Blue Gender is a highly praised science fiction series about a man cryogenically frozen in the present, and awaken in a future when humans are battling giant insects. Those who have seen the series report that its character drama and quality animation set it apart from other bug hunt/mecha series.

The Big O has been described as Batman the Animate Series meets Giant Robo. It has been 40 years since an event wiped out the memories of Paradigm City's inhabitants. Roger Smith is the black clad name known the Negotiator. He is hired by the cities inhabitants and corporations to carry out sensitive agreements. He is also the pilot of the giant robot known as Big O. The series' deco look and noir atmosphere make it a stylistically enjoyable.

Dark Angel is Kia Asimiya's swords and sorcery epic.

Gunsmith Cats: Mister V starts the final story in the tale of two Chicago bounty hunters Rally Vincent (gunsmith and car enthusiast), and Minnie May(explosives adept).

Berserk Trailer

Volume 11 of Kenshin is shipping with a trailer for Berserk. John Sirabella has indicated that the series is being pushed for a March release. Berserk is set in a medieval time where the conflicts of personal lives and kingdoms mask supernatural forces subtly boiling below the surface. The first episode introduces Guts, known as the Black Knight, a man with an artificial arm, a missing eye and a deadly sword. He take great pleasure in a costly battle that dispatched a demonic baron.

The series flashes back to Guts' youth. He has a scar across his nose, he is not missing eye or arm, and conflicts are between men, with no over supernatural influence.

A young silver haired man named Griffith notices' Gats skill in battle and forciblely recruits Gats into his mercenary army known as the Hawks. Griffith is a man has never been defeated in obtaining his desired. He wanted Gats, and he got him. Now he is taking his army on the path that will make him a king.

Its characters have real depth. Their statements, actions, and motivations offer a great deal of room for thought and debate.

Figures.com reports Toycom has stated the first two Berserk figures, Guts: Hawk Soldier ( $17.99) and Guts: Black Swordsman ( $18.99) will be released next week. These are being sold to distributors in solid cases of six (3 each) and Toycom reveals that their supplies are almost sold out. The Guts duo will be followed up by the release of a Casca and Griffith two-pack (MSRP:$29.99) to be sold later this year.

Kodansha Bilingual Manga Titles To Cease Export

Anime News Service has learned that Kodansha International will cease exporting some bilingual manga titles they have been publishing. The titles that are not going to be exported are Card Captor Sakura, Love Hina, GTO, and Ah! My Goddess. For now, the other titles (Kindaichi Shounen's Mystery Files; OL Shinkaron; Sazae-san; etc) will continue to be exported.

It's currently not known the reason for the cease in printing or if overseas license holders may have expressed an opinion to Kodansha that the bilingual edition sales may have been cutting into domestic sales profits. It should be mentioned that Kodansha'a Bilingual manga is released worldwide in Europe, Asia & South America.

GTO is a drama about a former motorcycle gang member who becomes a teacher, for what his passes off as an opportunity to meet babes.

Viz Changes Manga Release Due to September 11th

Volume 4, issue 11 of Viz's manga (comic) anthology Animerica Extra announced that they will be skipping the current story line of Steam Detectives because of terrorist theme in the story.

As the name implies, Steam Detectives is Kia Asimiya's steam technology based detective tale.

Classic Tezuka Manga Published In Esperanto

According to Anime News Service, an article at here reports a volume of "Hi no Tori" (The Phoenix), an omnibus manga story by the late cartoonist Osamu Tezuka, was translated into Esperanto for the Japan Esperanto Institute's annual conference, held from Friday through Sunday in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture. The manga artist spent most of his youth in the city. "Hi no Tori" is considered to be Tezuka's lifework, and the volume translated into the international language presents Tezuka's views on space. More than 1,000 copies of the first edition were published, double the usual number printed for Esperanto-language books. Copies were distributed to the participants in the conference as souvenirs and were sold for 1,800 yen near Hankyu Takarazuka Station. A Polish ophthalmologist invented Esperanto about 110 years ago in the hope that it would function as an international languag! e. It is estimated that about 1 million people around the world use the language. According to the publisher, Tezuka often said manga was an international language. "I hope this Tezuka manga written in the Esperanto language will contribute to building world peace," a spokesman for the publisher said.

Vampire Hunter D & Wicked City on CineMax's OuterMax

Mark Holtz reports From http://www.cinemax.com/, it turns out that Vampire Hunter D on the OuterMax channel, as well as Wicked City. CineMax lists the movie as Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, the new movie, but Urban Vision representative Rhona Medina has confirmed it is the1985 OAV.

Vampire Hunter D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• Wed, Oct 3 10:40pm OMAX East
• Mon, Oct 15 12:00am OMAX East
• Fri, Oct 19 3:00am OMAX East
• Tue, Oct 23 12:00am OMAX East
• Thu, Oct 25 12:00am OMAX East

Wicked City ~~~~~~~~~~~

• Thu, Oct 4 12:00am OMAX East
• Mon, Oct 8 12:00am OMAX East
• Thu, Oct 18 4:10am OMAX East
• Sun, Oct 21 12:00am OMAX East
• Tue, Oct 30 10:35pm OMAX East

OuterMax is not available on either Dish or DirectTV, and may not even be carried on your local Cable system.

Marvel Mangaversion Preview

Newsarma has posted a Marvel Mangaverse preview at here The '5th Week Event' will be shipping this January. The article includes wrap around covers by Ben Dunn.

"It's actually a simple plot and story," Dunn said of his storyline. "I wanted it to be a homage to the Marvel of the 1960s with manga storytelling techniques."

""Basically Bruce Banner discovers a conduit to the Negative Zone and finds he can draw unlimited power from it," he continued, refamiliarizing us with the overall premise. "He imagines a world where energy is free and unlimited. However, no one will fund his project except Hydra (disguised as a dummy corporation). They build his Energy Well but he finds out that Hydra wanted an unlimited energy source so they can power a new weapon and blackmail the world. However, the backlash from the weapon creates and EMP the literally absorbs all forms of energy. The world is blacked out for 24 hours. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Antoinette Stark rescues Banner and blows up the generator. Banner goes crazy so Stark represses his memory and sets about to recreate the Energy Well but for good."

According to Dunn, characters that appear in his first issue include:

Bruce Banner, Donald Blake (a cameo only, as a child), Janet Van Dyne (The Wasp), Antoinette Stark (Iron Girl), Hank Pym (Ant-Man), T'Challa (Black Panther), Nick Fury, Steve Rogers, Baron Mordo, Baron Strucker, Prince Namor, Namora, Black Widow, The Executioner, Dr. Strange and Tigra.

The second issue will feature all the characters from the Mangaverse except for the Punisher, in which the combined might of all the Marvel Mangaverse heroes must stop the 20-foot tall monster, the Hulk.

Spriggan Theatrical Release

The ADV Web sites reports starting Friday, October 12th, Spriggan will be playing at the Rancho Niguel Cinema 8 in Laguna Niguel, California.

Spriggan is an action movie based on manga released in the US as "Striker". The movie focuses on a chapter of the manga in which a super agent with muscle augmenting armor fights to keep Noah Ark's power locked away.

Here is the latest listing of theater locations and release dates for Spriggan:

• October 12th Village East - New York City; Angelika Film Center - Houston; Angelika Film Center - Dallas ;8 AMC - Los Angeles; Rancho Niguel Cinema 8 - Laguna Niguel, CA
• October 26th Clinton Street Theater - Portland; Cinemark 12 - Hadley, MA; Cinemark 17 - Springfield, OR;
• November 29th Red Vic Movie House-San Francisco
• November 30th Cinefest - Atlanta

For more information about Spriggan on the web, check out the official Spriggan website at www.SpriggantheMovie.com

City Hunter Pre-orders

ADV's pre-orders for the second City Hunters series has reached over 550. For More information see here

City Hunter is pulp action series about a who will server as a body guard under the condition that his client is a woman.

Robotech Art

The Robotech web site has posted cover art of 9 volmes ofthe series at here

Dark Horse Delays

Dark Horse Comics has informed Right Stuf that some of their products have been delayed. The following are the new dates for their upcoming releases:

• 10/17 Oh My Goddess Graphic Novel 10: The Fourth Goddess
• 10/29 Masamune Shirow's Cyberworld Portfolio Artbook Adult
• 11/28 Minnie May action figure Vincent Rally action figure
• Now out of Print: Appleseed: Databook Graphic Novel Dirty Pair: Biohazards Graphic Novel

Soultaker TV Special In Japan

Anime News Service reports First airing in Japan from April, a special reairing of the 13 episode Soultaker TV series is now to occur via WOWOW with remastered and re-edited scenes. "The SoulTaker - Soul Hunting - Special Volume" will air from November 7th of 2001 at 25:00. Soultaker will be released by Pioneer in the US.

Zoids on Cartoon Network?

Toonzone.net's new forum reports that according to schedules released by the network, Cartoon Network has acquired the rights to the anime series Zoids. The show premieres Monday, Nov. 5 at 5:00 PM. Kijû shinseiki Zoid, or Zoids in the U.S.A., is based on the TOMY toyline of the same name.

More Battle Of The Planets DVDs

Lana Berman, a spokeswoman with Rhino Home Video, has confirmed to www.pulpculture.net that more Battle of the Planets VHS and DVD volumes will follow the first two due out this month. Volumes 3 and 4 are scheduled for release on Jan. 8, and volumes 5 and 6 are scheduled for release in March. Ms. Berman said that the new DVDs will follow the pattern set by vols. 1 and 2 in that they will contain uncut episodes of Gatchaman, as well as episodes of the alternate English-language version, G-Force, as extras. She added that Rhino plans to release additional volumes as long as they continue to sell.

Release Dates

Volume 6 of Nadia on DVD, entitled Deep Blue Sea will be released on 1/29. TOKYOPOP will be releasing Saint Tail volume 3, and Vampire Princess Miyy TV volume 3 on 1/22.

Toycom Escaflowne Figures.

Figures.com reports Toycom revealed back at the San Diego Comic Con 2001 in July that they had something big in store for Escaflowne anime fans in 2002. An approximately 12" transforming (from robot to dragon mode for flying) "Ispano White" Guymelef action figure is in the works and seriously being considered for US release sometime in 2002 (a black version is being looked at as well.) If fully green lighted, this piece will continue Toycom's high quality of imported products- Guymelef to consist of a hefty diecast construction, much like Toycom's recently released Giant Robo.

AFI Film Fest Information

Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaia will be replacing a Miyazaki film at the AFI Film Fest, on the November 1st opening night. Due to "circumstances beyond our control," the Miyazaki program was dropped at the last minute. While it was too late to change this information in the already printed "quick guide," it will be listed correctly in the forthcoming AFI Fest official catalogue.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be presenting a special program on anime on November 14, which will consist of various film clips (provided by Bandai, Manga, et al) along with a panel discussion on anime.

Jerry Beck at http://www.cartoonresearch.com is moderating the panel.

More Vampire Hunter D Dates

According to www.vampirehunterdbloodlust.com, the following locations have been added for the film:

• 10/26 The Belcourt Nashville, TN
• 10/26 UTEP Union Theatre El Paso, TX
• 10/26 Village Square Las Vegas, NV
• 11/2 The Heights Theatre Minneapolis, MN
• 11/2 Hawaii Int¡¯l. Film Festival All six islands, Hawaii
• 11/9 The Twins 2 date not confirmed Waikiki, Hawaii
• 11/9 Cleveland Institute of Arts Cleveland, OH
• 11/16 TBA Gainseville, FL
• 11/16 Channel 5 Tampa, FL
• 11/16 Winter Park Orlando, FL
• 11/30 TBA South Beach/Miami, Fl
• 11/30 The Varsity Theatre Seattle, WA
• 11/30 The Dobie Theatre Austin,TX
• 11/30 The Ken Cinema San Diego, CA
• 11/30 Cinema 21 Portland, OR
• 12/7 TBA Sarasota, FL
• 1/18 TBA Eugene, OR
• 2/1 The Avalon Corvallis, OR
• Also, according to the forum the dvd will be released "sometime next year".

Sen To Chihiro Rankings

Reuters reports after spending 11 Weeks as the number one ranking movie at the Japanese Box office, in the process becoming the most ever viewed film in Japanese theaters, Sen To Chihiro was been knocked from the number one spot by Lara Croft for one week before returning to the top spot.

Dragon Ball Z Tops Raitings

According to the Nielson Ratings for the week of September 24th through September 30th Dragon Ball Z, which is broadcast on Cartoon Network's Toonam five times a week, was the number one show for four of those five days with ratings varying between 2.1 and 2.7.

The only weekday TV show with more viewers was TNN's Monday night WWF Entertainment with ratings of 3.4 and 3.7 (it occupies two timeslots).

The only other show on Cable TV that attracted more viewers than Dragon Ball Z was ESPN's NFL coverage on Sunday. NFL Regular season garnered a rating of 5.5, while the NFL prime time garnered a rating of 3.7.

The following are new Anime TV series, Movies and OVAs that are expected to premier over the next few months. Some already have dates, while others do not.

News Anime in Japan

From the Japanese magazine Animage as reports by Anime News Network

TV

Shichinin no Nana ("Seven Nana")

Directed by IMAGAWA Yasuhiro, best known for G Gundam Story: One day, a junior high school girl Nana splits into seven persons. Every Nana has different character.

Onegai Teacher ("Please, Teacher")

To Air on WOWOW Directed by IDE Yasunori, best known for Hanaukyo Maid-Tai ("Hanaukyo Maid Team") Story: KAZAMI Mizuho is a beautiful biology teacher, and high school student Kusanagi happens to be married to her.

Kokoro Toshokan ("Kokoro Library")

Story: Kokoro ("heart") Library is situated somewhere in the out-of-the-way place. The three sisters Kokoro, Aruto and Iina manage the library. They meet various visitors and learn something new from each visitor.

Tenchi Muyo! GXP

Directed by WATANABE Shin'ichi, best known for Excel Saga. Story: A high school boy YAMADA Seina (15) is Tenchi's relative. One day, a girl Kawnacc appears before him.

Kogepan ("Scorched Bread")

Produced by San-X NET / ANIMAX / Studio Pierrot. Begins on November the 5th

Yobarete-Tobidete Akubi-Chan

The remake of the 70's popular Anime show Hakushon Daimao ("Atchoo Great Satan") . Akubi-chan is the Satan's pretty assistant girl. Begins on December the 4th. Directed by SASAGAWA Hiroshi, who directed the original version

Kaze no Yojimbo ("The Bodyguard in Breeze")

To be Aired on Tuesdays a.m.0:45 at Nihon TV Inspired by Kurosawa*s classic samurai movie Yojimbo Directed by DATE Yuki, best known for Genso-Maden Sauyu-Ki theater version

Shiawase-So no Okojo-San ("Okojo in Shiawase Apartment House")

To be Aired on p.m.6 on Tuesdays on TV Tokyo Story: Okojo is a hamster-like white animal. He begins living in a collage student*s room in Tokyo

Kasumin

To be Aired on p.m.6:30 on Saturdays on NHK Education Channel Directed by Hongo Mitsuru, best known for Megami Kohosei Story: A 4th grade girl HARUNO Kasumi begins living at Kasumi family*s house. But she find they are spirits called Henamon.

Patapata-Hikosen no Boken ("The Adventures of Patapata Aircraft)

Begins next January on WOWOW Based on Jule Verne's sci-fi adventure novels

Honoo no Mirage ("The Flaming Mirage)

Begins on January the 7th

MOVIES

Turn A Gundam

Directed by TOMINO Yuki ; The re-edited version of the TV series Opens on February the 9th

W XIII Mobil Police Patlabor

Opens next spring

OVAs

Kosupure Complex ("Cosplay Complex")

Story: Pretty high school girls challenge The Costume Play Competition

Prolific Japanese Voice Actress to Retire

Japanese voice actress Michie Tomizawa will retire from video game voice acting on October 20th, her 41st birthday. It is not clear whether she will also be retiring from anime. Her role in Sakura Taisen (Wars) 4 as Sumire Kanzaki will be her last role. Other roles include Doris in the original Vampire Hunter D movie, Linna of Bubblegum Crisis, C-ko of Project A-Ko, Sailor Mars of Sailor Moon, and Airi Komiyama of Those Who Hunt Elves.

Blaze Of Mirage - Clawless Hawk Anime TV Series Conversion

According to Anime News Service Based on the popular early 90's Shueisha 32 book manga series by Hamada Shouko / Kuwahara Mizuna, Mirage of Blaze - Clawless Hawk is being adapted to it's own TV series presently by SME Visual Works. The first the 13 episodes in the new series will air Jan. 7th 2002 at 20:00 on Nippon sat-net "Kids Station" ch. 276. and cable television.

• Original Story: Mizuna Kuwahara
• Supervisor: Toshio Hirata
• Character design: Taketa Itsuko
• Composition: Tokita Hiroko
• Music: Koichiro Kameyama
• Production: Madhouse - Sony Music Entertainment Visual Works
• Cast: Toshihiko Seki, Sho Hayamizu, Yasunori Matsumoto.

Vampire Kinzu

Fuji TV has confirmed "Bannpaiyakinzu", a family aimed TV animation for broadcast this fall on Saturdays at 6:30. Shinji Arakawa directs.

Ironcat Announcements

Domestic manga company Studio Ironcat announced at the AUSA in Arlington, Virginia that their web site at Ironcat.com has been completely resigned. The graphic novel collecting the six issues of the Dahlia the Vampire manga will be released in January or March of 2002. Extras which appeared in the Japanese edition of the manga, such as interviews and essays, will also be included.

Over five hundred fan letters in support of an English release of the Hana Yori Dango manga have been passed on to Shueisha representatives during a recent licensing meeting. No other news is available at this time, but negotiations are ongoing.

Dark Horse Releases Manga Sales Numbers

According to and ICV2.com article hereDark Horse released sales figures for its best-selling manga collections in its presentation at the Diamond/Alliance Retailer Summit in Las Vegas. That these books are bestsellers is not news; we reported it early this year and Lone Wolf and Cub and Akira routinely take the top spots in Diamond's bestselling trade paperback/graphic novel lists. In fact, the first Lone Wolf and Cub has sold about the same number of copies as a typical issue of Batman, and at a much higher cover price.

The first Lone Wolf and Cub collection, for example, has over 42,000 copies in print and is in its fifth printing. The second and third are both on their third printings, and issues two through four each have about 35,000 copies in print. The remaining collections (5-12) have about 30,000 copies in print.

The first Akira collection is on its third printing, and like the first LoneWolf, has about 42,000 copies in print. The second has about the same number of copies in print, and collections three and four each have around 30,000 in print.

About 90% of the sales of Lone Wolf and Cub come from comic stores, and about 80% of the sales of Akira are from that channel.

Spotlight: Gundam

The Year One War is the entry point to the Universal Century Gundam series. Humanity has partially emigrated from Earth to orbiting colonies known as Slides. One of these colonies declared itself the Principality of Zeon, and utilized its new weapon, humanoid armors known as Zaku to engage the Earth Federation in a war of independence. The first months of the war saw weapons of mass destruction end the lives of half the population on both sides. After months of stalemate the federation development its first Gundam mobile suit..

Mobile Suit Gundam Volume 2: The Red Comet

The crew of the young crew of the Whitebase have reached Earth with the Gundam. They are pressured from the outside the Zeon forces under the command of Garma, the youngest member of Zeon's ruling family, and from within by their passengers, elder colonists who were forces to emigrate to space, and now insist on dieing on Earth.

I recognize that the original Gundam series is a classic, but after 10 episodes it hasn't distinguished itself for me.

The characters are young an inexperienced. They are being pressured by superiors who are playing them as pawn, or are incompetent, or both. They are under constant pressure from an enemy with vastly more resources. Several of them have emotional issues, namely Amuro, who has gone from being a withdrawn prodigy to being the protector of all the people around him. It is realistic to see the characters as weary, battle fatigued, and lashing out, but the angry mech pilot feels like a game played too many times before. Neon Genesis Engelion has nearly permanently filled my quota for fractured mecha pilot. The series' are only superficially similar, in the case of Evangelion the problems originate from personal histories, where as in Gundam the problems are symptoms of war, but Evangelion excelled so well at portraying the troubled pilot, that the need to see it seems filled.

The only cool head is the Zeon soldier Char. He's a veteran who understands war, understands politics, and understands people. He also appears to have a plan rather than just a destiny.

The problem may be with the intended audience. It might be that after a certain age a cast of very young people with predestined greatness does not appeal to you. It makes the Zeon look more sympathetic. With the exception of Garma, a dandy who only cares about how he looks to his older sister, the Zeon characters have earned their skill though hard experience. Char has Amuro ability, but he has also seen combat, and has paid his dues for his position. Other Zeon soldiers seem as decent as the Federation protagonists, or more so. One character even notes that there is no difference between the people of Zeon and Earth. This marks it hard to cher for Amuro when he cuts down a squad of Zakus because he has the best weapon on the battlefield.

What the series does well is that it is exceptionally good at making a point without hammering it too hard. It moves forward when other series would make an extraneous speak. After witnessing a Zeon air craft drop supplies to Federation refugees Amuro is forced to shoot down the craft. It lingers on the moment, but it does not make it artificial with an explanation speech.

Gundam continues to provide interesting combat scenes. Garma's strategy, victory through numbers, is distinct from Char's, utilizing force at weak or vulnerable points. The Federation seemed to win due to their technical superiority, Garma's incompetence, and the whit of one of the crew's sneakier memebers rather the intelligent maneuvers that Amuro executed in the first volume. He seemed too overwhelmed by the constant battle to strategize.

The animation makes the most out its limitations. Clearly short cuts where taken, shots where constructed to limit the movements, pieces are moved across background, but it hides the limits well. It does not distract from the storyteller. There is no over reliance on repeat animation, or noticeable missing movements.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team Volume 2

Shiro Amada, and Aina Sahalin, who first met in battle in during their entry to Earth, have settled into their roles. Aina has become the test pilot for Zeon's experimental weapon, the Apsalus. Shiro has earned the trust of the Gundam 08th Mobile Strike team.

One of Shiro's pilot's has earned the name, "Sanders The Reaper" because his former assignments have ended with the deaths of all of his team mates on their third mission. The 08th's third mission takes them into conflict with the Apsalus.

08th MS Team is populated by engaging characters. They remind me of the protagonists of Saving Private Ryan, or Band of Brothers. They are people whose lives have been put on hold for the duration of a war. They seem like characters created to be people who were soldiers, not characters created to fill roles as soldiers. Where as the heroes of the original Gundam feel like history is written around them. Their story is shaping a history as it shapes them. 08th MS Team's characters feel like they are people caught in a crucial moment in history. They are fighting to control the portion that they can influence. The former can make for good stories, but the later ring truer, especially in a war stories.

Amuro Ray seems like another example of the predestined mecha piloting hero. Without training he innately understands who pilot the Gundam. In battle he is unbeatable. Shiro is a skilled pilot and leader with innate ability, but he has to The responsibilities that Amura feels shackled with, Shira greets, and dedicates himself to.

The DVD features a number of short "More About the Universal Century" clips with a bit about the history, politics and science fiction behind Gundam. Part of makes 08th MS Team so enthralling is its animation. Battle in jungles, stake outs in remote deserts, and confrontations in occupied villages make the settings visually interesting.

The detail added to the mobile suits, especially the sectioned joints and added design complexity, makes them looks more like functioning machines, and less like robots.

Fun Fact:

The Mobile Suit Gundam: 08Th MS Team DVD covers are reversible. Volume 1 features a great cover of a Zaku looming over a damaged Gundam, but the reversed cover features picture the support characters. Both sides of volume 2 are stunning. The side it ships with is a Gundam flying low in the night sky. The reverse side is a great shot of the Zeon pilot standing on top of the frozen corpse of a Gundam.

T-T-Th-Th-Tha-That-Thats Allll...

Scott