The other day, we mentioned the upcoming Saint Seiya PS3 title being developed by Namco Bandai. This evening they officially gave us our first look at the game. The short teaser only contains a bit of actual gameplay, but it seems as though I was spot on when I predicted the game would resemble Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors. Personally, I love those games even if other people can’t really them — Dynasty Warriors, and series like it, often receive less than stellar reviews in the West — so this little teaser has me really excited to see where they take the title from here. On top of that, I think they a fantastic job capturing the feel of the series with the character designs. Let’s just hope someone decides to license the title after it hits Japanese shelves later this fall.
Here’s some hilarious clips featuring the 1978 Fantastic Four animated series with a cameo by none other than the master of magnetism himself. The show only lasted 12 episodes, no doubt due to the lack of the Human Torch — after all, he’s the only member anyone really liked. While there had been a long-running rumor that network executives were worried about kids immolating themselves, the fact of the matter was that Johnny Blaze had been licensed to NBC at the time for a potential pilot that never got picked up. Of course, with amazing scripts like The Menace Of Magneto here, I’m sureno amount of “flame on” could have saved it, and can someone please tell me why every 70’s cartoon villain felt the compulsive need to narrate everything?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 19, 2011 in Animation, Fandom
There’s only about a week left, but if you love artwork that’s evocative of anime there’s a wonderful show at the Graphite gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn featuring the artist Lisa Alisa. The images here don’t quite do her work that much justice as they’re large scale paintings which combine some wonderful draftsmanship and some very nice detail. The use of color is also quite vivid and powerful as well. Read more…
Here’s the net’s first good look at Toei’s Space Pirate Captain Harlock remake, a3D film pilot produced by Toei animation back in 2010. Apparently they finished this pilot some time ago and have been moving forward production on a proposed full-scale film due out sometime in 2012. The footage was shown at last year’s Tokyo International Anime Fair, Hawaii’s Kawaii-Kon this past April and again at France’s Annecy film festival a few weeks back. The above clip was subsequently aired on a French news network and looks to be the most complete footage to have been uploaded to net thus far. When I first heard about the project late last year, I freaked out a bit. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of animating Harlock in 3D. His costume alone, not to mention his hair would make it difficult. However, so far this is looking great. We’ll just have to see if Toei plans on sharing any more of the film in the coming months.
The other week, Duke Nukem Forever finally shipped after nearly a decade and a half in development hell. Though I have no intention of playing the game myself, my colleagues in the gaming press have been rather outspoken. In fact, just today I read a fantastic article by Ars Technica’s Ben Kuchera labeling the game “barely playable, not funny,” and “rampantly offensive.” I get that Nukem is suppose to be an over-the-top misogynist and that we’re suppose to find the humor in that. The formula can work, otherwise I’m sure Daniel Tosh wouldn’t be selling out venues across the U.S. So, I’ve come to the conclusion that Gearbox just didn’t know how to execute it. Maybe they should have looked to Japan. After all, Japan gave us the Golgo 13.
A few years back when I began my first blog another blogger commented on a post I wrote. I followed back, and I became a reader of his own blog. Kitsune of Kitsune Thought’s, what I always appreciate are intelligent content, and comments, so to my knowledge Kitsune has been a great person to talk to via blog comments. Here’s my interview: Read more…
Feast your eyes on these awesome Miyazaki-inspired Lego models. They’re not quite as epic as the Minecraft maps we showed you last month, but designer Iain Heath did a fantastic job recreating a bit of Ghibli’s magic. They were originally displayed at last year’s BrickCon Exhibition in Seattle. Personally, I love his Totoro, and I really dig the little Japanese garden he built for the exhibit. For more images, check out his full gallery on Flickr.
Starting on june 6th if you’re luck enough to live in Japan you can get your hands on dozens of different Dragonball canned coffees by Pokka. The “black line” of coffee series has no sugar and thus isn’t for kids — but the original line will make those of us who haven’t grown up who have a sweet tooth happy: Read more…
A few weeks back, Columbia Pictures released the first trailer for Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s upcoming theatrical adaptation of Georges Rémi’s classic comic, The Adventures of Tintin. The film will boast some jaw-dropping 3d, using some of the latest in motion capture technology. Indeed, the visuals can be quite stunning, but I’ve seen more than a few complaints from fans who feel the new visuals aren’t faithful enough. Still, with both Spielberg and Jackson on board, how can we go wrong? Read more…
Regardless of how you feel about Harmony Gold, or Robotech, one thing I’ve never seen were complaints about the music. Ulpio Minucci and Arlon Ober did fantastic job scoring the series, creating a memorable soundtrack that’s managed to strike a chord with fans worldwide. Recently I stumbled across this video of a group of fans from Chile performing a live medley. I love that they kept it real with the electric drum kit — the lazer toms were dead on. It’s worth a listen, and you’ll get goosebumps from the nostalgia alone.
Posted by Michael Sacco on May 20, 2011 in Animation
Loyal Venture Bros. fans need not fear — not only is the show returning for another season, but we get a special 15-minute, er, special this July! From the Ladle to the Grave: The Story of Shallow Gravy, which details the rise and fall of the titular band started by Hank, Dermot, and H.E.L.P.e.R., will premiere July 24th on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. 15 minutes isn’t a lot, but hopefully it’s enough to tide you over until the new season. Go Team Venture! Er, Shallow Gravy, rather. Read more…
I’ve seen people use Minecraft to create all kinds of awesome maps, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this. Not even the Enterprise-D built to scale could hold a candle to these. The video depicts a number of maps based on the various animated works of Studio Ghibli. You’ll recognize scenes and locations from films such as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Laputa: Castle in the Sky, all of which seem masterfully crafted. i can’t imagine how much time and effort was spent constructing these maps, but they’re all really impressive.
Today, 20th Century Fox unveiled their plans for a 21st century reboot the Hannah-Barbara classic, The Flintstones to by co-produced by Warner Brothers Television. Overseeing the production will be none other than Family Guy‘s Seth MacFarlane. However, unlike MacFarlane’s raunchier block of animated programming, the show will probably be a tad more family-oriented. Furthermore, while the production might start later this fall, the show itself may not even air until 2013. It’ll be quite the wait, but considering the amount of red tape likely surrounding a series as old as The Flintstones, and MacFarlane’s target demographic, it’s surprising the project even got the green light in the first place. Whether or not the show will be any good definitely remains to be seen.
Not a live-action one, though; don’t get your hopes up for that any time soon. Roberto Orci, half of the Star Trek reboot’s writing team, tweeted last night that he’s been talking with someone about putting together another Star Trek animated series. Details were left out, of course, given the 140-character limit, so we’re not exactly sure who he was talking to about it or whether it was just musing, but you have to admit that with how far TV animation has come, there might be some potential here. Read more…
I’ve lost track of how many Dragon Ball games have flooded market in recent years. The license has been spread pretty thin with most of the titles retelling Akria Toriyama’s original plot from start to finish while taking a few liberties along the way. In addition, most of these games have featured similar cel-shaded visuals and gameplay, leading many people to believe that once you’ve played one, you’ve played them all. Of course, I’ve had plenty of people tell me that’s simply not the case. They’ve made improvements with pratically every itteration of the series and while we many have chosen to ignore them in the past, this latest entry might cause you to take notice.
Film director Takashi Yamazaki who brought Space Battleship Yamato to life in the world of live action back in 2010 is working on a kids film which will be called Friends: Naki on Monster Island. Like the Yamato film this picture will have a bit of SMAP by making use of the voice over talents of Shingo Katori and Kouichi Yamadera. Here’s a trailer: Read more…
The 80s were the age of ironic post-punk bands and Reagan conservatism — yet for a generation of young girls this was the decade of cartoon characters who really embraced the rainbow as their “true colors”. Of course many of these candy colored epics were in fact designed to sell toys, but all these years later that doesn’t remove the now seemingly innocent of these shows. So here’s our list of our favorite girl shows from the 80s: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 25, 2011 in Animation
This wonderfully done infographic is an informal guide to must see anime which I discovered via a topsy.com search.. The one thing I like about this chart is that it admits that it’s subjective and a matter of taste. I’ll also add that as anime is always focused on the latest and the greatest that often the old gems of yesteryear tend to be overlooked in favor of the latest eye candy. Read more…
We can’t really call it a trailer, but this video’s the latest in a series of teasers for the upcoming Persona 4 anime. Fans of the series have been freaking out since plans for an anime adatption were recently announced, and I really can’t blame them. So far, it’s looking pretty fantastic. Unlike the Persona: Trinity Soul anime which was loosely based on the world of Persona 3, this one will feature the main characters from the fourth installment of the series. It’s probably safe to assume that it’ll follow the plot of Persona 4, so those of us who haven’t already played it may be in luck. If not, you’ll have a nice excuse to pick up a copy. The series is set to air later this fall.Read more…
As you can see from all of the nin-dogs surrounding Kakashi, dogs are known as “man’s best friend” — and as such they’re very well represented in anime and manga from Japan. Here’s a list of some of our all time favorites: Read more…
Like many of you, I had some fond memories of the X-Men animated series which aired on Fox during the mid-’90s. It wasn’t nearly as good as Batman: the Animated Series, but at the time there really wasn’t much on the air in the way of comic-based cartoons. With the announcement of the upcoming X-Men anime which will be airing in Japan, I made the mistake of watching a few of these “classic” episodes. Read more…
Anime and Manga Fans have been recently, and still consistently aware of what has been happening over in Japan. So when the there was a 24-hour podcast marathon, Tony Yao was part of the line up. Recently I got the opportunity to conduct an e-mail interview with Tony Yao of Manga Therapy: Where Psychology & Manga Meet. He was upfront about his experiences, so this interview may or may not have been what you have experienced. He is a fan as well as a multi-site blogger to keep an eye out for. Read more…
Cats, cats, cats… you can be allergic to them in real life, but what about an animated or a drawn version cats, either in the form of mascots or characters? Take a look at this selection of cats, and be prepared to be a gooey puddle at the end. Shown above is Nekobus from My Neighbor Totoro — and here are a few of our other favorites: Read more…
