Manga Spotlight: Bambi and Her Pink Gun
Volume 2
By Atsushi Kaneko

Released by Digital Manga Publishing

Volume 2 opens in Utah siltstone valleys. Tumbleweeds blow through a Deadwood boom town. The first disturbing thing is a cut to a grinning, gum mouthed idiot dragging a person from the back of his motorcycle. Second, when the view open up, all the town's buildings prominently display hanging corpses. Count that the towns signs draw attention to the fact that they're in Japanese as an off factor too if you'd like. With graceful, Tezuka-like manga cinematic beauty, a dragonfly lands on the finger of a cowboy. Wordlessly he picks it up, looks deep it in its compound eyes and rips its wings off.

In Bambi and Her Pink Gun, Kaneko does to the American movie what Tarantino did to Shaw Brothers and Chambara in Kill Bill v. 1, only rather than simply pay homage, it viscously attacks the borrowed template. To throw pretension on the pop fresh, Kaneko is playing the de Tocqueville outside observer to the American image: long haul truckers, Grateful Dead, rapid growth and recess, pro-wrestlers, Elvis, junk food and guns. The signs are all Japanese, the rest is Americana.

Bambi, a punk chick who operates with almost a reptile mind: non social twitch and kill reactions, steals a slobbering, unattractive child from the Gabba King (fat Elvis by way of a pop star Caligula) on behalf of the "Old Men". Now every violently inclined asshole is out get to her. The results work inspired subversiveness through the depicted events, painting a picture in which culture isn't just driven by the basest instincts, but by the most deviant and destructive. It probably isn't worth hazarding a guess of Kaneko's opinion of America itself from the available evidence, but the holler back at popular media from John Ford to Smokey and the Bandit to WWF seems to the sum up the wandering, vengeance, and running as a madly futile Itchy and Scratchy death trap.

The driving forcing of Bambi and her Pink Gun, along with its satirical bend, is its aesthetics, which follows in the tradition of material that would grab the attention of a twitchy consumer from a crowded arena of eye grabbers: the EC Comics cover on the magazine rack, the loudest concert leaflet on a plastered cork-board wall.
With kitsch and bold clarity, from the mind out a person who's going to put out grotesque, massive cranial wounds and inky fountains of blood, the manga demands constant attention and receives it.

The look is shockingly different from is generally expected from manga or comics, but Kaneko is also one of the best producers of sequential art storytelling you'll find. Smart aspects cuts, along with a storyboard attention to placement and angle sets the manga apart. Often Bambi doesn't need words, but produces depth and complexity in its motion with deceptively simple sequences.

Manga Spotlight: Pastel
Volume 1
by Toshihiko Kobayashi

Released by Del Rey

Toshihiko Kobayashi illustrates well. Exceptionally well. His characters look cheerful, with a not-quite sexual sexuality. He sets the story in a small island community, and the rendering of the place, its bay views, and curving, hill raising streets the bridges and fields are breathtaking. After reading the manga, you want to visit the placed and compare it how its remembered from the manga. Still, how this manga has gone over 11 volumes in Japan is a surprise. Its high concept is thin, even for a shonen romance.

A regular guy rebounding from a relationship falls for a perky, attractive girl he meets, and after a night getting to know her, and maybe embarrassing himself, he finds out that she's in town to move in with him. Their fathers were best friends. Hers died and his promised to look after his best friends daughters. A few emotional moments related to morning, and some mildly likable, if bland characters. Not just magic powers or inherently interesting circumstances, nothing extraordinary or deep about the characters.

On the other hand, the illustration is extraordinary. There's little depth to the events, but Toshihiko Kobayashi can turn a simple house layout scene into an eye catching demonstration of details and perspective. The concrete aspects, man made and natural combine a photographic realism with the imagination to capture the place that the story inhabits. The characters are the perfect designs for the construction of the premise: purely normal male lead and a uber sexy girl next store female lead. Faces that are blank except for expressive eyes and mouth, along with bodies that capture the essence of the frenetic guy and a curvy girl.

The manga is filled with the sexuality of peaking and dirty thoughts, but nothing that would look to build to anything beyond kissing and petting. A reader probably has be young to appreciate Pastel. If you're beyond your "16+" years there's something at least slightly creepy about teen skin when the characters who more or less look like teens, as opposed to live action R comedies, where the characters look like twenty somethings. It's the kindof teen flirtation that older people don't want to look back, both because it seems inappropriate to give it a second glance, and because it's generally not a welcome reminder. There's less actually shown here than plenty of other manga, no fully exposed breasts, but there is an abundance of hair's width exposure and strip tease.

Anime Spotlight: Starship Operators
Volume 1

Released by Geneon

note: Starship Operators has been advertised on Ain't It Cool News, but the writer of this column is not paid for producing the content, and shares no finical interests with Ain't It Cool News.

The best new sci-fi anime to come out in recent years has fallen into two categories: smartly smart (Banner of the Stars) or smartly dumb (Godannar). Starship Operators is a smart show, to a degree where it requires active viewing to catch and digest all of what is being said. The conversation that establishes the premise of the show is a whirl wind of information.

The near to graduating cadets of planet Kibi's military university are on a training voyage when they get word that their planet has been attacked by The Kingdom. With the knowledge that politically their government is design to fold in such an event they decide to stay on board as their instructors abandon ship. They arrange to work through a loophole in the post defeat/capitulation fire-sale that would have a new sponsor Galaxy Network, purchase the ship, which the students would use to fight a lone war against the Kingdom. In exchange the Galaxy Network will record the effort in a combination of embedded journalist/reality, TV, seen everywhere, including by their enemies. (There are a number of hints that the break away of the ship to fights its own wasn't as sudden and unplanned as some of the characters believe)

The series is largely told from the perspective of the tactician Sinon Kouzuki, a gaming whiz with the makings of a talented social chameleon who went into the cadet program for the opportunities it would provide, despite her ambivalence towards the military. She captures the character of the conflict. Very bright youths, slightly muddled in their motivations, fighting a war against veterans who will press the problem solving abilities of these best and brightest protagonists.

Some inspiration is gathered from navel warfare, with the concepts of range and detection playing key roles in the ship on ship battles. Fans of as Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey well as World War II Pacific theatre may find the Starship Operators surprisingly to their liking. The sci-fi aspects are similarly well thought out, with the different weapons systems: plasma and laser, along with defenses against them. Early episodes offer some acute creativity such as a ship that can manufacture asteroids into ammunition for a rail gun cannon. There's an offering of hard-sci-ish concepts throughout the series. For example, their are sound effects in space, but they're explained as addition of the part of the television producers filming the conflict.

The look of the series works against its efforts to establish a sense of a believable operating, or at least mentally engaging mechanism. The original Star Trek has nothing on Starship Operator's tight outfits with cut offs for no other reason than highlighting the form of the characters. With plenty of attention to bosoms and sculpture work hair styles, the lack of subtlety is expressly distracting.

The design is present in every scene, and not an aspect whose impact subsides. When the characters are rocketing into a decisive commitment to their chosen endeavor, and thrown on their seats, the emphasis of the image is the lead's chest, the conflict in direction takes you out of the moment. Being so obvious in the titillation, it precludes the moment from making any other point. The series almost tries to build in a defense, there are scenes of the characters receiving make-up applications before being filmed in battle, but they looked the same from their introduction onwards.

Even divorced from the other goals of the series, the design isn't entirely appealing. The uniforms are recognizable to the series, but these are just nondescript. very anime characters looking anime characters. They are all, male and female are attractive have the generic, nowhere in reality hair and body figure. There's no specific ethnicity, nothing terribly distinctive in their faces no real logic to looking the way they look. Observing the physical appearance a character you see nothing of their history in little of their personality.

While the series is dealing with issues that have parallel to current events, it doesn't have a real world political bend. Currently, it is strictly driven by plot and military action rather than a political agenda, and the military action certainly seems to be the impetus behind the series. The social structure is mirroring current events without yet saying anything about them. Still, it wouldn't be surprising for it to build to a statement that could be applied to a political opinion.

Whether the protagonists could be labeled terrorists is a debatable point. There are a number of comparable point between their background and organization and those of terrorists, but their tactics and targets have so far been strictly military, even if they're a rouge force. Forgive a Star Wars comparison, but they're almost a media sponsored Rebellion.

Release Reminder

Kamikaze Girls, a partially anime inspired live action movie that you owe it to yourself to see was released on DVD this week. A review is here.

Upcoming FUNimation Releases

From Anime on DVD's Ohayocon convention report, FUNimation announced a number of tentative release time frames.

The second volume of Tenchi Muyo OVA 3, the latest installment in the classic sci-fi relationship comedy will be released on September 12th will episode 4 through 6. Volume three will be released November 7th with episode 7 (aka episode 1+) and a number of extras.

Negima, Love Hina creator Ken Akumatsu's comedy about a British child prodigy wizard teaching in a Japanese girls school will be released starting June 13th. It has not been determined whether the series will run six or seven discs.

The Gonzo trio, Speedy Grapher, Basilisk and Trinity Blood will be released starting in July, August and September respectively.

FUNimation also indicated that their anime channel is currently only in the works for satalite providers.

Cosploy Photographer Suffers Heart Attack

Kevin Lillard of A Fan's View, known for photographing American anime conventions, especially cosplay (costuming based on anime/manga characters) suffered a heart attack while covering Ohayocon last weekend. Hours later he was reported to be conscious and recovering.

Branson Launches Animation and Comics Studio

Virgin mogal Richard Branson will launch Virgin Animation, that will produce films, targeted at the Asian market, with Sharad Devarajan as CEO (Gotham Entertainment Group LLC), and Shekhar Kapur and Gotham Chopra listed as on board for work.

The partnership will launch two new Virgin branded companies, Virgin Comics LLC, based in NYC and Virgin Animation Private Limited, based in Bangalore, India, focused on creating original comic books and character properties for a global audience.

"Similar to the phenomenon we have seen with Japanese Anime and Manga, which has influenced every aspect of popular media today, our mission is to spark a creative renaissance in India, reinventing Indian character entertainment and permeating this new style and vision throughout the globe" said the CEO, Sharad Devarajan, "Beyond India, we will create a haven for the world's most innovative creators, launching a new wave of characters that simultaneously appeal to audiences from Boston to Beijing to Bangalore."

Viewtiful Joe on DVD and UMD

Geneon will be releasing Viewtiful Joe, based the popular Capcom game, on DVD and UMD February 7th. The show is also featured on the Kids WB! Saturday mornings at 8:00 AM and has been the top-ranked show in its timeslot for children 2-11.

The released will be packaged with a limited edition "HENSHIN!" ("transform!") lenticular card onsert and Joe sticker, for $19.98. Features on the dsic the opening and closing themes songs in both Japanese and English, as well as a bonus track, the heroic Viewtiful Joe Soundtrack CD will also be available on February 7 for a suggested retail price of $14.98.

VIEWTIFUL JOE Synopsis Joe is a dude just like you and me. He has two great loves: his girlfriend Silvia and Captain Blue, the action-movie superhero. When Silvia is magically captured by a celluloid monster, Joe gets himself swallowed into the screen to save her. Joe meets Captain Blue just as the superhero is about to retire, exhausted from his lifelong battle against villains known as Jadows. With special superpowers bestowed by Captain Blue, Joe transforms into "Viewtiful Joe" to bash the enemies in the Movieland.

Right Stuf Talks Astro Boy Release

The Right Stuf International has announced that on March 28th 2006,the original 1963 ASTRO BOY, will be released on DVD, featuring the first 52 black and white episodes on 11 DVDs, fully restored, plus never-before-seen footage, previously unreleased episodes, and new extras. The collection will retail for $129.99. Extra include part 1 of an interview with Astro Boy's English producer, Fred Ladd; the original Japanese Astro Boy episode 1, in Japanese with English subtitles; an original character art gallery; a merchandise gallery; a collector's booklet featuring "The History of Astro Boy", an Osamu Tezuka biography, and more

Osamu Tezuka's (KIMBA, THE WHITE LION / HI NO TORI / METROPOLIS) original 1963 - 1964 ASTRO BOY delighted children around the world with its touching stories and compelling characters. In the U.S., many will remember this popular children's series which aired on TV during the 1960s. Now, this groundbreaking series returns for the first time ever in a stunning new collector's edition that includes the first 52 episodes of the original black and white series as seen in the US, restored to pristine detail, and featuring never-before-seen footage and brand new exciting extras.

The original boy-robot with 100,000 horsepower strength and courage! In the year 2000, Dr. Boyton creates a super-robot in his deceased son's image. He calls the robot Astro Boy. Astro Boy can swim oceans, leap over mountains, even fly into space on his own power. However, Astro Boy can't replace his son; Dr. Boyton becomes dissatisfied with the boy robot and disowns him. Astro Boy is befriended by Dr. Packadermus J. Elefun of the Institute of Science, who guides him through his adventures. Endowed with super strength, rocket-powered flight, a selfless heart and a kind demeanor, Astro Boy fights a never-ending crusade against the forces of evil!

Upcoming in Japan

Anime News Network and AnimeNationreport that a new Full Metal Alchemist direct to video OAV will be releeased starting March 29th. The DVD will include a three episode, "State Alchemist Corps vs Seven Great Homunculus" from the Universal Studios Japan attraction and a super deformed follow-up to the Fullmetal Alchemist characters celebrating the end of filming the Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shambala motion picture.

Images here and here.

From Twitch A tailer the second episode of Production IG's adaptation of fan favorite fighting game King of Fighters, subtitled Another Day can be seen at

KOF: Another Day Episode 2 (320 x 240 500k Streaming)
KOF: Another Day Episode 2 (480 x 360 2m Steaming)

Downloadable Video Link

The next episode, "In the Dark" will air on February 2 and thereafter, the last episode, "All Over" will air on March 3.

Twitch looks at Yasuhiro Yoshiura's CG short "Pale Cocoon" ("Peiru kokûn"), schedule for R2 DVD release, here. The disc will include the English-subtitled version of "Pale Cocoon", both the original and English-dubbed versions of Yoshiura's CG short "Aquatic Language" ("Mizu no kotoba"), and his "Pale Cocoon"-related CG short "Mô hitotsu no hakkutsu kiroku".

Noboru Iguchi will be adapting two manga into live action movies this year, including Oira sukeban by Gô Nagaiand Nekome kozô by Kazuo Umezu

From the Anime on DVD, mostly from Little Harlock.

The upcoming adapation of Ai Yazawa´s (Paradise Kiss) NANA will be animated by Studio Madhouse.

Oh! Great´s Air Gear, a younger audience fight action than his Tenjho Tenge (at least compared to the unedited version) will be nominated by Toei Animations.

Taiyo Matsumoto´s Tekkon Kinkurito (aka Black & White) will be adapted into a theatrical anime by Studio 4°C scheduled for a 2006 release in Japan.

GONZO & Satelight are going to "team-up" for an Adventure series titled Glass no Kantai (Fleet of Glass)

Director: Oohara Minoru
Series Composition: Shouji Yonemura
Original Character Design: okama
Mechanical Design: Shouji Kawamori, Kazutaka Miyatake
Concept Adviser: Izubuchi Yutaka
Animation Production: GONZO x Satelight

BeeTrain's next .hack will be .hack//G.U
Director: Koichi Mashimo
Series Composition: Miwa Kawasaki
Character Design: Satoshi Ohsawa
Collaboration: Cyber Connect 2
Animation Production: BeeTrain

KIBA, a fantasy from Aniplex due is Spring 2006 will have the staff
Original Work: Aniplex
Original Character Designs: Susumu Matsushita
Director: Koujina Hiroshi
Scenario: Toshiki Inoue
Character Designs: Yoshimatsu Kouhaku (?)
Art: Teicoku Syounen (aka Imperial Boy)
Animation Production: Madhouse x Studio Live

The upcoming special issue of Young King OURS, to be released February 15th, will feature a new, 6th chapter for Kôta Hirano´s HELLSING Gaiden (side story)- THE DAWN.

The TV series of CLAMP's stylish take on horror anthology series, previously adapted into a movie, due in 2006, will feature the following voice actors

Jun Fukuyama (Watanuki Kimihiro)
Sayaka Ohhara (Yûko Ichihara)
Kazuya Nakai (Doumeki Shizuka)
Shizuka Itou (Kunogi Himawari)
Kazuko Kojima (Maru)
Hisayo Mochizuki (Moro)
Mika Kikuchi (Mokona)

A "Genshiken Continuation" anime, with more comedy chronicles of the exceptionally well written geeks looks to be in the work for fall 2006. See here and here

From AnimeNation The website for the Kasimasi ~ Girl Meets Girl anime television series. TV Tokyo also now hosts a 30 second long streaming Real Media television commercial for the show.

Late February, Early March ADV Releases

February 28th
The Fuccons: Oh Mikey! (full version, 1 of 3)
Gilgamesh: As Truth Breaks Like Glass (5 of 7)
Misaki Chronicles: Revelations (2 of 3)

March 7th
UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie: Bedlam, Bathhouse And Beyond (1 of 3)
Shadow Skill: The Call Of The Black Howling (3 of 6)

March 14th
Hakugei - Legend Of The Moby Dick: The Moad Trail (3 of 6)
Kaleido Star New Wings: A Tale Of Two Rivals (2 of 7)
Macross: Under Crimson Skies (2 of 7)
Wedding Peach Season 2 ($39.98)

UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie Created by Kaishaku (Steel Angel Kurumi) with characters designed by Maki Fujii (Strawberry Eggs), UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie is a fast-paced thrill ride that should appeal to fans of Maburaho. When Princess Valkyrie of the planet Valhalla crashes her spaceship into Earth teenager Kazuto Tokino, she saves his life by giving him half her soul. Of course there are side effects, foremost being her ensuing transformation from mighty princess warrior to mischievous eight-year old dependent on Kazuto for bed and board! Now this pair of unlikely soulmates must withstand an ever-increasing barrage of intergalactic suitors, servants, and rivals - and somehow find a way to keep the Tokino family bathhouse in business. Featuring equal parts action, comedy, and fan service, UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie has something for everyone!

Synopsis: Despite his parents’ protests, Kazuto Tokino has taken it upon himself to run his late grandfather’s bathhouse. But with no previous management experience, Kazuto must rely on his sunny disposition to keep his new business afloat. And when the alien Princess Valkyrie destroys the bathhouse, mortally wounding Kazuto in the process, dark clouds seem poised to rain on his parade of optimism. With a magical kiss, the princess saves Kazuto’s life, but at a grave cost to her own: transformed into an 8 year old, she is stranded on Earth, unable to fend for herself. Now, with an entire solar system out searching for her shrunken highness, Kazuto must defend the Tokino bathhouse, not only from hordes of alien invaders, but also from his new, hyper-adorable, sugary-sweet little houseguest!

Viz Talks Naoki Urasawa's Monster

VIZ Media, LLC. announced the release of NAOKI URASAWA’S MONSTER, an award-winning, critically acclaimed, new 18-volume manga series. Filled with suspense, political intrigue and the emotional rollercoaster a talented doctor must undergo when faced with a tragic past that unfolds when he makes a moral choice that changes his life forever, NAOKI URASAWA’S MONSTER makes it’s highly anticipated debut in the United States after sales breaking records in Japan. NAOKI URASAWA’S MONSTER, rated "T+" for Older Teens, will be in stores February 21, 2006 and will retail for $9.99.

NAOKI URASAWA’S MONSTER first appeared in the pages of Shogakukan’s Big Comic Original manga anthology and weaves the riveting story of brilliant Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a famous surgeon with a promising career at a leading hospital. Tenma risks his reputation and promising career to save the life of a critically wounded young boy. Unbeknownst to him, this child is destined for a terrible fate. A string of strange and mysterious murders begin to occur soon afterward, ones that professionally benefit Dr. Tenma, and he emerges as the primary suspect. Conspiracies, serial murders, and a scathing depiction of the underbelly of hospital politics are all masterfully woven together in this compelling manga thriller.

Naoki Urasawa has been a highly recognized and successful manga artist for more than twenty years. His popular series, 20TH CENTURY BOYS and YAWARA, have sold more than 25 million copies in Japan and the artist/author has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the first Japanese Media Art Festival Manga Award of Excellence, the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award in 1999, and the 46th Shogakukan Manga Award.
Volume 2 of the manga will be released in April 2006.

Hiraku no Go Anime Release

Viz has recently released the first volume of the anime version of Hikaru no Go, wtiht the first four episodes for $24.98

HIKARU NO GO is based on a unique story premise that revolves around the ancient Asian strategy game of Go. The series opens when a young elementary school student named Hikaru finds and old Go board while exploring his father's attic. Trapped inside is the ghost of an ancient Go mater. The young boy finds himself able to communicate with the spirit and and urged on by the master, Hikaru takes up the game of Go. Under the watchful tutelage of his spirit mentor, Hikaru begins to taste victory and makes it his quest to become the ultimate Go champion.

An interesting premise for an animated series for sure, HIKARU NO GO achieved great success in Japan. Twenty-three volumes of the manga series (also distributed by VIZ Media) have been published and the anime series features 75 half-hour episodes. The success of both incarnations actually generated a renewed interest in the ancient game and it will be interesting to see what impact the release of the series will have domestically.

CPM Talking Utena Pre-Orders

Central Park Media, later this year, will be re-pricing and re-releasing the whole of Kunihiko Ikuhara's Revolutionary Girl Utena on DVD. From now until January 31, fans can order all of the "Revolutionary Girl Utena" television series, the "Utena" feature film, and a limited edition "Utena" T-Shirt for $99.95 -- including shipping here. CPM will ship all the sets in February.

Sony Reader/Manga Marriage

The Beat reports that the Consumer Electronics Show has introduced the electronic book Sony Reader, which features high-def e-paper and a USB for downloading RSS feeds and Ebooks. Gizmodo shows demonstrations of the product with Trigun manga.

According to the press release, "Many independent and specialty publishers will also have eBook titles available for purchase and download to the Sony Reader. Manga comics and graphic novels from innovative houses such as TOKYOPOP are rendered beautifully on the device and will also be available for download."

For more information and pictures see here

TOKYPOP to Publish Stars Novels

Anime News Network has confirmed that TOKYOPOP will be publishing the prose novels of cultural sci-fi of the The Seikai Trilogy (the anime version of which is the Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars released by Bandai.

There is buzz that TOKYOPOP may release the prose novel behind Kino's Journey.

Links Worth Checking

David Welsh has launched a Yahoo group to trade old manga here

The Anime on DVD forum is attempting to compile a list of anime titles that have gone out of print in the North American market here

Anime News Network has interviewed Digital Manga's Director of New Business Development, Isaac Lew here.

PLAYBACK:stl has interviewed oldschool OEL manga creator Fred Perry here.

MangaNews.net has translated Manga Anthology Circulations: The Magazine Guide 2005 Edition, covering manga anthology circulation in Japan here.

Telophase has posted an interesting comparison of covers from top selling and bottom selling manga.

Manga in USA Today Top 150 Books

Love Manga points out that manga releases have cracked USA Today's Top 150 Books list for the first time since Tsubasa in October.
The list for the first week f January included Fruits Basket at #91, Negima at 95 and Naruto at 144.

Manga Creators Wed

Anime News Network and MangaNews reports that the creator of the ROD -Read or Dream-manga Ran Ayanaga and Ke Akamatsu's (Love Hina) assistant MAGI married on December 28th.

Prince Of Tennis Mangaka Injured

Manga News reports that reduced numbers of pages are being produced in recent chapters of Prince of Tennis because Takeshi Konomi accidentally injured himself and due to his age is still recovering.

Anime on TV

From Anime News Network New episodes of Inu Yasha (Tuesdays), Samurai Champloo (Wednesdays) and Neon Genesis Evangelion(Thursdays) have been moved to weekdays at 12:30 am (early the following morning).

After missing the first week the Ghibli movies will air on Thursday nights on Turner Classic Movies through January in Canada as they are in the United States.

The controversial TV drama The Book of Daniel features a supporting character who is an aspiring manga artist, arrested for selling marijuana to finance the project. The subject of the work is Yaoi based on her gay brother.

Japanese Cromartie Release to Feature Subtitles

Twitch Film has followed up on their coverage of the Japanese release of a Cromartie High collection, featuring some very amusing packaging (see here), which confirms that the release does feature English subtitles.

Shinichiro Watanabe in Houston

Anime News Network reports Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo) will be presenting a lecture entitled "An Inside Look into the World of Anime" Saturday, February 11, from 6:30 pm to 9pm at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Paramount Looking to Sell DreamWorks Catalog

Anime News Network reports The Hollywood Reporter says that following Paramount acquisition of Dreamworks, Paramount is looking to sell the DreamWorks catalog of titles, include anime works Innocence and Millennium Actress, to private equity investors for between $850 million and $1 billion. Paramount would continue to manage the titles and earn revenue from this activity. Go Fish, a DreamWorks.

Viz Expands Relationship with Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster, Inc., and VIZ Media, LLC. (VIZ Media), announced that, Simon & Schuster, will handle domestic sales for all lines of books from VIZ Media’s book division effective January 2006.

Simon & Schuster has been the distributor of Viz Media manga titles since June 2004, providing retail and wholesale distribution services including warehousing, fulfillment, customer service, and accounts receivable collection for its library of manga titles. The new agreement expands the relationship to utilize Simon & Schuster’s Sales and Distribution Division to further raise the visibility of the manga genre and continue to grow revenue streams from traditional book retailers as well as from newly emerging channels. Manga is now the fastest growing segment of the publishing industry and VIZ Media titles like FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, NARUTO and INUYASHA regularly appear as top sellers on national retail sales charts.

Zoom Suit Shorts Selecred for MegaCon

The award-winning animated short Zoom Suit, created by John Taddeo has been selected to be shown at the MegaCon Indy Film Expo, held on Friday, February 24, 2006 during the MegaCon convention at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

The MegaCon Indy Film Expo program showcases short independent films in the genres of action, animation, comedy, superheroes, science fiction, suspense, and horror and the organizers promise to present only the most fantastic and cutting-edge short films. Last year a crowd of approximately 30,000 fans descended on MegaCon, a convention specializing in the very best in anime, comics, collectibles, horror, science fiction and film.

Team Zoom Suit will be appearing at the three day convention, February 24-26, 2006, showcasing the animated film and displaying the first issue of the April releasing comic series. Zoom Suit writer and director, John Taddeo, will be in appearance, along with the animation team of Jorge Palacios, Nakia Mann, Diana Striker, Mike Centowski, Booker Thompson, Derrick Dawson and Cameron Kirk. Comic book artist Billy Dallas Patton will also be appearing and signing autographs. An exclusive MetalFX Zoom Suit promo card set has been created to commemorate the event.

The Zoom Suit comic book will be solicited under Superverse in the February edition of Previews for items shipping in April 2006.