Father Geek here, holdup behind the barbwire entanglement that surrounds AICN's Central Texas Geek Headquarters Compound
and posting this week's edition of our regular Anime & Manga column...
AnimAICN...
by Scott Green
Manga Spotlight: Alien Nine Volume 3
By Hitoshi Tomizawa
Released by CPM Manga
by Scott Green
Manga Spotlight: Alien Nine Volume 3
By Hitoshi Tomizawa
Released by CPM Manga
Released by CPM Manga
It is easy to pass Alien Nine by, and miss one of the most ingeniously disturbing manga series. Something like Berserk or Uzumaki broadcasts what you will find under the cover, but the angelic school girls that adorn the front of Alien Nine don't look like the subjects of an invasion story that could stand with the works of Wells or Heinlein. It doesn't seem that all of the bedrock tenants of horror: disease, outsiders, loss of control, loss of self, could be wrapped up in an adorable winged frogs like alien that stares out with saucer eyes, mounded on a body that looks designed to inspire a merchandising fad.
Three young girls are chosen as their school's representatives of the Alien Party, and are given one of these symbiotic aliens, known as a borg, to wear on their head. The initial bargain is that these creatures will protect them, and feed off body waste such as sweat. The trio don roller blades, and pads to bat around other Pokemon-type buggers with modified lacrosse sticks. It turns out that their activity is less Collecting 'em All, and more about being on the receiving end of something along the lines of animal experimentation/training. This would be well and mildly insidious, except the orchestrators' rivals stumble onto what is happening, or try to reap the benefits for themselves, and discomfort shifts into mutilation.
Apart from the postscript Emulators, volume three ends Alien Nine. The conclusion isn't quite what was expected or hoped for. In keeping with the cute/children story only being a facade, answers aren't explicit, there isn't a resounding conclusion, and the lead grows older without growing-up/coming of age.
Despite a classic a classic "watch the skies" ending the progression never fit into any preformed templates. The story was never told in a strict narrative flow, or in vignettes. Instead its cascading situations were more like a school year: divided into standard length semesters, and subdivided into variably lengthed lessons, with an end that is a bit arbitrary and a bit someone's idea of complete.
Alien Nine peaked in its second volume. In volume three, the cause and rational for the conflict may not be crystal, but the stakes are. There is room to expand understanding, but the mix of surprising creativity, and cruelty of the second can't be recaptured. Interesting progression emerges from re-reading the three volumes
Alien Nine is worthily of distinction as something radical. Evan among manga, it is a unique experience.
Anime Spotlight: Rahxephon
Orchestration 3: Harmonic Convergence
Released by ADV Films
For a while it looked like Neon Genesis Evangelion was going to the tombstone of giant robot anime. Rahxephon has been one of the best post-deconstruction work to come out of its wake. It acknowledges Evangelion's impact in the structure of its cast, and the attention to the mind of its protagonist, but it also moves on. It picks out the grandeur and big visuals of the subject matters and abandons the formula stricture of alien invasions followed by launched defense. It borrows Evangelion's cast dynamics and sense of mystery without Hideaki Anno's neurotic introspection, then builds a world of design from Bones, the studio that has been demanding notice since the Cowboy Bebop movie.
Intricately designed bird cages, and breathing cities are hallmarks of Bone's meticulous craft, but where they create something that it a marvel to watch is in their unearthly Dolem advisories. These marble sculpted acid trips combine numerous elements without looking like the typical rampaging Frankenstein's monsters, a bit like Big O's art deco giant robots, with wilder proportions, a smooth, aquatic like surface, and Arztec features.
The leap forward in this volume is that it revisits the multiple worlds of the series' twist in a dream/hallucination that captures the disconnection, skewed logic and impulse of the state in a frighteningly vivid manner.
If there is a flaw, it that is that the series sets high standards for itself than falls short by doubling, or focusing on elements without first establishing their gravity. While Rahxephon remains visually engaging, and inventive it hasn't lived up the first volume's mix of intelligent surprise, hard sci-fi, and surreal constructs. To follow the series' music metaphor, it feels like the main theme is still lurking below the others tunes, waiting to crescendo. At nearly the half way point, volumes two and three have left the series a little front loaded with diversions that would have been better served by being spaced out and after more of the situations mechanics are revealed.
The second volume featured a collection of the beach and bikini, or Christmas episodes that are better spaced out, while the third features character insights or revealing moments that seems like they would have more impact later.
Anime Sound Track Spotlight: Hellsing Original
Soundtracks: Raid
& Hellsing Original Soundtracks: Ruin
Released by Pioneer
Pioneer (or Geneon as it just became known) has recently released the second of the two soundtracks to action horror anime Hellsing. Both Raid and Ruin are rare non-vocal anime soundtracks that stand on their own merits beyond audio postcards of their anime source. They paint a complex demon haunted world of dissonance where Sesame Street type tune of children laughing are interrupted by sadistic cackling, easy jazz collisions, or tribal chanting overlaid with harsh electric guitar feedback. Beyond gothic tunes and guitar, the soundtrack features lighters tunes, and a consistently high level of the energy.
The track titles along make the cds worth owning. Who can pass up "Aha, Springtime of Life's Erotic Hell", "Primary colored Suicide Bombing Love Song" or "Non-neurosis tunes ~Who the hell are you?~".
This Week's Anime And Manga Releases
Anime
- The Best Of Hello Kitty's Paradise
- Blue Gender Box Set
- Dark Myth
- Doomed Megaopolis - Special Edition
- Dual - Trouble Adventure - Boxed Set
- Figure 17 Vol. 1:Soul Mirror
- His And Her Circumstances (Vol. 5)
- His And Her Circumstances 1-5
- Najica Blitz Tatics (Vol. 2)
- Sakura Wars Tv - Intermission (Vol. 4)
- Twelve Kingdoms Vol. 2:Empress
- Zaion - Epidemic (Vol. 1)
- Zenki - Saga 4
- Zoids 2: High Speed Battle
- Zoids 3: Coliseum Battle
Manga
- Angels Wing #3
- Astro Boy Vol 19 Tp
- Dance Till Tomorrow Vol 7 Tp
- Fake Vol 3 Gn (Of 7)
- Inu Yasha Vol 15 Tp
- Maison Ikkoku Vol 1 Tp 2Nd Ed
- Nadesico Book One Tp New Ptg
- Popcorn Romance Gn
- Vagabond Vol 7 Tp
Japanese Nausicaa DVD Release Info
- The Best Of Hello Kitty's Paradise
- Blue Gender Box Set
- Dark Myth
- Doomed Megaopolis - Special Edition
- Dual - Trouble Adventure - Boxed Set
- Figure 17 Vol. 1:Soul Mirror
- His And Her Circumstances (Vol. 5)
- His And Her Circumstances 1-5
- Najica Blitz Tatics (Vol. 2)
- Sakura Wars Tv - Intermission (Vol. 4)
- Twelve Kingdoms Vol. 2:Empress
- Zaion - Epidemic (Vol. 1)
- Zenki - Saga 4
- Zoids 2: High Speed Battle
- Zoids 3: Coliseum Battle
Manga
- Angels Wing #3
- Astro Boy Vol 19 Tp
- Dance Till Tomorrow Vol 7 Tp
- Fake Vol 3 Gn (Of 7)
- Inu Yasha Vol 15 Tp
- Maison Ikkoku Vol 1 Tp 2Nd Ed
- Nadesico Book One Tp New Ptg
- Popcorn Romance Gn
- Vagabond Vol 7 Tp
Japanese Nausicaa DVD Release Info
From Natsume Maya Buena Vista had been considering using a pseudo-stereo audio track for the Japanese DVD release of the Hayao Miyazaki Studio Ghibli ecological epic Nausicaa, but opted to keep the original mono soundtrack after testing determined that it was superior.
Domestic Avalon Release
Anime News Service points out Yahoo is listing that Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii and screenwriter Kazunori Ito's live action cyberthriller Avalon has been passed up for a theatrical released by Miramax. The movie will be released to home video by Buena Vista Home Entertainment December 16th.
The movie's official site can be seen at www.avalon-movie.com
New Viz Manga Licenses
Anime on DVD reports that Viz has licensed Angel Sanctuary And Hana Zakari No Kimitachi E ("Hana-Kimi"). Both titles will be released bi-monthly starting in spring 2004.
Hana Zakari No Kimitachi E is a highshool romance about a girl who assumes the identity of a boy to follow a high jumper who she idiolizes to an all boy's school, then ends up as his roommate.
Angel Sanctuary is a bishonen (thin, feminin men) angst epioc about a trouble teen, in love with his sister, who learns that he is the reinarncation of an angel who revolted against God.
Ghost in the Shell Innocence pictures
Anime News Network points out Production I.G has posted 4 images from the upcoming Ghost in the Shell Innocence movie here
Bandai Licenses Kaze no Yojinbo
FUNimation Productions, Ltd. is celebrating the
September 30th release of the Blue Gender Box Set by
giving fans the opportunity to own a piece of the show.
Five animation cels from the series are being given
away as prizes in a trivia promotion.
By answering five trivia questions about the show, fans
are entered to win one of five animation cels used in
the production of the show. All five animation cels
come complete with multiple matching sketches. These
cels have been professionally graded and are valued at
$250 each.
The Blue Gender series is a very popular sci-fi anime
series. Play Magazine describes it as "an addiction,
one that is candy-coated with excellent character
development and brushed with the venomous tang of
suspense." Blue Gender has recently gained more fans
with its airings on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.
The Blue Gender Box Set is reason enough to celebrate,
but FUNimation would like to give fans the chance to
win these unique pieces of the show. The complete 26 episode series of Blue Gender will
retail for $119.00 and will be available at specialty
retailers nationwide and at Zstore.com on September 30,
2003.
For more information see here
From Magic
Box
Umages of the upcoming Astro Boy/Tetsu Wan Atom
Playstation 2 game can be seen here.
Sega and Red Entertainment announced Sakura Taisen V:
Episode 0 for PlayStation 2, a dramatic action game
based on the story of Sakura Taisen V. The story takes
place in US in the year of 1927.
Images of Tomy's GameCube 3D anime fighting game
Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen 2, the game is scheduled
for a spring 2004 release in Japan can be seen here.
Excerpted from the press release:
Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX: CJR.B - News; NYSE: CJR
- News) today announced the creation of a new Home
Entertainment Division for its Production, Distribution
and Consumer Products subsidiary, Nelvana Limited. The
move is part of a new market-driven operating strategy
for the internationally acclaimed animation company,
known for such wildly popular properties as Beyblade,
Babar and Franklin.
Texas-based FUNimation Productions, licensor of current
hot anime brands including Dragon Ball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh!,
will release 44 of Nelvana's library titles in the U.S.
market, including Redwall, Tales of the Crypt Keeper,
Pecola and Molville Mysteries. The deal represents
tremendous opportunity for Nelvana, as FUNimation also
becomes a strategic partner on prospective new anime
productions as well as a potential co-production
partner.
Anime Nation is listing the first volume of super hero
wrestling anime Ultimate
Muscle aka Kinnikuman from FUNimation featuring
Japanese and English audio tracks. 4Kids' English
adpation of the series is currently airing of Fox.
Media Blasters will be releasing the first volume of
Gunparade March on Janurary 27th.
A post on Anime on
DVD's forum relays a convention conversation with
AnimEigo about Macross licensing. Repordedly, the
rights holders to the Macross: Do You Remember Love
will not license the movie to an American company
because they do not want to share the revenue with the
companies that they would be required to. Likewise
the licensing of the Macross 7 series is too tangled
with song rights to approach.
Entertainment Inc. After Acquisition
Pioneer has announced that is has changed its name to
Geneon Entertainment ' a new word combining "generate"
and "eon," embodies Pioneer Entertainment's creative
capabilities to produce new entertainment with eternal
value.' Yosuke Kobayashi will continue to serve as
President of Geneon Entertainment (Usa) Inc.
Excerpted from the press releas:
Teaming with many of Japan's top production companies,
including GONZO, Madhouse and Production I.G, Pioneer
Entertainment has served as a creative partner in
developing several anime favorites, including "Armitage
Dual-Matrix," "Hellsing," "Strawberry Eggs,"
"SoulTaker" and "Fushigi Yugi Eikoden." In addition,
the company licenses titles created by some of Japan's
most popular and prestigious filmmakers and has entered
the theatrical arena with strategically planned
releases of motion pictures.
Committed to meeting the needs of the ever-changing
global business environment, Dentsu has expanded its
business far beyond the scope of the typical
advertising firm, and into the arena of the
entertainment business. In Japan, Dentsu has made
investments in the production of Hayao Miyazaki's
"Spirited Away" and "Princess Mononoke." The company's
entertainment portfolio also includes Japanese
distribution rights for "Lord of the Rings" and the
television distribution rights for Buena Vista
properties. Aggressively pursuing the production and
distribution for animation television programming, the
company is also seeking the overseas distribution and
sales of Japanese animation franchises such as "Astro
Boy" and "Kirby." The synergy created from Dentsu's
acquisition of Pioneer Entertainment will result in the
promotion of Dentsu's entertainment-related business
and a strategic entry into the software content
industry.
According to IMDB
Sony Pictures Entertainment is planning an ambitious
program to produce animated features in Japan and
distribute them overseas, the Tokyo daily Nihon Keizai
Shimbun reported today (Wednesday). The Culver
City-based company said that it has set up an animation
division in Japan that will produce two animated films
a year, each about two hours long, with the first film
due to be completed in 2005, the newspaper said.
From Natsume Maya
Tokyo High Court rule that production company Tatsunoko
Pro held copyright over Super Dimension Fortress
Macross , since that company was the one with the
responsibility for ensuring the completion of the work.
On the other hand, the court distinguished this from
copyright in the designs of the characters etc, which
was held to reside with planning company Studio Nue.
From Natsume Maya
GAiNAX has also confirmed that volume 9 of the
Evangelion manga will be published in Japan in spring
2004 and that the limited edition version will come
with Ayanami Rei action figure.
The Evangelion manga presents a skewed retelling of the
anime series from Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, character
designer for Evangelion, and a number of other Gainax
titles including Nadia and Wings of Honneamise.
Three preview movies of the Full Metal Alchemist anime
adaptation (no relationship to Full Metal Panic) can be
seen here
From Natsume Maya
The web site for the upcoming can Bobobobo Bobobo,
based on the manga by Sawai Yoshio, be seen here
GAiNAX has confirmed on its website that its TV anime
(in conjunction with JC Staff) of Boukyaku no Senritsu
(Melody of Oblivion) will commence broadcast on TV in
the spring of 2004.
Mangazoo has details of the story in Kon Satoshi's
upcoming TV anime series Mousou Dairinin (to commence
broadcast on WOWOW in February 2004). The case of the
phantom killer(?, I think) in Musashino City, Tokyo. At
first it appears the victim may have been the author of
their own work, but things change when a second victim
surfaces. The criminal, who appears to be "the roller
blading shonen with the gold bat", soon attacks those
around the incident, one by one. Who is the "shonen
bat"? And who's the next target?
Bones (Cowboy Bebop Movie, Wolf's Rain, Rahxephon) is
working on the sci-fi anime anime Kurau, which will be
directed by Irie Yasuhiro for a 2004 release.
Morimoto Koji's short anime film Onkyou Seimeitai
Noiseman (Noiseman Sound Insect) will be released on
DVD around 5 December 2003. Anime production by Studio
4ºC, animation and character design by Morimoto, music
by Kanno Yoko. A sci-fi story in which a scientist
develops an insect-like lifeform which neutralises
sound waves. Other short works by Morimoto will be
included on the DVD, and also "making of" clips such as
staff interviews. DVD specs: approximately 60 minutes,
Dolby Digital (5.1ch and stereo), single layer,
anamorphic letterboxed.
According to this 2 channel post, an advance issue of
Shonen Ace manga magazine (on sale 26 September 2003)
states that the GAiNAX anime Boukyaku no Senritsu
(Melody of Oblivion) will commence broadcast on TV next
April 2004. At least, that's how I read the post. 2
channel posts seem to be very brief. Source: Moon
Phase. The manga of Boukyaku no Senritsu by Karakura
Shinji is serialized in Shonen Ace.
Production IG's Japanese website has characterdesigns up for the TV anime
version of Sakigake!! Cromartie Koukou (Cromartie High School).
Bandai is list upcoming releases including a
new Spirit of Wonder
Tsuruta Kenji Wonder Box, with a new short anime
called China-san or Miss China's Homesicknes. The
cover can be seen here.
Comics
Journal Journalista points out that TOKYOPOP is
lookinf for an editor-in-chief, marketing director, cine-manga editor and manga editor.
AnimEigo is
listing the following upcoming releases:
October 3 - Urusei Yatsura: Only You
October 17 - Arcadia of My Youth
October 31 - Kimagure Orange Road Movie & OVAs
November 7 - Madox-01
See the site for the status of these anime titles, and
Samurai Cinema releases of a numbers of Lone Wolf and
Cub and Zatoichi movies.
Urusei Yatsura is an earlier relationship comedy from
Ranma ½ and Inu Yasha creator Rumiko Takahashi about a
lecherous boy, and Lum, the alien girl with horns,
green hair, and a tiger striped bikini.
Arcadia of My Youth is a movie that tells one version
of the melodramatic origin of Leiji Matsumoto's Space
Captain Harlock.
Natsume Maya reports that
Morikawa Kaori will be playing Sailormoon's mother Tsukino
Ikuko in the live action series Pretty Guardian
Sailormoon, and Sugimoto Aya
will be playing the villian Queen Beryl.
ICV2 has posted
several pieces on a growing conflict between comic
shops and distributors over who gets priority treatment
over anime projects, such as the new Yu-Yu Hakusho
collectable card game. The retail side can be seen here, and the distributor side here.
ICV2 has a short profile of the new Kinokuniya flagship bookstore in
Japan, which fearues 150,000 manga volumes and
approximately 50,000 primarily anime DVDs.
Full Metal Panic! Volume 1, the first release from A.D.
Vision, Inc.'s new ADV Manga division, exploded out of
the gates with an exceptionally strong performance-a
Number Seven ranking-on the national graphic novel
bestseller list.
An action-comedy title telling the story of a
high-school honor student who unwittingly carries a
valuable secret, and the extremely gung-ho young secret
agent who goes undercover to protect her, the Full
Metal Panic! manga ties in to a highly popular anime of
the same title, currently being released by A.D.
Vision, Inc.'s ADV Films division.
Sin: Special Edition, the movie tie-in to the video
game of the same name from Ritual Entertainment. Sin:
The Movie, produced by ADV Films and animated by
Japan's Phoenix Animation, was originally released in
2000. This Special Edition release includes Sin on DVD,
plus the original soundtrack on CD, performed by the
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.
The DVD includes both English-language and
Japanese-language audio, and offers viewers two
distinct storylines in the subtitled versions. One is
Sin: The Movie's original English-script, while the
other is the Japanese-language translation of the
English script-creating intriguing variations in the
storyline.
The Story:
Enter the world of SIN. Sometime in the 21st century,
the city of Freeport teeters on the verge of collapse.
The twin tides of rampant crime and ruinous graft face
but a single barrier-an elite strike force called
HARDCORPS. Led by Colonel John Blade, the HARDCORPS
have become a fierce fighting force for justice in
Freeport.
Now, Blade must unravel a mysterious series of
unexplained kidnappings. An elaborate puzzle unfolds
as he delves into the decadence of the city, and at its
heart is SinTEK, one of the most powerful companies in
the world. Elexis Sinclaire's genius, ruthlessness,
and determination built an empire that, on the surface,
seems to be giving society everything it wants and
needs-drugs that prolong health and, perhaps, even
life. But within the company's well-guarded walls,
Elexis' secret experiments yield considerably darker
results that may bring about mankind's greatest
evolutionary leap-or its extermination.
Sin: Special Edition (SRP $29.98) is a DVD-only
release, including both English 5.1- and Japanese
2.0-language versions, and two versions of the English
subtitles, and the CD soundtrack. Extras include: a
photo gallery, storyboards, production sketches, Sin
manga concepts, pre-production artwork and a
Saiyuki: Demon Rising, sixth volume of the thrilling,
humorous, wildly entertaining, 50-episode anime saga.
The first iterations of the Saiyuki tale, which was
inspired by the 16th-century Chinese novel Xiyouji
(Journey to the West) by Wu Cheng-En, were animated in
the late 1960s; ADV Films' release of Saiyuki is based
on a manga by Kazuya Minekura, and directed by Hayato
Date.
The Story:
As draught and famine spread throughout the land, local
townships have fallen under the control of demons.
Sanzo and his crew teach one village to rise up against
a Baron who demands a human sacrifice every year, and
things get rough when the Armored Demon Corps comes
after Sanzo's scripture. But, in the end, it is little
Lirin who may prove to be the party's mightiest foe!
With each step westward, the Sanzo party faces a
barrage of both physical and psychological attacks!
Slayers: Return, the second movie tie-in (after
Slayers: the Motion Picture) to the fan-favorite
fantasy-adventure anime series Slayers.
Slayers: Return, based on a manga by Hajime Kanzaka
(Lost Universe) and directed by Hiroshi Watanabe (King
of Bandit Jing, Orphen), brings back odd couple Lina
Inverse and Naga the Serpent in a series of
(mis)adventures that are equal parts action and comedy.
The Story:
The indomitable Lina Inverse and the inexplicable Naga
the Serpent are in trouble up to their eyebrows again!
If you thought Slayers: the Motion Picture was wild,
just wait until you see Lina and Naga take on a horde
of vicious demons and a band of road warriors intent on
collecting an unpaid debt.
What starts out as a simple task ridding a village of
some villains turns into a fiasco when Lina and Naga
realize their spells won't work. An ancient elf-made
weapon, a would-be world conqueror and a plot with more
twists than a pretzel factory-this Slayers adventure is
sure to have you in knots with laughter!
Sorcerer Hunters: Chocolate, Springs and Other Hot
Things!, an OVA tie-in to the popular television anime
series. The OVA brings back the zany (and tastily
named) characters-Carrot Glace, Chocolate Misu, Tira
Misu and more-and throws them into another series of
hilarious and wacky adventures that are sexier than
ever before.
Sorcerer Hunters: Chocolate, Springs and Other Hot
Things! was directed by Koichi Mashimo (.hack//SIGN,
NOIR) and Nobuyoshi Habara (Martian Successor Nadesico,
Steam Detectives), and was written by Satoru Akahori,
the creator of the original Sorcerer Hunters television
series and screenwriter on the upcoming ADV release
Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi.
The Story:
Take two gorgeous women with whips, add a magician and
a body builder, tie it all together with an amorous
young man willing to put the moves on anything that
moves, and what do you get? Simple: the funniest,
sexiest adventure series around! That's right,
Chocolate, Tira, Carrot and the rest of the cast of
Sorcerer Hunters are back in three titillating
episodes.
When Carrot tries to seduce a lovely older woman (while
Chocolate is trying to seduce Carrot), a steamy hot
springs vacation gets steamier... and funnier. Then our
heroes leap into battle with the Death Master, an evil
necromancer who's transformed an entire town into his
willing zombie slaves! Finally, an ancient tree with
legendary romantic powers turns a relaxing picnic into
a love-crazed free-for-all! Can even the Sorcerer
Hunters handle this kind of heat?
Sorcerer Hunters: Chocolate, Springs and Other Hot
Things! ($24.98 SRP) is a DVD-only release, containing
three complete episodes. Includes both English 2.0- and
Japanese 2.0-language versions, and English subtitles.
DVD extras include: Sorcerer Hunters: Chocolate,
Springs and Other Hot Things! trailer, clean opening
and closing animation, and ADV previews.
FUNimation Blue Gender Cel Contest
Highlights of the
Blue Gender Box Set include:
Anime Games
FUNimation to Distribute Nevlana Series
Japanese' Ultimate MUSCLE?
Gunparade March Dates
Forget About Love
Pioneer Entertainment Inc. to Become Geneon
Sony To Produce Animated Films in Japan
Macross Goes to Court
Evangelion Manga News
Full Metal Alchemist Previews
Upcoming Anime in Japan
TOKYOPOP Hiring Fury
Upcoming AnimEigo Releases
Live Action Sailor Moon Casting
Comic Shops Vs Chains over Anime Products
Dream Anime Store
ADV Manga Sales
Upcoming ADV Anime Releases
November 4:
November 25:
Sin: Special Edition
Saiyuki: Demon Rising
Slayers: Return
Sorcerer Hunters: Chocolate, Springs And Other Hot
Things!