Back in August we wrote about why it was so important that you attend the premiere of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. The destined-to-be cult classic underperformed at the box office and that may have sealed the fate of future films based on independent comics. While GANTZ may not have the potential to carry the same weight in Hollywood, it’s still just as important you see it. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 17, 2011 in Animation
While doing a Google image search for Space Battleship Yamato I came across this very funny Japanese meme image of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin colored blue to look like Leader Desslok. It made the Star Blazers fanboy in me smile…Read more…
Ever wonder what it’d be like to work at a Disney theme park? I know I have, and thanks to this fantastic video my curiosity has been satisfied, though I have to admit that no amount of food could possibly make up for having to listen to “It’s a Small World” on repeat. I pretty much figured it’d be exactly as he described in the video, minus the awesome doodles. I just had no idea the food was that spectacular. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 10, 2011 in Animation
For Americans the early 80s was a golden age of sci fi with films like Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner and of course Tron — and most of this was the wonderful geeky aftermath owed a great deal to the financial success of Star Wars. But what many fans today don’t realize is that this was also a golden age of sci fi anime that was going on at the same time. Sadly while some shows like Macross made it to America (as Robotech) there were still quite a few other series from that era that never came over here in a big way. So here’s a quick tour of some of the more obscure gems from that era: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 10, 2011 in Animation
It seems that the animators in Taiwan wanted to take the sushi protectionist movement in Japan to task, so they created this very cute cartoon to illustrate their point: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 10, 2011 in Animation
I’ve seen tons of comedians tackle YouTube, but one trend I’ve started to see more and more of is for animators to take their work to the world: Candy The Magic Dinosaur is a good example of this — it’s done out of the UK by asittingduck and is quite engaging. I realize it’s hard for a non-professional animator to appreciate it, but what you’re looking at is the efforts of one personal (and a few friends) without any real budget. My gut tells me that we’ll see the next Disney, or at the very least the next generation of animators emerge from the web animation scene of today.
Venture Bros. is probably one of the best shows on television, animated or not, and I felt a little sad when its fourth-season finale aired. It felt like a series finale! And showrunners Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer have stated several times that creating seasons of the hit show is incredibly taxing, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume as much. But there’s good news! Publick announced on Christmas Eve via LiveJournal that the show would indeed be coming back, with more details forthcoming. Go Team Venture! Read more…
I hate to admit this as a long time anime fanboy, but the computer animators from Taiwan are doing some very timely funny work on a shoestring budget! Their latest epic is a recreation of the Spiderman disaster on Broadway — and the best thing about this clip is that it includes an appearance by Bono. The last time I’ve seen an animated show react this fast to events in the news is when South park was at the high point of their game. Read more…
I’m surprised we haven’t really brought this up yet, but I imagine some of you haven’t already heard about the upcoming Level-5/Studio Ghibli collaboration, Ni no Kuni. You can expect the classic art and animation we’ve come to expect from Ghibli, looking very much like your standard Miyazaki fare, and Level 5’s previous titles have proven the studios ability to seamlessly blend animation and 3D using beautifully rendered cell-shaded visuals.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 21, 2010 in Animation, Tech
Everyone knows about Domo, but another famous mascot from Japanese television is Stray Sheep which was first spotted on Fuji TV in the mid 90s. Sadly Fuji TV has ignored poor Poe and Merry, however the folks at Robot Communications have given the woolies some love and created the interactive book Stray Sheep: Poe’s Christmas for the iPad:
I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with Bakugan. In fact, I wasn’t really aware of it myself until I asked my wife, who happens to work in retail, what had been selling really well. I half-expected her to say Pokemon but instead, she mentioned Bakugan Battle Brawlers. The title alone was very off-putting for me — I’m not fond of alliteration, you see — but I figured I should try to learn something about it, seeing as I moonlight as an anime journalist. Read more…
This is one of the more interesting examples of K-On! merchandising that I’ve seen: They’ve created authentic scarfs based upon the ones that Yui Hirasawa wears in the series. Sadly it seems that one set is already sold out but the fish design still seems to be in stock:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 20, 2010 in Animation
Studio Ghibli has picked the shojo manga Coquelicot saka kara to be their next film subject. I don’t have to see the film to know that they’ll do an amazing job with it — especially as the manga is reported to be very close to Miyazaki Hayao’s heart. Yet to me it’s sad that Miyazaki doesn’t seem to be taking any chances in his old age. Of course many of the great directors like Walt Disney or Howard Hawks seemed to make the same film again and again over their career; but to me it’s a sad reminder of someone like Tezuka who really experimented in his later years. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 18, 2010 in Animation, Cinema
So as the end credits start to roll in the theater my friend turns to me and says “that sucked!” But my reaction was “Well they did about as good of a job that they could have…” The original Tron was an impressive film on a number of levels, but the heart of the film was that it represented a breakthrough of computer animation on the big screen — but as a film it was quite average. So the problem is that if you’re going to make a sequel over 25 years later everything that was great about the first film is going to be dated. Read more…
I just love the level of detail on this recreation of Andy’s room from Toy Story which was made using lego bricks! The talented artist behind this effort is Matt De Lanoy who will be showing it off at the 9th Annual Lego Train Show at Cantigny Park, Wheaton, Illinois. Read more…
Eons before Ramna 1/2 us old time otaku fell in love with Rumiko Takahashi’s 80s epic Urusei Yatsura. Shown here is a special figurine that will be released in Japan next year which features the character Lum as a child sporting a Tigers baseball team hat. Apparently the baseball connection is that Takahashi is a Tiger’s fan: Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Dec 8, 2010 in Animation, Tech
When I wasn’t watching Robotech, or Starblazers, I’d try to catch an episode of Voltron: Defender of the Universe. It wasn’t quite as cool as a convertable aircraft, but I admit I still loved watching the five guardians form their giant sword wielding lion mech to battle the evil King Zarkon and his minions whenever I’d get a chance, and this nifty little USB drive’s definitely triggering that nostalgia. I do wish it was a little bigger, seeing how it’s only three and a half inches tall, but I imagine that’s about right for a USB stick — any larger and it’d probably be a nuisance. At least the arms and legs can be articulated. The chest also lights up when plugged in and it just wouldn’t be complete without its own Blazing Sword which apparantly fits in both he hands and feet.
As an anime fanboy I think one of my most bitter lessons one year was waiting until the last minute to order my new year’s calendar — sadly every one was grabbed up. Part of the reason for this is that often the Japanese fans will grab them quite a bit in advance leaving the sad crumbs for poor gaijin otaku like myself. Well I learned my lesson and I started to plan my wall decor well in advance. Shown here are my top suggested picks for 2011 starting with the beautiful Bleach (B) 2011 Calendar shown above. Here are my other favorites: Read more…
I’m in a total state of shock: It seems like just yesterday that I was watching every episode of Bleach — so I was blown away to just read the it’s almost the 10th anniversary of the franchise. Of course that marks the 10th anniversary of the manga which was first published in August of 2001 and is now up to 48 volumes and over 300 episodes of the anime series which went on the air in 2004. Shown here are a set of coasters which have been created for the occasion in Japan which feature illustrations by Noriaki “Tite” Kubo: Read more…
Classic anime series Space Battleship Yamato, a.k.a. Star Blazers in the US, is gearing up for its theatrical release in Japan, along with a limited US release. And now you can watch five whole minutes of it! It looks like a certain other show with “Battle” in it that takes place in space, and the action is pretty 70s, but it’s a pretty neat adaptation. And, for the ladies, the super-hunky lead singer of SMAP, Kimura Takuya, is playing one of the main characters, Susumu Kodai. That’s Derek Wildstar for you 80s kids out there. Read more…
I actually can’t remember the last time this has happened, but it looks like the upcoming live-action adapation of Hiroya Oku’s action-packed manga, Gantz, will be hitting US theaters a week ahead of Japan. Unfortunately, if you’re one of those people who can’t take dubs, you may be out of luck. While the film will show on over 300 screens nationwide, none of them are currently scheduled to be subtitled. Still, it looks amazing and might be worth checking out. The film centers around a boy and his friend who end up dying, only to be revived for the sole-purpose of hunting hostile aliens. While there was an anime, the film itself will be based on the original manga and is currently set for release on January 20th.
This is probably the coolest ice sculpture I’ve ever seen. In case it’s difficult to make out — it is ice, after all — you’re looking at a 28 foot tall Optimus Prime ice sculpture by Antti Pedrozo and Michel de Kok of Switzerland. While he doesn’t transform into a truck, I’m told frozen autobot makes a mean snow cone. I’m pretty confident than these guys won’t be outdone any time soon, but if someone wants to build an SDF-1, or a Valkyrie from Macross that’d probably do it for me. Until then, you can check out more photos below. And, if you like this work, follow Antti on Twitter.
Last week I posted some of the character sheets from the upcoming Supernatural anime. While I liked the designs, I wasn’t quite sure how well they’d translate to the animation. Thankfully, there’s a short trailer that’ll illustrate it for us. Again, the series will be covering the first two seasons of its American live-action counterpart, and follows the story of two brothers bent on revenge against the demon responsible for their mother’s death. While the trailer has me a little worried — the animation certainly isn’t the best I’ve seen — they seem to have hit everything else about the show on the mark. Needless to say, I’m still excited and I’m looking forward to seeing what Madhouse and Warner Brothers have in store for us when the series hits shelves next year.
