaphysical. But, when Shirow revisited Ghost in the Shell in 1997 and Kishiro when back to Alita in 2000 to replace his abbreviated ending, their approach to a backlog of ideas made for an interesting contrast. Shirow appeared to be cramming as much as possible in barely mediated form. As a result, Man-Machin Interface could charitably be called too dense to be easily read. Alternatively, Kishiro opted for the familiar format of the shonen/senein fight tournament. The choice isn't a vehicle that's well regarded for its intelligence, but Kishiro proved able to channel a stream of bizarre sci-fi ideas, along with kinetic action illustration into the structure. That said, Volume 8 deviates Last Order's tournament formula. The first part features Alita going into a bit of a psyche/information dive. The cyber dreamscape and peak into the deeper aspects of the human condition are a bit uncompelling in their abstraction. The manga has most moving in its most personal moments. Detached from explicit character moments, it gets a bit too Ghost in the Shell. The majority of the volume doesn't feature Alita, but it does demonstrate what Kishiro does better than anyone else: quick action with genre chimera. Specifically, most of the volume deals with Caerula, Alita's opponent from the Stellar Nursery Society (space-traveling war orphan care-givers). Coming from a fan's submitted design, with long blonde hair, winter coat and fur hat, Caerula looks like Kishiro's take on Leiji Matsumoto's Maetel. Except: a) she fights with a sword in a wuxia style that Kishiro carefully renders with kung fu details b) she is a vampire born in 1808 in Habsburg ruled Erdely (Transylvania). Her back story is related from a point longer before the events of Battle Angel Alita, when she's already a couple hundred year old, 10 years after a giant solar flare disabled most electronics on Earth, after which a 14 kilometer asteroid sent the planet into a ice age. In a bent post-apocalyptic tale turned on its head, Caerula and her band of vampires, including her Dracula like lover, a hulking blind man, a quick on the trigger cowboy, and a slobbering, bandaged wraith, travel the frozen wastes, contenting with the human settlements. With mankind laboring frantically to set the species back on its feet, the vampire find that their prey has an agenda. Under extreme circumstances, the desperate betrayals channel compelling drama into bizarre remix of familiar ideas. As Kishiro demonstrates in this volume, he doesn't take the readers interest in genre conventions for granted. Rather than rely on faith that someone reading his work would be excited by vampires, mutants and crudely armed human literally and figuratively at each other's throats in snow cover desolation, he illustrates it with such vigor that he ensures you get caught up in the idea. He consistently triggers the "wow, that looks dangerous reaction" and in his illustration like the spinning flexibility of wuxia sword work, Kishiro offers all you could hope for in an action scene from any medium.
More Hints on Miyazaki's Next Project
If you haven't seen it on various sources (including Nausicaa), reliable rumor has it that Hayao Miyazaki's next film will be an adaptation of Chinese story called "I Lost My Little Boy". According to the January 5 production diary, C-part of the storyboard of the next film was completed. Nausicaa.net also points out that Ghibli has announced that with the success of Aleksandr Petrov's "My Love", they plan to continue distributing Western animated films to Japanese audiences. The second film to be shown at Cinema ANGELICA in this initiative will be Michel Ocelot's "Azur et Asmar". Studio Ghibli President Toshio Suzuki mentioned that Ghibli has plans for a foreign animation director to create a film with Ghibli in the future.
Acedemy Rules on Arthur and the Invisibles
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has ruled that because Luc Besson's Arthur and the Invisibles is less than 75% animation, it is ineligible for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award. With the number of eligible films dropping from 16 to 15, by Academy rules 3, rather than 5 films may be nominated for Best Animated Feature. Satoshi Kon's anime film Paprika is one of the 15 films eligible to be nominated.
Air Gear Ep 1 Online
IGN has the first episode of ADV's release of Air Gear online at here
Robotech Behind the Scenes Preview
Anime on DVD points out that Harmony Hold has posted about 10 minutes "Robotech: Birth of a Sequel" here.
Peach Pit Trouble
ComiPress reports PEACH-PIT's manga Rozen Maiden, released in North America by TOKYOPOP has run into troubl with its Japanese anthology Comic BIRZ. After going on hiatus, a post of EACH-PIT's information website "Ohirome Calendar" stated "Our work has been suspended, if the editorial team decides to explain the situation, it will be in the next issue [of Comic BIRZ], until then we cannot disclose any details regarding the matter, it is very regrettable."
Bandai Visual, including Freedom and The Wings of Honneamise in HD
Bandai Visual, Microsoft and Memory-Tech have agreed to collaborate on the development of HD DVD Authoring Technology for the release of “Freedom” (a New Anime Title), “Royal Space Force—The Wings of Honneamise”, “Patlabor The Movie” and “Patlabor 2 The Movie” as HD DVD Titles. And the three companies are contributing to the building of services that make use of next-generation formats such as HDi. In this collaborations, Bandai Visual will handle production and packaging for DVD sales. Memory-Tech will handle the service infrastructure for the development of high definition products, and Microsoft will support HD DVD solutions for partners and users. The above 4 titles will be used for: 1) Improvement of image quality with VC-1 video compression technology aimed at the creation of HD DVD products 2) Use of HDi authoring to add value to HD DVDs and develop promotion plans 3) Collaboration on new business models based on HDi network functions, Managed Copy and other functions that combine of packaged media with networks About Freedom A science fiction anime series whose use in Nissin instant noodle TV ads generated a lot of buzz. The drama unfolds on the Moon’s surface in the city of Eden, the last human settlement, and focuses on a youth whose actions threaten to shake the freedom and peace of Eden. The scale of the story and the dynamic action have earned the series high marks. Bandai Visual is confident that this work, which uses the latest concepts and technology to combine 3D-CGI with the 2D animation that has long been a key strength of Japan’s anime industry, is ideal as a technology development source for the next-generation medium of HD DVD. (Produced in 2006) STORY In the year 2105, by which time civilization on Earth has been wiped out by permanently abnormal weather conditions, people left on the Moon proclaimed the establishment of the republic of Eden, and over the years built up a city of about a million inhabitants as the last remaining human civilization. The people of Eden value freedom and peace above everything, but in time, the actions of a single adolescent, Takeru, come to shake that freedom and peace. In Eden, children finish their compulsory education when they are 15 years old and become fully fledged members of the society, but they are given a brief period of freedom before taking up their duties as citizens. The year is now 2267, and like other boys before him, Takeru is going to take part in a race with his friends, using machines called “vehicles” designed for moon surface travel. What makes Takeru different from his peers is that he has made his own vehicle, and by doing so, he touches on a truth that Eden had long kept hidden. There are, it turns out, two kinds of freedom hidden within Eden. CREDITS Original story: Satoshi Takamatsu / Director: Shuhei Morita / Music: Yoshihiro Ike / Production: Sunrise Emotion Studio About “Royal Space Force—The Wings of Honneamise” Bandai Visual’s first ever anime movie for theater distribution, and the electrifying movie debut of the GAINAX creators who went on to give the world “Neon Genesis Evangelion”. The kingdom of Honneamise on an imaginary planet serves as the stage for telling the tale of the young men belonging to the Royal Space Force, a non-combat military unit. A feature-length anime movie that boasts an elaborate story and ultra-detailed artwork combined with an other-worldly music score by Ryuichi Sakamoto. (Produced in 1987) STORY Shirotsugh Lhadatt is a trooper in the Royal Space Force, a non-combat military unit that has a history of 30 years, but has been virtually abandoned by the government, and can’t even launch a satellite properly, let alone a manned spacecraft. Shirotsugu too has all but given up dreams of space travel, and frequently skips training drills. However, a chance meeting in town with Riquinni, a mysterious girl claiming to preach the word of God, changes his attitude dramatically. Weathering opposition from his fellow troopers, he volunteers to become the first astronaut in human history, and a plan is launched to send a manned craft into space and reestablish the credibility and honor of the Royal Space Force. CREDITS Executive producers: Toshio Okada & Shigeru Watanabe / Original story, screenplay, director: Hiroyuki Yamaga / Animation director and character design: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto / Animation directors: Hideaki Anno, Fumio Iida, Yuji Moriyama / Assistant directors: Takami Akai, Shinji Higuchi, Shoichi Masuo / Art director: Hiromasa Ogura / Cinematography: Hiroshi Isagawa / Sound director: Atsumi Tashiro / Music director: Ryuichi Sakamoto / Production: Gainax etc. About “Patlabor The Movie” The memorable first theater edition of “Mobile Police Patlabor”, directed by Mamoru Oshii who made his name with “Ghost in the Shell”. Set in a turn-of-the-century Tokyo (1998-2002) in which human-shaped construction work robots called “Labors” wander the streets and cybercrime has become endemic. The movie, a science fiction anime classic, is peppered with thrilling action as it tells the realistic story of a police squad that uses its own arsenal of Patlabor robots to combat crime. (Produced in 1989) About “Patlabor 2 The Movie” The second feature length movie to emerge from the wildly popular “Mobile Police Patlabor” series, and wizard director Mamoru Oshii’s disturbing vision of Tokyo in a state of siege against terrorists. Using ultra-detailed artwork and computer graphics, and a scenario in which one mystery gives rise to another, Oshii creates a picture of war-torn Tokyo with a deeply thematic plot that takes the movie beyond the realm of most anime. (Produced in 1993) VC-1 is a video codec specification that has been standardized by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and implemented by Microsoft as Windows Media Video (WMV)9. Formal standardization of VC-1 represents the culmination of years of technical scrutiny by over 75 companies, leading to a codec that is well-documented, extremely stable, easily licensable, and accepted by the industry. HDi is a specification of interactivity adopted by HD DVD. It supports various features for great interactivity including high definition graphics with transparency and animation, picture-in-picture, network, etc to create exciting user experience. HDi is based on the open-standard technologies and being used on most of the existing HD DVD titles in the world. Managed Copy is a part of the AACS specification which is adopted by HD DVD. It is a function which will allow users to make legal copy of the content through authentication process over network. It will bring new user value and business model with great flexibility of supporting multiple formats of the content and business scheme.
Afro Samurai Ratings
Anime News Network reports that Spike TV's Afro Samurai premiere rated 0.6 at 11 p.m Eastern and 0.4 at 11:30 among males 18-34. The network informed ANN that the premiere averaged a 1.1 rating for males 18-49
Bobobo-bo News
With the first volume of absurd action send-up Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo scheduled for North American DVD release February 13, 2007, Toei Animation Inc., a subsidiary of Japan’s largest animation production studio, Toei Animation Co., Ltd., has announced that a second season will air on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block. Illumitoon Entertainment and Westlake Entertainment's joint venture DVD release will contain unedited versions of the show, as well as an original Japanese soundtrack. Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo’s licensing is represented in the North America by Joy Tashjian Marketing Group, L.L.C. Synopsis: Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo takes place in the year 300X, when a tyrannical emperor, Csar Baldy Bald 4th, seeks to prove his authority over the people by waging a "Hair Hunt," aimed at taking the hair of all the citizenry. While the populace trembles in fear, one man with a Golden Afro rises to take a stand - Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. Together with his fellow partners, Bo-bobo launches into battle against the "Hair Hunt Troops" to put an end to the "Hair Hunt" once and for all.
DMP Sale at Akadot
Starting January 4th, Akadot Retail began a 2 week sale with DMP manga up to 83% off. Featured titles include the hard-to-get Yoshitoshi Abe Lain Illustration Limited Edition hardcover book for only $23.95, the new series Enchanter for just $7.95, Kiss of Fire artbook, and Robot Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 for just $19.95. DMP/Dark Horse books such as Hellsing, Trigun, and Berserk are also on sale.
Noteworthy Q1 Viz Releases
Video (non-regular release) 1/16/07 Ranma 1/2 Season One: The Digital Dojo (2006 ed.) 450 min 49.98 2/6/07 Train_Man: Densha Otoko (VIZ Pictures, live action) 3/13 Full Moon volume 4 4/24 Linda Linda Linda (VIZ Pictures, Live action) The Prince of Tennis volume 1 5/8 Taste of Tea (VIZ Pictures, Live action) Manga (premieres) 1/2/07 Vampire Knight, Vol. 1 2/20/07 Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs, Vol. 1 Hot Gimmick S (Novel) 3/06/07 Backstage Prince, Vol. 1 The Gentlemen's Alliance + , Vol. 1 4/3/07 Dragon Drive , Vol. 1 Millennium Snow, Vol. 1 The Cain Saga (Part 1), Vol. 4 4/17/07 Shakugan no Shana , Vol. 1 Shakugan no Shana: The Girl With Fire In Her Eyes (Novel) Anime News Network points out that the highschool girl rock band film Linda Linda Linda will be shown in Boston's (Cambridge really) The Brattle Theater on January 12-18.
Animation Deaths
Kyôko Kishida, best known for starring in Woman in the Dunes, died at 76 on December 17th. Her anime work included the Moomintroll, and the narrator of Princess Tutu amd Vampire Princess Miyu Iwao Takamoto, an animator for Disney who went on to be influencial force at Hanna-Barbera has passed away at age 82. Takamoto directed the animated Charlotte's Web and designed Scooby Doo. Cartoon Brew points out that Pete Kleinow, stop motion animator for Davey & Goliath, The Pillsbury Doughboy, and The Terminator passed away at age 72. He also wrote the Gumby song.
ADV Formally Announced 009-1
ADV Films has announced it has acquired exclusive home video and broadcast rights in North America for the new sci-fi action series 009-1 009-1 is based on the manga series by acclaimed artist and creator Shotaro Ishinomori (Cyborg 009, Gilgamesh, Kamen Rider) and brought to us from production studios Aniplex (Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto) and TBS (Chobits). Synopsis: Set in an alternate world where the Cold War has continued on for over 140 years, civilization is split in two and the world lies on the brink of nuclear destruction. Mylene Hoffman is a cyborg with no past, who works as an undercover agent for a mysterious organization engaged in an international political war. Follow the exploits of Mylene as she uncovers political corruption, shocking revelations and government conspiracy.
12" HazMaPo Kow at New York Comic-Con
Urban vinyl/designer toy maker UNKL have announced that they will be releasing their 12" HazMaPo Kow exclusively through Toy Tokyo at this year's New York Comic-Con. HazMaPo Kow is the product of a collaboration between UNKL and Japanese action figure artist Kow Yokoyama (best known for Maschinen Krieger ZbV 3000
Upcoming in Japan
Twitch looks at the live action adaptation of the seinen manga Freesia here New anime sites include Kaibutsu Oujou Koutetsu Sangokushi El Cazador de la Bruja (via ikimashou.net A new trailer for the One Piece: Episode of Alabaster movie is online at here On the manga front, ComiPress reports A new manga titled Nennin Tsurebito by Akihito Yoshitomi (Ray, Eat-Man) began serialization in Magazine Z issue 2 ComiPress has also report that Isao Yoshino of Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd will be publishing a seinen comedy anthology called Comic Yoshimoto. The work will feature professional comedians from his company collaborating with professional artists to create 20-25 different stories. Acording to Yoshino, he wants to prove that "comedy" and manga aren't something that don't go well together, but a combination that works really well. The targeted market of the magazine is males between the ages of 20-40.
DBZ Release News
A movie of FUNimation's remastering process for Dragon Ball Z is online at here According to Anime on DVD, Madman will be using FUNimations newly remastered Dragon Ball Z for an Australian release. Information is online at Anime on DVD reports FUNimation parent company Navarre has penciled the following releases: FUNimation Titles in the Pipeline (08:52 PM EST): A couple of astute readers noticed that the site of FUNimation's parent company, Navarre, lists titles that FUNimation has not solicited formally yet. We're not adding these but put them down as decent tentative with which to get excited about: # Beck Vol. #1 - 05/15/2007 # Desert Punk Box Set - 05/22/2007 # Peach Girl Vol. #1 - 04/17/2007 # Shinchan Vol. #1 - 05/22/2007 # Suzuka Vol. #1 - 05/01/2007 # Slayers Season 1 - 07/17/2007 Anime Nation points out that Afro Samurai was also scheduled: Afro Samurai (Spike TV version) volume 1 will retail at $19.98 beginning May 22. Afro Samurai (uncut version) volume 1 will retail at $39.98 beginning May 22. Beck adapts the popular shonen rock manga, following a teenage boy who casts of his mailase when he becomes involved with a rock band. The manga is released by TOKYOPOP Peach adapts the popular shoujo manga, concerning an athletic girl whose relationships are undercut by lies of her best "friend." The manga is released by TOKYOPOP Suzuka is an older age shonen relationship comedy drama. The manga is released by Del Rey Slayers was a big in the 90's fantasy comedy action
Le Chevalier D’Eon Anime Channel Premiere
The Anime Channel has announced that the first episode of Production I.G's (Ghost in the Shell) Le Chevalier D’Eon will premiere on their Video On Demand service starting February 8th. ADV Films will release the first volume of the anime on February 20th. Synopsis Paris, 1742. A coffin floats in the shimmering Seine. On the lid, there is a word written in blood—Psalms. Inside is the body of a beautiful woman, Lia de Beaumont. Now her brother, D’Eon, seeks the reason for her mysterious murder, and uncovers an evil that shadows both the palaces of kings and the dark alleys of Europe. A power wielded by spell-casting Poets, and manipulated by royalty. A force so powerful it brings Lia’s soul back from beyond to seize the only weapon she can possess to avenge her death—her own brother. History meets horror. Fantasy meets mystery. Experience the next revolution in anime with Le Chevalier D’Eon.
Latest Newtype USA
The January 2007 Newtype US will feature previews of Death Note, Sergeant Frog, Code Geass and Le Chevalier D’Eon. It will also include a behind the scenes look at Paradise Kiss. A Preview DVD includes episodes of Coyote Ragtime Show, Utawarerumono and Best Student Council.
Game News
The Magic Box has screen shots of the PlayStation 2 Shijou Saikyou no Deshi: Kenichi (History's strongest Diciple Kenichi) fighting manga adaptation here News Gundam Musou screen shots can be seen here. The official site is online at gundam-musou.jp/ The Magic Box also reports the football manga Eyeshield 21 will be adapted into a Wii game to be released in Japan on March 8th. Their are unconfirmed reports that Atari will release Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai Another Road for PSP will be released on March 20, 2007, for $39.99.
English Dirty Pair Novels
Anime World Order points out that most have missed, an Anime on DVD forum goer has notice that Publishers Group West catalogue for Spring 2007 lists The Great Adventures of The Dirty Pair, by Haruka Takachiko with 20 illustrations by Yasuhiko Yoshikazo for North American release in July 2007. The 250 page novel will retail for $8.95 The pulp sci-fi classic follows the adventures of lovely trouble shooter Kei and Yuri.
Japan's Thoughts on Spin-Offs
Gunota reports Oricon has another poll of interest, this time regarding which movie or manga characters people would like to see a spinoff of. Overall: 1) L - Death Note 2) Char Aznable - Mobile Suit Gundam 3) Kaede Rukawa - Slam Dunk 4) Roronoa Zoro - One Piece 5) Fujiko Mine - Lupin The 3rd 6) Krillin - Dragonball 7) Goemon Ishikawa - Lupin The 3rd 8) Masumi Okuyama - Nodame Cantabile 9) Shinichi Okazaki - Nana 10) Usopp - One Piece Women's choices: 1) L - Death Note 2) Kaede Rukawa - Slam Dunk 3) Masumi Okuyama - Nodame Cantabile 4) Reira Serizawa - Nana 5) Shinichi Okazaki - Nana 6) Rui Hanazawa - Hana Yori Dango 7) Fujiko Mine - Lupin The 3rd 8) Goemon Ishikawa - Lupin The 3rd 9) Ryutaro Mine - Nodame Cantabile 10) Roronoa Zoro - One Piece Men's choices: 1) Char Aznable - Mobile Suit Gundam 2) L - Death Note 3) Krillin - Dragonball 4) Roronoa Zoro - One Piece 5) Usopp - One Piece 6) Colonel Roy Mustang - Fullmetal Alchemist 7) Fujiko Mine - Lupin The 3rd 8) Inspector Zenigata - Lupin The 3rd 9) Daisuke Jigen - Lupin The 3rd 10) Sumire Onda - Bayside Shakedown
Universal Launching 'Mail Order Ninja' Comic Sunday
TOKYOPOP and Universal Press Syndicate has begun syndicating Joshua Elder and Erich Owen's English language Mail Order Ninja comic to newspapers starting Sunday, January 7th. The pair won TOKYOPOP's 5th "Rising Stars of Manga" talent competition.
Dark Horse Manga/Manwha June Releases
BANYA: THE EXPLOSIVE DELIVERY MAN VOLUME 4 Written and art by Kim Young-Oh. After last volume's shocking cliffhanger, Banya's screams are still ringing across Gaya's wastelands, and the desert deliverymen are in some serious danger. The future is at stake, and fists are about to fly, as two bloodthirsty villains corner our heartbroken hero. He's kept his cool while mingling with the monstrous Torren, fighting off gargantuan pit bulls, and dodging the giant Gwichi worm's sneak attacks -- but now Banya has gone crazy with anguish and rage and is about to unleash a world of hurt on two mutated killers! This second-to-last volume of Banya: The Explosive Delivery Man isn't all gloom and doom, though, as Kim Young-Oh continues to mix incredible artwork and fast-paced storytelling with perfectly timed slapstick moments and surprising plot twists. 184 pages, black and white, $12.95, in stores on June 20.
BLACK MAGIC (2ND EDITION) Written and art by Shirow Masamune. Today, the planet Venus is a literal hell of furnace-like temperatures and dense, poisonous atmosphere. But millions of years in its past, Venus teemed with life and with a civilization far advanced to our own. The Nemisis supercomputer controls government functions, with bioroid "executors" created to carry out the system's utopian edicts. But trouble brews even in paradise, as different executors vie for control of Nemesis, forcing the governing system to secretly create Duna Typhon, a super-bioroid "sleeper," raised among the human populace, ready to use her awesome powers should Nemesis be co-opted to turn paradise into paradise lost. From the imagination of Ghost in the Shell creator Shirow Masamune comes his first published series, Black Magic, a sweeping science-fiction epic that introduces many of the themes and ideas that influence all of Shirow's work. 200 pages, black and white, $14.95, in stores on June 27.
BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #124 Written and art by Hiroaki Samura. "Barefoot," part 3 of 5. 32 pages, black and white, $2.99, in stores on April 11.
BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL VOLUME 17: ON THE PERFECTION OF ANATOMY Written and art by Hiroaki Samura. 184 pages, black and white, $16.95, in stores on June 13. GHOST IN THE SHELL 1.5: HUMAN-ERROR PROCESSOR #7 Written and art by Shirow Masamune. 24 pages, $2.99, in stores on April 18.
MPD-PSYCHO VOLUME 1 Written by Eiji Otsuka, art by Sho-U Tajima. MPD-Psycho, the most-requested manga series in recently memory, has found a fitting home at Dark Horse Manga, where it will be presented uncut and uncensored in all of its controversial and unflinchingly grotesque glory! If Takashi Miike's MPD-Psycho television series still has you confused and reeling, the original manga series that inspired the show is sure to take you on a longer, darker journey into madness. Enjoy the MPD-Psycho series for all of its absurd twists, sci-fi touches, and inventive torture scenes, but you'll also be mesmerized by the plethora of odd conspiracies and case files found in Otsuka and Tajima's uncontrollable, urban horrorshow. In MPD-Psycho Volume One, police detective Kobayashi Yousuke's life is changed forever after a serial killer notices something "special" about him. That same killer mutilates Kobayashi's wife and kick-starts a "multiple personality battle" within Kobayashi that pushes him into a complex tempest of interconnected deviants and evil forces. Earning praise for its consistently shocking plotlines and Tajima's clean, arresting art style, MPD-Psycho is the manga event of the decade! 184 pages, black and white, $19.95, in stores on June 6.
OH MY GODDESS! VOLUME 6 Written and art by Kosuke Fujishima. Ever since a cosmic phone call brought the literal young goddess Belldandy into college student Keiichi's residence, his personal life has been turned upside-down, sideways, and sometimes even into strange dimensions! With Urd in Terrible Master mode, the goddess once known for simply being wicked hot is now both hot and wicked! Having freed the great Fenrir Wolf, Urd has thereby activated the Ultimate Destruction Program, which promises just what it says . . . unless her sisters Skuld and Belldandy can stop it! Plus, four pages of color, notes, commentary, a message from creator Kosuke Fujishima, and your letters! 184 pages, black and white, $10.95, in stores on June 13.
OLD BOY VOLUME 6 Written by Garon Tsuchiya, art by Nobuaki Minegishi. 216 pages, black and white, $12.95, in stores on June 6.
PATH OF THE ASSASSIN VOLUME 7 Written by Kazuo Koike, art by Goseki Kojima. 312 pages, black and white, $9.95, in stores on June 27
XS HYBRID Written and art by S. Ji-Hyung. In a strange future where gifted, "hybrid" humans police the planet, Mina is a likeable tomboy with growing psychic powers. When a young boy falls into a coma after gazing into her eyes, it's clear that there's more to Mina than her pretty looks. This young boy, Hinchang, grows up to be quite a daredevil, and his awkward, secret love for Mina fuels his protective fire when mysterious men arrive, bringing the violence of the "hybrid" world with them! 102 pages, black and white, $10.95, in stores on June 6.
Worth Checking Out...
ComiPress has a piece of the possible origin of suspense hit Death Note here Gunota The top 10 anime news stories of the year, as chosen by Anime! Anime! News: 1) The "Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya" boom 2) The high profile of "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" in the entertainment industry 3) The big strides made by web animation 4) Japanese investing in ADV 5) Anime sales on the Internet & the growth of Internet anime distribution 6) The expansion of anime events with record years for the Tokyo Animation Fair, Anime Expo, and Japan Expo 7) Successive profit warnings from up-and-coming anime/manga-related enterprises 8) American Michael Arias becomes the first foreigner to direct a large-scale domestic anime production with "Tekkon Kinkreet" 9) Yoyogi Animation Institute files for bankruptcy 10) Mobile Suit Gundam TV released on DVD - Anime! Anime! writes a DVD is considered a hit if it sells 10,000 copies. So for a DVD box to have 120,000 sets shipped despite its priceyness makes it a big hit. The summary pages for 1-5 and 6-10. Right Stuf's Anime Today Podcast has started posting a three part interview with voice actor Crispin Freeman (Hellsing's Alucard). The episode also features Milton Griepp discussing the American Anime Awards. Irresponsible Pictures looks at the stage adapation of Osamu Tezuka's classic shoujo Princess Knight here Ikimashou.net points out this strange statue from Satoshi Kon's Paprika here AniPages Daily looks at the work of Koichi Murata & Oh Pro here Tekkon Kinkreet (aka Black and White) is reviewed here FPS reviews the Paradise Kiss anime here Twitch looks at from Studio Ghibli/Isao Takahata's Gauche The Cellis here. The site also looks at Nakashima Tetsuya's (Kamikaze Girls) Memories of Matsuko here Via Manga Cast,the English version interview with AICN Anime favorite Moyoco Anno (Happy Mania, Sugar Sugar Rune, Flows and Bees) is online at here C.B. Cebulski's blog presents... Hello Kitty bowling balls and very strange action figures Via Alt Japan... interesting Comiket doujinshi, including ones featuring Tony the Tiger, Osama Bin Laden, and super deformed Hell Boy. Also, Comiket cosplay From Cartoon Brew, Dave Brewster's restrospective on Arrow, an attempted action noir from Bill and Sue Kroyer (Ferngully) here, and animator/story artist/designer at Dreamworks Animation Gabriele Pennacchioli's online graphic novel Kamuc here
A spy report on Underdog, make of it what you will...
It sounds a bit bizarre, incredible even, but what about the project doesn't. Personally, I'm curious to see exactly how Underdog and Polly Purebred are handled.
I know this may be a few months too soon but I think it’s the right time to tell you about what I saw being filmed for Disney/ Spyglass Entertainment’s Underdog. I know there is not too much news out their on the world wide web (because I am lame as hell and looking for it) and I have the inside scoop on a spoiler which explains the end of the movie. In the summer I was in Providence, RI acting (probably slacking) as an extra or as the casting directors liked to call it a “Citizen of Capital City” it was okay. I got to see a few of the stars I saw James Belushi(he swore at the director in front of everyone even little kids he’s my hero)Peter Dinklage (he was in a B.A. evil scientist suit) Alex Neuberger (the dude who played the son of Paul Walker in Running Scared) and of course Leo (wow don’t think I’m talking about DiCaprio because I’m not Leo is the name of the main dog they use to play Shoeshine). The first scene I was in was there had been a car going down a hill and the brakes couldn’t stop and there was a lot of school kids at the bottom of the hill and just before the car can hit a kid the special effects guys rigged the car with some huge wires and pulled the car back up the hill (so it’s safe to assume that Underdog save the kids by pulling the car up the hill) and hear comes the spoiler the ending scene of the movie that they filled on Mr.Belushi’s last day of production was when Simon Bar sinister (Dinklage) is coming out of Capital City’s statehouse after leaving a deadly bomb in it but he gets caught by washed up cop played by Belushi catches him and arrests him. But while all that is happening Underdog goes into the statehouse and finds the bomb. He has no where to bring the bomb because the citizens of Capital City are surrounding the building, so he goes a few feet away from the building and @ a super fast speed he digs a hole and tries to plant the bomb but as he is doing this it is too late. The bomb goes off and huge burst of fire soaring way over 50 ft shoots Underdog into the air and back down to the ground. The citizens of the city run over to see if the dog is alright but when they get there Jack (Alex Neuberger) and his father (James Belushi) are crying as Shoeshine lays dead wearing a ripped up Underdog uniform in Jack’s arms. It was a crushing moment for everyone but like all happy go-lucky Disney movies Shoeshine comes back to life and the crowd applauds and that’s it. That is how Underdog comes to an end, I hope it will be good Disney left an opening for a sequel. If you use this you can call me DarkMastSlick!
