Great news for those of of us who love manga pirates and cartoon cats: Sanrio and Toei Animation are planning a merchandising plan for ONE PIECE × HELLO KITTY for a wide range of products which will come out in November. Goodies will include clothing, stationery, cosmetics and even fashion accessories. The branding will feature Kitty dressed up as Chopper, and hopper will sport a kitty hat (which make sense given how much Tony Chopper enjoys all things pink). Read more…
“Yeah, we live on Fourth Earth now. You haven’t heard of it? Yeah, of course you haven’t. It’s really indie. It’s like Third Earth before it sold out, you know?” That’s the conversation I figure I’d be having with these hipster Thundercats, drawn up by Zano over on DeviantArt. It’s got all the quality ingredients of a hipsterized character — your thick-rimmed glasses, your sloughing-off-the-shoulder girls’ top, your v-neck. I think the only thing we’re really missing here is a keffiyeh. But I’ll take it. Man. Imagine the kind of vinyls you could find with Sight Beyond Sight.
It’s kind of ironic that an anime about racing would find itself perpetually delayed throughout its production, only to be delayed once again during the localization process. It’s an unfortunate situation, but that’s what we’re experiencing with Madhouse’s Redline. The film had been set for release this November but iinstead, we’ll have to wait till sometime next year with no exact release date in sight. Manga Entertainment is still set to distribute the film stateside and had already screened the film earlier this year — unfortunately, I missed out. I’m really sad to see it get delayed, but I suppose I’d rather they take their time and do it right than half-ass the subtitles or screw up a dub. With the amount of blood and sweat that went into producing the film’s 100,000 hand-drawn cells, it’s the least they could. Let’s just cross our fingers and hope that its ready to ship sooner rather than later.
In celebration of the its 15th anniversary and upcoming Blu-ray release, Aniplex has decided to simulcast the entire four episode OVA, Rurouni Kenshin – Trust & Betrayal for both North American and Japanese audiences. The events being hosted at NicoNico on August, 19th at 10:00 PM PST, and you will need an account to view the stream, so if you haven’t already signed up for one, you’ll need to. If you’ve already signed up for an account on their Japanese website, you should be able to use the same login to access the English site. If you’re a fan of the series but haven’t seen the OVAs, you’ll definitely want to. This particular OVA serves as a prequel to the manga and animated series, however it takes itself much more seriously and is geared towards a mature audience. Trust & Betrayal also features a gorgeous soundtrack by Taku Iwasaki, and is easily one of my favorite animated scores of all time. For a summary and additional info, click here.
I never had a chance to see it person, but Odaiba’s full-scale Gundam statue had served as a magnet for giant robot enthusiasts and tourism from around the globe. I had hoped to catch a glimpse of the statue after it had moved to Shizuoka, but the statue was dismantled at end of March. Given the recent drop in tourism, I’ve wondered if we’d ever have another chance to see the statue again. It doesn’t look likely, but Sunrise Studios recently announced plans to display at least a portion of the statue in Odaiba later this month. Starting Sunday, August 21st, visitors to Odaiba island’s Shiokaze Park can pay 500 yen to gain admission to the event between the hours of 6 AM to 10 PM. No word on which parts of the statue will be on display but guessing by the image on the official site, I assume it’ll be the head. Sure, it’s not the full statue, but it’s still a piece of history and definitely worth checking out.
It’s rare to find myself excited about a new anime series that hasn’t even aired yet. Perhaps I’m just a bit jaded, but so many new shows air each season that it can be hard to stand out. Fortunately, Persona 4 is the exception. Sharing both name and plot with the game its based on, Persona 4: The Animation seems to be shaping up rather nicely. Fans will likely appreciate the attention to detail, while new viewers will likely fall in love with the characters and story that made the game a hit. With that in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Aniplex bring the series stateside sooner rather than later. I still have my hopes up for a simulcast when it airs in Japan later this Fall. Until then, they’ve given us this nifty trailer to sink our teeth into. Any of you as excited as I am?
This summer, Funimation Channel launched a viral campaign encouraging anime fans to contact their local cable providers to request Funimation’s 24-hour cable network. At last month’s Anime Expo in Los Angeles, I noticed they were even handing out gifts to con-goers who made the call in front of them. It might seem a bit cheap, but the cause is just. It’s a fact that Cable companies won’t bat an eye unless they see a reasonable demand for a service. I admit I like their approach, but unfortunately I find myself questioning how effective this method could be. According to one spokesperson for the company, several cable providers had reached a point where they were simply hanging up on the callers during the convention. On top of that, how impressive could a weekend of calls really be? If you really want to do your part, I suggest everyone actually take the time to call your local cable providers and make the request at your own leisure. It stands to reason that a steady demand would look far more impressive than a proverbial flash-mob. Don’t you agree?
Marvel’s film universe is working out pretty well for them, with all of the Avengers setup films released and the team-up flick ready to go for 2012, but Marvel’s not getting complacent. They’re ready to go after another media format: television! Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con that four live-action shows are currently in development: The Hulk, AKA Jessica Jones (otherwise known as Alias), Cloak & Dagger, and Mockingbird. Imprint fans will be happy to know that Luke Cage and Carol Danvers will indeed be making appearances in AKA Jessica Jones. But wait! There’s more! There’s also new Marvel animation hitting the small screen, like Ultimate Spider-Man, an animated version of Joss Whedon’s well-received run on Astonishing X-Men, and a Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H series. That last one will have pretty much every Hulk permutation imaginable, from Red Hulk to She-Hulk, all on the same team. Whole lotta smashin’ goin’ on. Read more…
Futurama is definitely a rare breed of television show, in that it survived cancellation and returned to the airwaves as a great success. What makes it even more amazing, of course, is that it had been canceled for seven years. After its wildly popular comeback season, Fox granted the show another year on the air, and as of right now, interest in the show shows no sign of petering off. In fact, Fox announced at San Diego Comic-Con today that Futurama was renewed for not one, but two more seasons. It’s heartening to know that in an age of brilliant shows canceled before their time, a show like Futurama can succeed and even thrive. Read more…
I’m still a little sad that I haven’t had a chance to catch an episode of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Last season, the show managed to garner quite the following and it wasn’t long before Aniplex decided to license the series for international distribution. On top of that, I had to deal with all my friends talking my ear off about the series despite the fact that they were totally spoiling it for me. Nevertheless, I’m still hoping to squeeze it in before the end of the summer and it helps that the show’s not-so-lovable mascot of sorts happens to be absolutely adorable. I’ve been seeing that wish-granting Kyubei all over the place since the series aired, but nothing I’ve come across looks as awesome as this giant vinyl replica — in fact, it’s made to scale. Japan’s largest figure trade show Wonfes is right around the corner, and lucky attendees will be able to pick one up while they’re there, but if you can’t make it, you might be able to score one online by following the instructions of Good Smile’s official website. From what I gather, it’ll retail for roughly $125 before shipping. It’s a bit pricey, but I think in this case, the ends justify the means.
It’s not too often that I’ll come across a Lego sculpture so jaw-droppingly detailed that I absolutely have to write about it. Mark Rodrigues’ stunning rendition of the space battleship Yamato is no exception. While I’m more of a Robotech fanatic, I do have fond memories of Starblazers. I think it could safely be argued that perhaps the biggest star of the show was the ship itself. Whether you knew it as the Argo, or the Yamato, we all have to admit the design is particularly memorable and quite beautiful at that. Mark did a fantastic job of capturing its beauty with his 1/250th scale model that features rotating turrets and posable wings. Check out Mark’s official MOC blog entry for more photos and details on how he went about constructing the ship.
Check out these wicked One Piece punk rock tees from Japanese clothing label Project SR’ES. While I still admit that I’m not the worlds largest One Piece fan, I have to admit the show has led to plenty of interesting fashion. The Tony Tony Chopper tee in particular stikes me as not only sleek and adorably awesome, but incredibly wearable. I can’t really say that much for most of the anime-themed clothing on the market. The real issue is that I’m pretty sure we’ll never get a chance to order these in the US. While the clothing label was established in Honolulu back in 2000, all that remains domestically is a US show room. Their business operation primarily resides in Japan. On top of that, most of the clothing sizes are Japanese, meaning that even though I wear an American medium or large, I’d be forced to hunt for a Japanese extra large and even then, there’s no guarantee it’ll fit comfortably. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a few of them floating around eBay. If you’d like a closer look, head over to the Oricon Store for more photos.
There are many, many reasons why we’re glad that the planned Akira live-action remake reportedly isn’t happening, but we can now confirm an entirely new one. Chris Weston, a British artist who was working as a production artist for the film, talked with Cinema Blend about what some of his tasks were. One of them stands out as possibly horrific: he was charged with redesigning Kaneda’s prized motorcycle. You know, the iconic one? The perfect one? Weston said the very thought of it terrified him, since “the fanboys” (hey, that’ us!) would be at his throat if it came out wrong. Hell, they even discussed turning the bike black. There are just some things you don’t do, man. Read more…
This has to be the most cute sounding video I’ve ever listened to — I believe that it’s an announcement for the first live-action episode of The Idolmaster:Read more…
When ever most of us think of anime we mostly think of TV shows or films — however like the US the use of animation was very popular for commercials in the 50s and 60s. Some of the nicer spots here also feature some amazing stop motion animation which reminds me a great deal of the look that Pixar has these day: Read more…
After hours of research most of the cool photos we found this week were cosplay shots from Anime Expo — however we did stumble across a few nice examples of fan art: Read more…
TV Ashii in japan had a nice little segment on Anime Expo which was held in California this weekend. I loved where they were asking American otaku about the earthquake in Japan: Read more…
If you’re a Star Trek fan, then chances are good that you’ve been waiting for this day for what seems like an eternity. But the moment is here: just in time for the long holiday weekend, you can catch the entire original Trek series on Netflix Instant, along with the entirety of Next Generation and Voyager. Start and stop as you please! Marathon it! Iron-man it! It’s a matter of honor now. But Trek isn’t the only nerdy thing to watch this weekend — Netflix has also added the entire X-Men animated series for your viewing pleasure. For viewers new to the series, you’ll probably want to stop watching riiiight around when Cable shows up. Hey! Just like the comics! Read more…
With simulcasting and the proliferation of digital distribution both legal and otherwise, it comes as no surprise that Hulu has finally decided to take anime seriously. While US distributors are losing the constant battle for shelf space with brick & mortar retailers, companies like CrunchyRoll, Netflix, and Anime News Network have worked to expand their online catalog. While Hulu has managed to ink deals with companies like Funimation and Aniplex to stream several of their titles in recent months, on July 3rd the company will begin to stream the upcoming second season of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clana mere 3 hours after its Japanese broadcast. Sure, it’s not quite a simulcast, but its impressive.
This one took me by surprise. About a year ago, there were some rumors floating around the net regarding a potential live-action adaptation of the classic manga, Rurouni Kenshin. Well, it turns out it’s not just some rumor after all. Warner Brothers will be producing the film, starring Sato Takeru as Kenshin. Some of you might recognize him from last year’s live-action adaptation of Beck (the manga, not the musician.) While I enjoyed the Rurouni Kenshin‘s manga and OVAs, the animated series that aired in the late-90s seemed a bit too juvenile in comparison. Of course, that didn’t stop it from being wildly popular. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing how the film shapes up over the next few months. The rest of the cast for the upcoming film have yet to be unveiled, and it won’t hit theaters until sometime in 2012.
Of all the things I expected to see on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a man in Panthro makeup performing an orchestral version of the Thundercats theme song with full backup was admittedly not one of them. Thankfully, it was forever encased in digital bronze via Hulu, allowing future generations to look at that point in history and say, definitively, “This is the point when the world changed forever. This is when we all looked at each other and realized our problems meant nothing compared to the eternal struggle between fearless Lion-O and the dread sorcerer Mumm-Ra. This piece of music was the turning point.” Read more…
