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Column by Scott Green

Column Changes

I probably shouldn't post this now, since it tips my hat to intentions while other objectives are trying to be achieved but...

Starting July 25th, the AICN Anime column will be re-focusing itself and moving to a schedule in which columns will be posted every other week early Tuesday AM, US Eastern time.

The new format will still have news and reviews, but less of each. Instead, the goal is to dig into specific of anime and manga and off a unique examination of what works and what doesn't work in that particular title.

Hopefully the results will be interesting than the pretentious ambitions.

(cover of movie adaptation, not reviewed novel)

Prose Preview: Be With You
By Takuji Ichikawa

To be Released by Viz November 2006

Romantics-at-heart, Takuji Ichikawa’s Be With You has your number in its a simple and intense expression of the love and need between two people. Readers who aren’t amenable to that out look might fight the novel a bit of a provocation.

It's little surprise that Be With You found success linking the weepy jun-ai/"pure love" genre, which was surging at the time of its original publication, with super-natural elements. The results were a sentimental meditation on life and happiness through the modern Japanese ghost story. Though the tone evolves from an acute exercise in mourning to almost an augment suggesting not just the necessity, but cosmic importance of the nuclear family, the novel follows a pattern that fans of the popular Asian horror movies will recognize. In the context of that genre, it pursues an emotional excavation through human relationships leading to a rewarding final twist. Taking that format into the jun-ai context, it inverts the impact of a horror story, making the supernatural a source of comfort and affirmation.

With jun-ai's popularity in 2004 and 2005, the hit novel became a hit live action movie. In turn, that movie is scheduled to re-adapted by Warner Bros. with Jennifer Garner and her Vandalia Films.

Be With You is narrated by a brittle father precariously taking care of his six year old son since the death of his wife the previous year. If there was ever anyone predisposed to be devastated by his spouse's death it was Takumi, who experience love late, only ever loved his wife, and, prior to his marriage, was struck with fractured nerves. This nervous affliction rendered him unable to complete college, travel more than 40 miles or by any means other than foot or bicycle, or pursue diversions as simple as entering a movie theatre. Since his wife, Mio's death, he hasn't been able to focus on anything but her. He imagines that she is catalogued away on planet Archive, where she will remain in contemplation as long as people on Earth remember her.

Bicycling with his son to a forest spot, Takumi encounters a doppelganger of his wife. This woman explains that she lacks memories of them or her own life but they take her back to their home. Despite her misgivings about the bachelor appearance of Takumi and his apartment, they try to hide her previous death and re-integrate her back into the family.

Be With You doesn't just embrace a traditional view of relationships, it puts that view in a bear hug. The appeal is that there is a neat order in which responsibility is exchanged for love. It's the kind of cleanness an otaku adherent would appreciate.

Starting with Takumi's initial paralysis and through the live with new-Mio, the novel serves to construct a picture of love, devotions and satisfaction between a father and mother. It's apparent that the pair loved each other and the case build through the course of the novel was that that is right and enough.

While a thorough portrait of Takumi is presented, the novel spends more effort in fleshing out the argument for why the course of Mio's life was the right one. New Mio's purpose was instructing Takumi and their son in what they need to do to carry on and freeing Takumi of his mental block in moving forward. Instinctually Mio spends her short second-life tidying and caring for husband and son. When she realizes she left then before and will soon be leaving them again, she acts preparing them for life without where they can carry forward without the woman's role in their family unfilled. This positions Takumi to take a trip, but not one that seemed to mark the beginning of a new Takumi.

The final twist spectacularly drives the nail home. Though fate was arbitrary in taking away Mio, it was not righting itself in returning her, but affirming her life. The outlook that is presented doesn't soften the connection severing tragedies in the unfair universe, but offers comforting lack of ambiguity. There are roles and goals which when adhered to will facilitate happiness. Men and women move from monogamy to child raring and life falls into disarray when the pattern is interrupted. As examples of those living outside their patterns, there is a teacher who gave up love to take care of an ailing sister accompanied by a dog that was surgically altered to prevent it from barking. These are stuck in a limbo until strategy strikes them.

These strategies, including Mio's death don't quite seem to be punishments, but they do seem to punctuate the path when it has gone astray. When Takumi was focusing on something other than advancing his rather ship with Mio, he was struck with the breakdown that caused his condition. It is implied that though accidental, Mio's problems originated from working too late into her pregnancy. Ultimately one of the issues that needed to be reconciled was convincing Takumi not that his wife could have been happy with just a family, with a husband would could travel or who would advance his career.

Is this sort of family centric narrow focus the correct template for living? Well, Be With You comes down forcefully on one side of that debate. Reading the novel calls to mind Mimei Sakamoto's When No Choice is a Good One: A girl's guide to finding happiness in Japan from Time Magazine in which life's paths lead to child-care. The novel certainly offers a counter-point to a soap opera would in which relationships require a map. Even on a skeptical level, to some degree, its call for happiness in simplicity is convincing.

Anime Spotlight: Baki The Grappler
Volume 7: The Hunted

Released by FUNimation

Marking the first volume of Baki The Grappler's second season, Grappler Baki Maximum Tournament, the fight anime adopts an novel take on the familiar tournament structure, in that it actually offers a fully bracketed competition. Except for a few dramatic trump card substitutions, every participant is introduced, and the brackets themselves closing credit animation.

Framed in this way, Baki is the World Cup of fight anime. It's pure action. There's no false stakes, no false drama, no false motivation. People strike and grapple, animated. If this sort of fictionalized dominance ritual is to your like, the second season of Baki is in every way perfect. If men hitting each-other is perplexing, Baki is a more infinitely skip-able anime than ever.

The storytelling of this season tones down the titular characters Oedipal conflict. The format also removes the annoying characteristic of first season in which one foe was set up as a world-beater badass, only to be unmasked as a nobody after their defeat. Instead it works at building up to a number of confrontations at the same time. Because the fighters are so different, and because it ensures when in action, the different styles and personalities yield substantially different engagements every time two different people fight, it sells the complete line-up of fights. Similarly it utilizes the known characters from the first season to provide a mix of upsets and surprises with anticipated match-ups to keep guesswork and speculation involved.

The series is less disrespectful of real martial arts than in the previous season, but it still gives a higher precedence to its fictional forms and karate than many real world arts (the later case has always seemed a bit nationalistic). All of the forms are adjusted to produce more exotic visuals and given pseudo-plausible explanations. For example, a boxer is shown to thrown his body into incredible angles in order to take advantage of what the anime explains is a limited, cube shaped range of effectiveness between his head and chest.

Blood and bones are presented as key aspects in how the series will be depicting its brand of combat. An early episode in the season makes it clear that these combatants are out to not only beat each other, but destroy their opponents body, with necessity or urge depending on the combatant’s proclivities. The episodes offer plenty of bloodied faces, cranked bones and misbent joints. The worst of all this comes thanks to a self mutilating thug, whose demonstration of bad-ass disregard is stomach turning to think about.

Given that anime is form that carries an expectation of offering new twists and new visual experiences, experimentation tends to welcome. The opening credits animation of the second season of Baki produced something that may have been new when it was animated in 2001, but probably still wasn't a good ideas. Rarely is their an opening that so forcefully calls for a DVD's chapter-next button. This sequence uses cell-shaded CGI to animate Baki and two other prominent competitors demonstrating exhibiting the motions of a number of their techniques. It resembles nothing so much as the a video game waiting for the start button to the pressed. As anime that is actually watched, the problems will this technique are glaringly unignorable. Static imagine going through complex motion end up looking like marionette action figures. The faces doesn't move, and more to the point, the prominent and detailed musculature doesn't move, except in the overt shifting of shadows. The whole experience is such a disconcerting experience, that isn't natural and isn't stylized, that you just don't want to see it.

Why watch Baki rather than watch a UFC or Pride mixed martial arts DVD? (Volume 8 is actually packaged with a Pride advertising insert) Baki isn't real and offering an actual test of technique and athleticism. It isn't like Hajime No Ippo/Fighting Spirit or the classic Ashita no Joe, since character isn't the emphasis or attraction. So it doesn't capture the adrenaline and intensity of real sport fighting or the emotional connection of how anime/manga typically capture the endeavor. The answer might be that a work like Baki offers guiltless brutality. It satisfies the curiosity of what different styles of combat can do without damaging a real human being in the process. It's simply spectacle, but spectacle that is offering something distinctive.

Manga Spotlight: Tough Volumes 1 and 2 By Tetsuya Saruwatari

Released by Viz

If Baki the Grappler isn't violent enough for you, or you thought Baki was too plot driven, and that its explanations were too plausible, there's Tough. Tough, or Koko Tekken-Den Tough (the anime was released by CPM as Shootfighter Tekken) is as undiluted as fight manga can get. The amount of blood and bones and twisted joints is pretty much pornographic. Occationally Saruwatari will offer some sort of character motivation, or pseudo-scientific, pseudo-historical explanation, but within the first two volumes, without being over-literal, the high conceptive violent striking-free page count is seven. Tough isn't so much a violent soap opera as a street brawl.

Saruwatari's famous Rihki-Oh had some semblance of a plot, but he only illustrated that work, rather than carry full creative duties as on Tough. Tough is comprised of junior high student Kiibo Miyazawa fighting people. What passes for drama stems from the fact that he's to be the fifteenth generation head practitioner of Nadashinkage style martial arts. He'd like be a movie action hero, but his father insists that Nadashinkage be kept a secret art. It's actually less involved than it sounds.

The characters in the manga might as well be drunk on their martial arts ability. There reasons for fights have all the logic of inebriated contests. It's a close world where the fighters know each other or should know each other and the fact that provocations are tenuous doesn't stop the fights from getting spirited and brutal, The first volume builds to Kiibo's fight against a hulking, but cleanly handsome biker who fashions himself a conflicted warrior in the style of the god Ashura.

The second volume kicks off a more complicated conflict as Kiiba picks up the Nadashinkage feud against pro-wrestling Antonio Inoki stand-in Iron Kiba. Pro-wrestling is maligned because it's predetermined, and lately as far as the product put out by the major promotions has been hard to defend, but the manga builds up the wrestling community as a credible threat to its hero. Not only are the wrestlers skilled, tuned athletes, but that they are marked by their extreme fortitude. These are the tough guys in Tough. One not too prominent guy gets his head slammed into concrete, his finger split past the knuckles into the hand, his face put through a car window, and bloody, brutalized, he keeps coming. What really makes them dangerous is that as a community, they can't abide by losing to an outsider. These wrestlers are ripping mad, and Kiibo's body seems on the line in when th last fight of the second volume is against old fashioned wrestling enforcer ("hooker" or in the manga's lingo "wrecker").

Especially because the characters aren't throwing fireballs, leaping into the air or relaying off massive chain combinations, you can allow yourself to be convince that its more of less real. As opposed to a Rihki-Oh or Fist of the North Star, the violence is kept of a tactile human level that more grab and twist than touch and exploid. Consequently, there isn't the sort of chasm that seperates the brutality from a sense that it could be happening to a real person. When the lead is put into a hold, there is a real sense that something distributing could happen shortly. Every strike seems to have the potentially to real damage.

An interesting difference that sets Tough apart from much of the genre is that it isn't huge on muscles and perfect physical specimens. The hero keeps on jacket half the time and a bulky shirt all of the time. Of his opponents, it's, 50/50 those who take of shirts versus those who don't, and while his first opponent is handsome, many are fat and or ugely. Saruwatari does well with real ugly faces, missing teeth and such.

The Amazing Screw-On Head

The pilot for Sci Fi Channel's animated adapation for Mike Mignola's (Hell Boy) The Amazing Screw-On Head will debut on July 27th.

"Amazing Screw-On Head is an outrageous, animated, sci-fi original half hour comedy featuring the voice talents of Paul Giamatti (Sideways), David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) and Molly Shannon (Saturday Night Live) based on the exploits of one of history's great unsung heroes. A secret agent working for the U.S. government, Screw-On Head (Giamatti) is a robot that screws his head onto a wide variety of bodies, and battles those who threaten our civilization."

The pilot can be seen online at here

Gainax Announces New Anime

Anime Nation reports Gainax has abbiybced new sci-fi/mecha anime television series, "Maiking Break-Through Gurren-Lagann," to be produced in cooperation with Aniplex and Konami, for premiere next spring. Director Koichi Natsume stated that Gurren-Lagann may get multiple sequel series. Konami's Kudou Youjirou confirmed that Konami will produce a Gurren-Lagann video game. Series screenwriter Nakajima Kazuki revealed that the series will be 26 episodes.

New Kaleidostar Anime

Anime Nation reports the http://www.kaleidostar.jp/">Kaleidostar homepage 60 minute, the direct to videoOVA "Kaleidostar Good dayo! Good!" will feature 3 super deformed parody shorts of the the circum anime with the the cast rendered as full 3D CG "chibi chara."

Satoshi Kon's Paprika Site Opens

Twitch points out the new site for Satoshi Kon (Millennium Actress, Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers and Paranoia Agent) is online here

More Endo Manga From Dark Horse

Editor Philip Simon announced on Dark Horse's site that the first volume of Hiroki Endo's Short Stories, from the creator of Eden, will be released by Dark Horse in January, with a second volume released in April.

Makoto Shinkai News

Anime Nation reports that Makoto Shinkai, the anime auter behind Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Earlier Days has announced this next project, Byousoku 5 Centimeter, The new anime will be a love story illustrated as a trilogy of theatrical features. The site features a 45 second long Windows Media trailer available as a director approved high definition 24.3mb direct download, and for streaming online viewing in low, medium, and high resolution. The movie is scheduled for Japanese release next year.

New Distributor to Release Beet the Vandel Buster

Illumitoon Entertainment Ltd, a new North American anime distributor formed from three former FUNimation executives (Barry Watson, President & CEO, Stephanie Giotes, COO & General Counsel and Richard Ray, Executive Vice President) will be adapting Toei's shonen adventure Beet the Vandel Buster in North America. The DVD release of the title will may be launched as early as January 2007.

“Of course, we always want to include the original Japanese tracks with our shows, for the serious anime fan,” says Barry Watson, the company’s President and CEO. “It’s just that we want it to be accessible and engaging for a mass audience as well.

FUNimation Leads ICV2's Most Powerful

As part of ICV2's latest anime guide, FUNimation has put together ICv2's Ten Most Powerful People in the American Anime Industry

Ten Most Powerful:
1. Gen Fukunaga, President & CEO FUNimation Entertainment
2. John Ledford, CEO of ADV Films
3. Kim Manning, Programmer Adult Swim
4. Katsuhiko Tsurumoto, V.P. Business Development, Geneon
5. Anime Buyer, Best Buy
6. Hayao Miyazaki, Founder Studio Ghibli
7. Arthur Smith and Shin Ishikawa, Gonzo Digimation
8. John Easum, Executive Vice President Viz Media
9. Ken Iyadomi, Bandai Entertainment
10. John Sirabella, CEO Media Blasters

ICv2 Top Ten Manga Properties
1. Naruto
2. Fruits Basket
3. Kingdom Hearts
4. Full Metal Alchemist
5. Loveless
6. Tsubasa
7. Death Note
8. Negima
9. Rurouni Kenshin
10. Bleach

ICv2 Top Ten Anime Properties
1. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
2. Howl's Moving Castle
3. Dragon Ball Z Movie #12: Fusion Reborn
4. KARAS
5. Full Metal Alchemist
6. Naruto
7. Samurai Champloo
8. Whisper of the Heart
9. Samurai 7
10. Inuyasha

Figures News

Organic Hobby will be releasing 5" figures of Girls Bravo's Miharu, Kirie, Lisa, Koyomi and Tomoka this September.
Organic will also release a 8 1/2" tall figure of Miharu with a removable school uniform.

Figures.com has pictures here

Organic Hobby, Inc and Kaiyodo's August release of the possible Revoltech figures will include Evangelion's Eva 03 (or Sangouki) and Shin Getter 2. The figures will retail for $22 each.
Figures.com has pictures here

Southern Island's Comic-Con exclusive set of Samurai 7 figures can be seen here

Game News

From The Magic Box

Bandai Namco's SD Gundam G-Generation Portable for PSP, featuring characters and mecha from a host of Gundam series can be seen here.

The PSP RPG adapation of Gonzo's upcoming Brave Story can be seen here

The Playstation 2 game based on the first phase of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, entitled Phantom Blood can be seen here

Eva Set Delay Anime on DVD reports that ADV will be delaying the 10th anniversary edition of Neon Genesis Evangelion, featuring the a box set of the series a coupon that can be mailed away for a jacket, on November 11th.

Fall/Winter Dark Horse Releases

APPLESEED ID
Written and art by Shirow Masamune.
A collection of sketches, studies, and schematics, Appleseed ID is a must-have companion book for fans of the cyberpunk saga Appleseed and its legendary creator, Shirow Masamune, the manga mastermind behind such classics as Appleseed, Dominion, and Ghost in the Shell. Sit back and relax as Shirow takes you on a guided tour of one of his most beloved worlds, exploring the people, places, organizations and, of course, technology that make the universe of Appleseed the sci-fi hotspot that it is. Feel like taking a break from Shirow's examination and explanation of his creations, and of his own creative process? Then take a browse through this book's beautiful color galleries, or follow Deunan and Briareos on a high-stakes adventure with the short story "Called Game."
144 pages, black and white, $14.95, in stores on Dec. 20.

BANYA: THE EXPLOSIVE DELIVERY MAN VOLUME 2
Written and art by Kim Young-Oh.
184 pages, black and white, $12.95, in stores on Dec. 20.

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #118
Written and art by Hiroaki Samura.
"The Sparrow Net," part 1 of 4
Hiroaki Samura's hilarious "Biography" text piece continues, with exclusive pinups, and this issue features another color back cover by Stan Shaw that will link up with other covers to form an exciting, extended image!
32 pages, black and white, $2.99, in stores on Oct. 11.

CRYING FREEMAN VOLUME 4
Written by Kazuo Koike, art by Ryoichi Ikegami. Cult leader Naiji Kumaga is poised for a hostile takeover of Japan. He has the toolsbut needs expert hands to wield them, and the assassins of the 108 Dragons definitely have what it takes. Kumaga's plan: capture the Dragons' leader, Crying Freeman, and replace him with a trained double. Snatching the world's deadliest killer is a tall order, but maybe not too tall for the merciless giant, Tohgoku Oshu!
408 pages, $14.95, in stores on Dec. 13.

GHOST IN THE SHELL 1.5: HUMAN-ERROR PROCESSOR #1
Written and art by Shirow Masamune.
Deep into the twenty-first century, the line between man and machine has been inexorably blurred as humans rely on the enhancement of mechanical implants and robots are upgraded with human tissue. In this rapidly converging technoscape, the covert-ops agents of Section 9 are charged to track and crack the most dangerous terrorists, cybercriminals, and ghost hackers. And speaking of ghosts, when supposedly dead people start turning up walking and talking, Section 9 begins to look into the possibility that corpses are being "puppeted" from a remote location, and some serious powerbrokers may be pulling the strings.

Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor presents for the first time in America the "lost" Ghost in the Shell stories, created by Shirow Masamune after completing work on the original Ghost in the Shell manga and prior to his tour-de-force, Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface, but never collected until now. Focusing on Section 9 agents in their daily battle against technocrime, Human-Error Processor has all the mind-twisting cybermadness you've come to expect from Ghost in the Shell but set in a more police-procedural context with action and suspense galore.
This first issue features part one of "Fat Cat," the first of four Ghost in the Shell tales. 24 pages, black and white, $2.99, in stores on Oct. 18.

OH MY GODDESS! VOLUME 25
Written and art by Kosuke Fujishima.
Ever since a cosmic phone call brought the four literal young goddesses Belldandy, Urd, Skuld--and, like an occasional vowel, Peorth‹to live in college student Keiichi's residence, his personal life has been turned upside down, sideways, and sometimes even into strange dimensions!

The appearance of the Fifth Goddess has heralded a darker turn in the story--as we are reminded that behind the adorable form of chibi-Hild lies a fearsome demonic intent. Her surprise attack on the goddesses begins by unleashing the beast Tenshikui, the Eater of Angels, which strips the angelic companions from Urd and Peorth's bodies! The stricken pair cannot survive long in this state . . . and Belldandy is the next target. But the Fifth Goddess is of a different order than her comrades‹not a Norn, but a grim Valkyrie, she stands holding a long axe to defend the fallen!
176 pages, black and white, $10.95, in stores on Dec. 13.

OLD BOY VOLUME 3
Written by Garon Tsuchiya, art by Nobuaki Minegishi. The deadly game of cat-and-mouse continues! Imprisoned for a decade without trial or explanation‹and then released just as unceremoniously‹and now armed with a cell phone that his former torturer has provided for him, will Goto be able to hunt down the truth behind his decade in hell, or will he become even more his tormentor's plaything? No doubt, Goto's adversary still has a few surprises in store, and if Goto wants answers, he'll have to fight like the devil to get them.
216 pages, black and white, $12.95, in stores on Dec. 6

PATH OF THE ASSASSIN VOLUME 4
Written by Kazuo Koike, art by Goseki Kojima.
War! Ninjas! Love! Political intrigue! It's all packed into Path of the Assassin. Drafted by classic samurai manga creators Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima of Lone Wolf and Cub fame, Path of the Assassin is the story of a young shogun on his way to unite Japan, and the trusty ninja assigned to protect him. Be it in crafty maneuverings of war, political push and pull, or bedroom adventures, young Hattori Hanzo will not be kept from his duties.
Published in the popular pocket-sized manga format, Path of the Assassin packs historical fiction and fine art in yet another classic samurai series from Dark Horse.
304 pages, black and white, $9.95, in stores on Dec. 27.

REIKO THE ZOMBIE SHOP VOLUME 5
Written and art by Rei Mikamoto.
184 pages, black and white, $12.95, in stores on Dec. 13.

SATSUMA GISHIDEN VOLUME 2
280 pages, black and white, $14.95, in stores on Dec. 20.

VAMPIRE HUNTER D VOLUME 6: PILGRIMAGE OF THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE
Written by Hideyuki Kikuchi, art by Yoshitaka Amano.
280 pages, $8.95, in stores on Dec. 13.

WORLDS OF AMANO
Written and art by Yoshitaka Amano.
156 pages, $27.95, in stores on Dec. 13.

The Four Constables Vol. 5 Preview

DrMaster has sent a preview of wushu comic Four Constables volume 5

The Four Constables Vol. #5 will ship the final week of July with more than 50% additional story and art, for a total of 192 pages for $13.95

Story Synopsis:
Four of China's supremely skilled assassin/detectives serve only their Master Zhuge, who in turn is head bodyguard and advisor for China's all-powerful Emperor. Yet the Constables' reputation strongly precedes them. Emotionless is a master of weapons and devices. Iron Hand possesses incredible chi and can stop the sharpest blades with his bare hands. Life Snatcher is highly skilled in light-foot granting him undaunted legwork and kicks. Lastly Cold Blooded was raised by wolves and has since learned to convert his pain into strength - enabling him to defeat opponents much stronger than himself. Each of them is entrusted by the Emperor with the power to arrest and execute any corrupt officials or lawless criminals within the Chinese Empire.

These Imperial Constables act as protectors. With their venerable skill as kung fu practitioners and meticulous sleuths, they root out potential usurpers and discern the cause of many strange occurrences during Sung Dynasty! Before Agatha Christie, Dick Tracy, or even Sherlock Holmes, the game was afoot in ancient China!

About the Author: Although of Chinese descent Wen Rui-An was born in Malaysia. He published his first literary piece when he was only 9 years old and organized his own literary group when he was barely twenty. He had completed more than 200 fiction and nonfiction literary pieces before he was 30. His 49 martial arts series have been published under Wang-Sheng Pub. The novels mainly deal with the final years of the Northern Sung Dynasty (ca. 1100 A.D.) under Emperor Huei.

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Upcoming Right Stuf Releases

Ninja Nonsense: The Legend Of Shinobu Dvd 2: Psychedelic Summer
Street date: 9/26/2006
Approximately 80 minutes, Dolby Digital Stereo, Color.
Genre: Comedy

It's Super Explosive Pervy Ninja Insanity in Right Stuf International's latest release: NINJA NONSENSE DVD 2: PSYCHEDELIC SUMMER!

Take the comedy of SOUTH PARK, combine it with one totally cute (and naive) ninja-girl trainee, a horde of ninjas under the perverse tutelage of her headmaster: a strange, yellow, spherical, pudgy... creature... named Onsokumaru, and you get the craziest, most hilarious anime show ever created!

Rising temperatures provide a perfect opportunity for Onsokumaru to get Shinobu and Kaede into in their swimsuits – and hopefully into a lusty embrace as well! Things are heating up for Miyabi, too... she's got a crush! Will the Ninja Pharmaceutical Group's special love potion help things along? Then it's from the frying pan into the fire - Onsokumaru gets sent to Hell! But, Hell can't be all that bad...! There are demon schoolgirls, demon wives, demon in-laws... well, the demon in-laws could be kinda bad...

Since the summer sun's so fierce, it's too hot to train; the ninjas have little to do but sit around and read dirty magazines. Maybe a little summer festival could brighten the mood? But the party's short-lived, because a typhoon is coming! With Shinobu stuck at Kaede's house, the ninja manor turns into a terrible sausage fest! And last but not least, when Onsokumaru lends his wisdom to a mushroom picking expedition, the ninjas are in for a magical ride! Especially when their tasty treats end up being poisonous and hallucinogenic!

COMIC PARTY TV SERIES DVD THINPAK COLLECTION
Street date: 9/19/2006
Approximately 463 minutes, Dolby Digital Stereo, Color.
Genre: Comedy

DVD (English, Japanese, English Subtitles, English On Screen Translations)
SRP: $49.99

Comic Party TV Series - a hilarious comedy that parodies the entire Anime/Manga industry! With direction by Norihiko Sudo (Assistant Director – CASTLE IN THE SKY) and scripts by Hiroshi Yamaguchi (DESERT PUNK / PEACEMAKER / YUKIKAZE)!

Destiny or delusion? It's a hilarious rollercoaster of laughter and confusion when Taishi, the ultimate otaku, drags his friend Kazuki into the swirling world of ambition, hatred, and love – the world of fan comics! Poor clueless Kazuki must sink or swim when he's dumped straight into the middle of a massive comic convention. Lost amidst hordes of buyers, sellers, and cosplayers, Kazuki is about to be baptized by fire, all in order to lead him toward his true calling: to take over the world through fan comics!

Join the Comic Party, and follow Kazuki as his journey takes him through the steps to becoming a master fan comic author - while spoofing everything along the way! From GUNDAM to EVANGELION, from INITIAL D to WEDDING PEACH; if it's part of the anime world, it's all fair game!

HIS AND HER CIRCUMSTANCES TV SERIES DVD THINPAK COLLECTION
Street date: 9/26/2006
Approximately 780 minutes, Dolby Digital Stereo, Color.
Genre: Drama / Romance
DVD (English, Japanese, English Subtitles, Spanish Subtitles, English On Screen Translations)
SRP: $59.99

From Gainax, with production by Toshimichi Otsuki (EVANGELION, SLAYERS, NADESICO), chief direction and story by Hideaki Anno (EVANGELION) and character design by Tadashi Hiramatsu (EVANGELION), His and Her Circumstances is an anime masterpiece not to be missed - and now, you can own the entire show in one complete DVD Thinpak collection!

Like a drug, Yukino Miyazawa was addicted to admiration and praise from those around her. She worked hard to become the perfect student, the perfect girl. But that was before... him. Souichirou Arima. The instant she met him, she hated him. Without even trying, he snatched the very glory from her hands by easily acing the high school entrance exam that should have made her the class representative. To take back what is rightfully hers, Yukino is putting all her efforts into plotting her revenge; but was love part of the plan?

NINJA NONSENSE T-SHIRTS
Street Date: 7/25/2006
Available in Sizes M-XL for $16.95 and XXL for $18.95
Onsokuman - Royal Blue Shirt – Design # 5516
Sasuke Army – Black Shirt – Design # 5517
Shinobu & Kaede – White Shirt – Design # 5518

BOYS BE... T-SHIRTS
Street Date: 7/15/2006

Available in Sizes M-XL for $16.95 and XXL for $18.95
Aki – Grey Shirt – Shirt – Design # 5511
Chiharu - Steel Blue Shirt – Design # 5512
Chiharu Jacket - White Shirt – Design # 5510
Girls Collage – Navy Shirt – Design # 5513

GRAVITATION T-SHIRTS
Street Date: 7/15/2006
Available in Sizes S-XL for $16.95 and XXL for $18.95
Mr. K – Grey Shirt – Design # 5516
Kumagoro – Chocolate Shirt – Design # 5516

Chance Pop Session Complete Collection

ADV Films announced an August 8 street date for Chance Pop Session Complete Collection, collecting all 13 episodes of the fan-favorite series in a single attractive thin-pack.

Synopsis: Three young girls, strangers to each other, share an instinctual passion and talent for music. Brought together from distinctly different worlds, they meet by chance at the concert of their idol. The concert strikes a chord in each of their hearts and unites them with a common dream of stardom. The girls each enroll in the same music school and are brought together again in a special class for exceptional talent. As their voices come together in harmony, the girls realize that they share more than just a passion for song. A mysterious blue stone, a hauntingly beautiful melody... what do these traces of the past have to do with the uncertain future of this gifted trio?

Chance Pop Session Complete Collection (SRP $44.98 DVD) is a Thin-Pack DVD-only release including all 13 episodes, presented in both English 2.0 and Japanese 2.0 with English subtitles.
SRP: $44.98

Schedule for Koike and the Dark Horse's Manga At Comic-Con

Be sure to see manga creator Kazuo Koike (Lone Wolf and Cub, Crying Freeman) at his spotlight panel Saturday, July 22, 11:30am-12:30pm

Dark Horse Comics Booth #2615
Please note: All special guests and appearance times are subject to change.
Signings and events in the Dark Horse booth:

FRIDAY, JULY 21:
4:00 - 5:00 Yoshitaka Amano: Vampire Hunter D; Fairies (*ticketed event: See Dark Horse employee for details)

SATURDAY, JULY 22:
1:30 - 2:30 Dark Horse Guest of Honor, Kazuo Koike: Lone Wolf & Cub, Lady Snowblood, Path of the Assassin (*ticketed event, see Dark Horse employee for details.)

SUNDAY, JULY 23:
11:00 - 12:00 Stan Sakai: Usagi Yojimbo
12:00 - 1:00 Yoshitaka Amano: Vampire Hunter D; Fairies (*ticketed event: See Dark Horse employee for details)

And Check out these Dark Horse Related Panels and Events:

HELLBOY ANIMATED
FRIDAY, JULY 21
10:30-11:30am
ROOM 6B

DARK HORSE 20th ANNIVERSARY
FRIDAY, JULY 21
11:30am-12:30pm
ROOM 5AB

SPOTLIGHT ON KAZUO KOIKE
SATURDAY, JULY 22
11:30am-12:30pm
ROOM 6A

Animators The Chiodo Brothers and Artist Glen Orbik at Comic-Con

Van Eaton Galleries of Sherman Oaks, will be showcasing four of the top artists in their field at their booth, Number 501, in Exhibit Hall A at the San Diego Comic-Con International. Appearances will be made by Author, Illustrator, and Filmmaker Gris Grimly, Director, Graphic Artist, and Author, Ragnar, Puppeteers, Filmmakers, Authors and Stop Motion artists, The Chiodo Brothers, and Animator and Artist Glen Orbik.

Van Eaton Galleries will be showcasing thousands of pieces from original animation artwork.

Van Eaton Galleries has established themselves as a presence at the convention and as a force for the introduction of new and popular artists in the animation and Pop/Contemporary Art World.

Noted storyteller and award-winning author Gris Grimly’s work is noted as being “stylish, funny, and gloriously ghoulish” by film director Clive Barker.

The fine art of Ragnar opens an alluring window onto a world of masterful graphic geography, sizzling with all the seduction of great film noir. Noted Animator/Director Ralph Bakshi has called Ragnar’s newest book “Kings Of he Road” “Brilliant Illustration and cartooning, a throwback to the golden age of magazine illustration in america…”

The Chiodo Brothers are notorious for their work in Team America: World Police, producing the puppets, and also the cult classic “Killer Klowns from Outer Space”, producing and directing the sci-fi horror film.

Pulp and comic book artist Glen Orbik’s work has been seen on the covers of Ray Bradbury and Stephen King books. His art has also been featured in several major Comic Book series, including Batman: Legend of The Dark Knight”, and “The Art of Marvel”.

For more information on Van Eaton Galleries visit www.vegalleries.com.

Seven Seas Launches 3 New Webmanga

Seven Seas Entertainment announced the debut of three new web manga on Gomanga.com—Hollow Fields, Moonlight Meow, and The Outcast. This exciting new trio of series joins Seven Seas’ fan-favorite harem comedy Aoi House, which also appears in Newtype USA each month as an exclusive color 4-panel comic strip.

Serialized in the popular web manga format, a new page of each series will be posted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Seven Seas’ website, www.gomanga.com. As with all Seven Seas titles, all three new series will be published individually in book format in late 2006 and early 2007.

Hollow Fields:
Story & Art by Madeleine Rosca
Little Lucy Snow was meant to be enjoying her first day at the nice elementary school in town; however a macabre twist of fate sees her enrolled instead at Miss Weaver's Academy for the Scientifically Gifted and Ethically Unfettered—also known as Hollow Fields. Located on the outskirts of Nullsville and run by the insidious Engineers, the grim boarding school dedicates itself to raising the next generation of mad scientists and evil geniuses!

Moonlight Meow:
Story by Bambi Eloriaga
Art by Roland Amago
Womanizing Englishman and curry shop owner Gabriel Solo suffers from a catastrophic conundrum... Every night, he turns into a black cat, thanks to the peculiar curse placed upon him by an Indian feline goddess. Or so he thinks. For unknown to Gabe, he is not the only shape-shifter in town.

The Outcast:
Story by Vaun Wilmott
Art by Edward Gan
There are fallen angels who live among us, who torment and tempt every person they encounter, looking for a weakness to exploit. Their sole purpose is to destroy lives wherever they can and Riley, a vulnerable girl with a tragic past, seems to be the perfect target. Or is she?

Phoenix Comicon Info

Arizona's Phoenix Comicon will be taking place Friday evening September 22 through Sunday the 24th.

The event will feature a film festival, karaoke, music video contest, a msquerade, panels and workshops throughout the weekend as well as all weekend-long CONSOLE and LAN gaming.

*WizKid approved tournaments (including HeroClix, MechWarrior, Pirates, and Battlestar Galactica).

Wizard of the Coasts approved Magic tournaments.

Guests include

Johnny Yong Bosch, voice actor from Trigun (Vash), Wolfs Rain, Last Exile, and Akira. His band Eyeshine will be performing in concert Saturday night.

M. Alice LeGrow and Christy Lijewski with talk about their manga from TOKYOPOP

Billy Tan from Uncanny X-Men

Josh Blaylock and Devil's Due, who will be presenting a workshop on How to Self Publish

Amanda Conner
Bret Blevins
Jimmy Palmiotti
Josh Middleton
Justin Gray
Mike Mayhew
SRon Garney
Terry Austin
hannon Denton

Tickets are available for $25 now through the end of August. The price increase $5 for the following two weeks and are $35 at the door.

Transformers: The Movie 20Th Anniversary Special Edition Dvd Cover

Beginning July 7th, fans who log on to www.TRANSFORMERSthemovieDVD.com will be able to catch a sneak peek of the limited edition, “transforming” artwork for the upcoming TRANSFORMERS: The Movie 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD. The DVD is due to hit retail November 7, 2006.

Trailer for New Go Nagai Adaptation

Anime Nation points out that the site for the newKikoushi Enma OVA series adaptation of Go Nagai's Dororon Enma-kun, now hosts a 97 second long streaming Windows Media trailer.
The opening for the original anime adapation of Go Nagai's hell based hero can be seen here

Commentary of Note

Bloody Disgusting and Twitch have posted Death Note movie reviews.

The always worth reading AniPages Daily have looked at Shogo Furuya (Teeny Witches) work, upcoming theatrical feature Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The girl who could travel time), and Gisaburo Sugii's Stormy Night.

The Beat looks at Machiko Hasegawa, creator the prennial popular comic strip/anime Sazae-san here and Suihô Tagawa, creator of strip Norakuro here

Comipress has translated a Yomiuri Shinbun article about the Japanese boom in reprinting classic manga for older fans.

The site only translates 100 Foreign Anime & Manga Questions an ongoing series from AnimeAnime where Japanese fans ask questions about the foreign Anime and Manga scene. One of the recent questions deals with the quality of translation of English fan translations (fansubs).

For more commentary see the AICN Anime MySpace