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Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 5, 2012 in Anime 
Dragon Ball never really goes away, does it? Despite the anime finishing its run in 1996 (or 2003 in America), they just keep making more and more of the franchise. Besides the sequel-series Dragon Ball GT, there’s the reedit Dragon Ball Z Kai, plus tons of movies and OVA episodes. So it’s no surprise that Toei is making another movie called Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. Read more…
Tags: Dragonball
Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 27, 2012 in Anime 
Looks like Viz is finally understanding that their digital magazine Shonen Jump Alpha was in an awkward place when it came to their content. With a two-week delay between the latest manga chapters that run in Japan’s Weekly Shonen Jump, their translations were not current enough to morally deter those who read free scanlations, yet too current to be collected into a full volume. As a result, I’m sure many fans of manga such as Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, and many more simply glanced at Viz’s offerings, asked themselves why they’d pay for a two-week old official version, and continued reading scanlations that appear a few days after a new issue was released. It looks like Viz got the memo, because now readers can get the content instantly. Read more…
Tags: manga
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 23, 2012 in Anime, Cinema 
Things have been quiet on the Studio Ghibli front, with Up On Poppy Hill out and all. We’ve known that Isao Takahata has been working on an adaption of the folk story The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, but we recently got confirmation of the title via domain name registrations from Ghibli. It’ll be titled Princess Kaguya Story (Kaguya-hime no Monogatari) and should be released sometime next year (summer, if Ghibli’s release schedule holds up). Hayao Miyazaki has also been hard at work, and his film about the man who made the Japanese Zero fighter plane has gotten a name as well: The Wind Rises. Lastly, GKIDS has picked up the distribution rights for Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies and will re-release the film next year, just in time for the 25th anniversary. Exciting times for Ghibli fans! Read more…
Tags: Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 17, 2012 in Anime 
It hurts so bad, not being able to see the latest Evangelion film yet. Eva 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo seems to be a little bit a remake, a little bit sequel, or maybe neither. Whichever it is, I need it in my veins now, but I’ll have to wait for now. To make matters worse, the first six minutes of the film have been released online, featuring Asuka and Mari attempting to rescue Shinji and Rei, still trapped inside Unit 01 14 years after Evangelion 2.0 takes place. Major timeskip! Also in Eva-related news, Utada Hikaru has randomly returned to record a new song for the credits – and it’s fantastic. Hear the song and watch the first 6 minutes of 3.0 below the jump! Read more…
Tags: Evangelion
Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 6, 2012 in Anime 
A two-minute trailer for J.C. Staff’s upcoming film, A Certain Magical Index: Endymion’s Miracle, premiered at the Dengeki 20th Anniversary Festival. It’s the first hint at the story of the film, since it is not based on any of the original light novels that the rest of the anime is based on. Instead, the film is based on a new story by Kazuma Kamachi, with new character designs by Kiyotaka Haimura. In Endymion’s Miracle, Touma and Index find Arisa, a level 0 girl who is on the run from Magicians. It seems she is an important part of an upcoming war between magic and science.
Read more…
Tags: A Certain Magical Index
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 2, 2012 in Anime 
Let’s put this right up front: Evangelion. I’m very aware of all its flaws, the pandering to the fans. And I still really enjoy it. I love it, and I’m especially excited about the third remake film, Evangelion Q aka You Can (Not) Redo. Sadly, I won’t be able to see it on it’s release date, November 17th, in Japan – I’ll have to wait for the US release or import the Blu-ray. After being shown a short 30-second trailer last month, we have some fresh video! This new trailer doesn’t help matters, but I can’t stop watching. There’s new footage, particularly of eye-patch wearing Asuka, and new content sprinkled within. I especially love the new music piece from Shiro Sagisu, “The Wrath of God, in All its Fury.” Really haunting! Watch the video below. Read more…
Tags: Evangelion
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 30, 2012 in Anime 
Anime studio Shaft really knocked it out of the park with their first non-adapted anime, Puella Magi Madoka Magica. The twelve-episode series was a subversion of the usually light-hearted magical girl genre, mixing daring visuals with haunting music and a dark plot that threw viewers for a loop. Shaft’s next original anime is also a magical girl story, but this one seems a bit more conventional, though still beautiful. Read more…
Tags: magical girl
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 26, 2012 in Anime, Hobbies and Collections 
Sailor Moon has been coming back in a big way, especially with the new anime series peeking over the horizon. Bandai is jumping in the pool with something I know a lot of fans have been clamoring for: a poseable Sailor Moon action figure! All we have so far is this image fresh from Tamashi Nation, in which you can also see what looks to be a Chibi Arts Sailor Moon in the background as well. I’m sure prices and release dates will be announced very soon, but for now you’ll just have to drool over this. Tomopop is also saying they’re hearing rumors of the other Inner Senshi/Scouts being announced too. Excellent! Read more…
Tags: Action Figures, Sailor Moon
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 24, 2012 in Anime, Videogames 
I’ve been playing One Piece: Pirate Warriors, the anime-inspired spin-off of Koei and Omega Force’s long-running Dynasty Warriors series of beat ’em up games. It has its flaws, but for a One Piece fan since Viz started running it in Shonen Jump in 2003, it’s probably the best representation of the franchise in video game form. There are bits that feel like they’re begging for downloadable content — notably an option on the main menu that brings up an empty list of additional content — and since Namco Bandai is publishing it, they of course have some add-ons to sell you. Read more…
Tags: DLC, Namco Bandai, One Piece, PS3
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 24, 2012 in Anime 
Since October 2011, Madhouse has been animating a new adaptation of Hunter x Hunter, a manga by Yu Yu Hakusho‘s Yoshihiro Togashi. But back in 1999, there was a 62 episode adaptation by Nippon Animation. Both anime reflect the time period they were made in, but since they cover the same narrative beats so far, that means they’re ripe for comparison videos! Read more…
Tags: Hunter x Hunter
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 23, 2012 in Anime 
According to Dengeki’s 20th Annivesary Festival, a second season was announced for A Certain Scientific Railgun (To Aru Kagaku no Railgun), the spin-off of the anime A Certain Magical Index. Simply titled To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S, the new episodes will continue following Mikoto Misaka and her friends in Academy City. Read more…
Tags: A Certain Magical Index
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 21, 2012 in Animation, Anime 
Like livetune? How about Megumi Nakajima? Maybe school girls traveling through time and space, bizarre colorful worlds, and ancient Japan in a desperate attempt to get to school? What do you mean that doesn’t make sense? Come on now, this is anime. Logic and rules aren’t exactly a priority here. This recent music video for livetune’s song, Transfer, with Megumi Nakajima, is really cool and blends surprisingly well with the music. Check it out! Read more…
Tags: music videos
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 18, 2012 in Anime, Cinema 
After months of teasing, Studio Khara has finally released a trailer with actual footage from Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo. This is the latest in the exciting Rebuild of Evangelion, the remake/reboot/possible-sequel (?) to the seminal deconstruction of mecha anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion. With the film coming out on November 17 in Japan, it’s good to know that actual footage exists, considering how long fans have been waiting for this movie! Read more…
Tags: Evangelion
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 17, 2012 in Anime 
Hellsing Ultimate, a new animated adaptation that adheres closer to the manga it is based on, has been running since 2006. There are currently nine episodes released as OVAs, but all good things must come to an end. On December 26, the tenth and final episode will be released in Japan, concluding the story. From the looks of the trailer below, it’s going to be an explosive finish, but what else would you expect from an anime about nazi vampires? Read more…
Tags: vampires
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 12, 2012 in Anime, Cinema 
Though mainstream audiences may know the series as Battle of the Planets or G-Force, depending on how old they were when it was on the air, to old-school anime fans it has always been Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, or just Gatchaman. The adventures of the five-member team was widely popular the world over and spawned an additional OVA, as well as laying the foundation for franchises like Super Sentai, which was eventually adapted into Power Rangers for America. A movie had been planned by Imagi, but the company cancelled it in 2011. Now, there’s a new film project, coming this time from Japanese producer Nikkatsu. Read more…
Tags: Superheroes
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 25, 2012 in Anime, Videogames 
File this under “cute,” “strange,” and “why the hell not”: Inspired by a bunch of bootleg alpacasso plushies, artist DeviantArtist “yuumei” created these fusions of alpacas (essentially cuter llamas) and pokemon (essentially cuter anythings). The notable aspects of various popular pokemon are appended to a baby alpaca’s fuzzy, cute body. Read more…
Tags: cute, Fan Art, Pokémon
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 18, 2012 in Anime 
Last night, Nico Nico Namahousou hosted a live-stream discussion between Mamoru Oshii, the director of the original Ghost in the Shell movie, and Toshio Suzuki, the producer at Studio Ghibli (known for films like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away). While the talk was going on, Suzuki mentioned that he had talked with Tomohiko Ishii, the producer of The Sky Crawlers, a 2008 film also directed by Oshii. Suzuki claimed that he heard some interesting rumors concerning Oshii’s next project: a live-action Patlabor movie. Read more…
Tags: Robots
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 15, 2012 in Anime 
There’s anime of nearly everything. World leaders in high school? Check. Ancient Japanese warriors as teenage girls? Check. Demon fighters powered by breast milk? Also check. Now we’re getting an anime adaption of the old-school Nintendo/Sega console wars. Based on an existing manga called Aoi Sekai no Chushin de, it features two warring states, Segua and Ninterudo, fighting over the land of Consume. Marcse (Mario) is the powerful overlord of Ninterudo, but the main character is Gear (Sonic), who rises up to take him on. Seems ridiculous? Yes. But also hilarious. Read more…
Tags: Nintendo, Sega
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 13, 2012 in Anime 
Distributor Section23 is wasting no time taking some recent anime licenses from Sentai Filmworks and turning them into releases. The biggest title is the rerelease of the classic 1993 anime film Ninja Scroll, the story of the ninja Jubei in feudal Japan. For many, this is one of the most notable anime out there from an era when the medium was still underground in the United States. Ninja Scroll is available on Blu-ray and DVD on December 4, but that’s not all!
Also on December 4 is a DVD release of Mashiroiro Symphony, while December 11 sees the DVD release of Letter Bee Collection 1 and complete DVD collections of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi and Kobato. On December 18, the complete collection of The Legend of Heroes, an adaptation of the videogame series by Nihon Falcom, is available on both Blu-ray and DVD.
For some reason, Section23 is releasing Hakuoki: Record of the Jade Blood and Idolm@aster Xenoglossia Collection 2 on December 25, Christmas Day, but I’m sure this makes sense to someone in marketing. The month is rounded out on December 31 by the first collection of the intriguing supernatural series Penguin Drum on Blu-ray and DVD. Oh, and also Qwaser no Stigmata Collection 1, but you don’t have to care about that fanservice mess.
I’m particularly looking forward to those Blu-rays of Ninja Scroll and Penguin Drum, but the whole month looks really solid. It’s going to be tricky deciding which things will make the cut for a Christmas wishlist.
Source: Crunchyroll
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 6, 2012 in Anime, Cinema 
April 2011 saw the release of Tiger & Bunny, an anime about two superheroes competing to be better than other superheroes on a corporate-sponsored reality TV program. It was a sleeper hit, leading to two compilation movies being produced based on existing animation, with new animation added in to smooth over the cut content. The first of those movies, Gekijo-ban Tiger & Bunny -The Beginning-, is premiering this month, not only in Japan, but also in America. Read more…
Tags: Anime, Superheroes
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 30, 2012 in Anime, Videogames 
I’ve mostly outgrown my affection for the typical shonen genre exemplified by franchises like Bleach and Naruto. However, there is no way I can abandon One Piece, be it for the inventive action, energetic characters, and boundless enthusiasm on show. I think at this point I’m enough of a fan to even consider playing a videogame based on a series I’ve so far avoided. Part of that is how accurately One Piece: Pirate Warriors for PS3 depicts famous fights from the story. Read more…
Tags: Anime, One Piece, Videogames
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 29, 2012 in Anime, Cinema 
The next installment in Studio 4°C’s adaptation of Berserk is coming soon to Japan, and the studio has released a brand-new trailer via Yahoo! Movies Japan. Titled Berserk Golden Age Arc III: Descent, the movie wraps up the planned trilogy covering volumes 3-15 of the classic manga. (Wait, does it count as classic if it’s still running? Author Kentaro Miura sure likes taking his time.) Read more…
Tags: Anime, Berserk
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 28, 2012 in Anime 
In case you missed the boat, Hatsune Miku is serious business. The virtual music star started out as a mascot for a certain Vocaloid voice synthesizer and grew to be a legitimate pop idol that swept Japan. After even getting her own live concerts thanks to 3D projection technology, it’s time for the next step in her musical career: teaming up with an orchestra for a symphonic concert. Read more…
Tags: Hatsune Miku, Music
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 28, 2012 in Anime, Fandom 
Recently a friend dropped an interest factoid onto my Facebook page: Thirty years ago today on August 28th, 1982 as part of the Creation Summer Expo*NY comic book con there was a mini-convention held inside which was called the Star Blazers Mini Con. Up until that point there were gatherings of anime fans in New York City thanks to the local chapter of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization, but this was the first time that anime fandom found a place inside of a larger convention. My memory is fuzzy but the event lasted two full days, had about 100 people hanging around at any time and featured a mix of videotapes being played along with panel discussions. Read more…
Tags: Anime, Star Blazers
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