Father Geek here with Scott Green's fine AICN Anime Report for this week... we're undergoing an intense "physical" office expansion (carpenters, painters, landscapers, electricans, laborers, bankers, etc...) here at Geek World Headquarters in Austin, so bare with ol' Father Geek thru the next several weeks, reports may be getting posted a little late, but they WILL get up... SORRY... progress DOES claim it's victims. Harry & I are adding a private "film" screening room, a script and story idea library (on premises reading only), an animation & comic art gallery (including alot of Anime), and a massive motion picture promotion archive to our living & AICN complex on our large heavily wooded central Austin compound... but enough on that, here's our regular Wednesday report on the world of Anime/Manga...
Akira Tin Image
ICV2 has a photo the Akira collector's edition tin packaging at here. The two-disk Collector's Edition includes a documentary on the making of the film, another documentary on the creation of the soundtrack, a feature on the restoration of the film, and other surprises, which are yet to be revealed.
Official Jin-Roh Website now open
The official Jin-Roh website here online.
The site includes information about the creators/producers of Jin-Roh, Mamoru Oshii (Writer/Creator), Hiroyuki Okiura (Director) and Hiromasa Ogura (Art Director). Also included are short descriptions of all the film's main & supporting characters, full credits for the English adaptation, an image gallery, and the theatrical schedule.
The site is also supposed to include, at a later time, information about the home video release, and trailers are expected to be available on the site very soon.
Central Park Media Launches Angel Sanctuary Web Site
Central Park Media launched their Angel Sanctuary site to promote the series which will be released on July 10th (both DVD and dubbed VHS). The Flash based site offers image galleries, character descriptions, wallpapers, sketches, a trailer and story information. It can be found at here
Synopsis:
Alexiel, the most high and beloved of God's angels, wages war against God - and loses. Reborn as a human boy, Setsuna struggles with horrific visions and supernatural powers. He loves his sister in the way that a brother shouldn't. Angels and demons flock to his awakening, spoiling for battle. Will Setsuna lead them to the apocalypse, or to salvation?
Amon Saga Press Release
Manga has sent out a press release for their upcoming Amon Saga, not to confused with Devil: Amon, which Manga has yet to license. The feature is from Amano Yoshitaka, character designer of several of the Final Fantasy games, and Vampire Hunter D.
From the press release:
"Set in a barbarous world of magic and mysticism, this action-packed tale of intrigue and adventure follows the exploits of Amon - a young man on a desperate quest to avenge the death of his mother. When his hunt leads him to the castle of the Emperor Valhiss, Amon must endure the perils of initiation and join the ranks of the Imperial army in order to gain an opportunity to take his revenge. But once within the heart of the fortified city, Amon unexpectedly encounters the princess Lichia - the sultry daughter of King Sem Darai. It seems the Emperor hopes to exchange the princess for a map in the King's possession. But what is the Emperor's ultimate goal?"
The 75 minute OAV from 1986 will go on sale May 29th for $24.95 bilingual DVD, $19.95 dubbed VHS, and $24.95 subtitled VHS.
Summary of New Toriyama Manga
Planet Namek has posted a summary of Akira Toriyama's one shot Dragon Ball parody, "Neko Majin Z" from the June Monthly Jump manga anthology. Its worth reading if you are a Dragon Ball fan, but its you are not it is likely to be of little interest.
Yamada Kun Once more
An Anime version of Hisaichi Ishii's Manga, Nono-Chan, is scheduled to begin airing on TV Asahi network in the Tokyo area on July the 7th. Nono-chan began serialization in Asahi Shinbun as Tonari no Yamada-kun and was later renamed Nono-chan. Studio Ghibli released a movie based on the MANGA in 1999, Yamada-Kun was the first Ghibli created Anime to be painted and colored entirely on computer.
Anime in Mexico details
Anime News Network reader Victor Fuentes has written to ANN, expanding on the subject of how Anime is faring in Mexico. : We used to have alot of anime airing on TV here, but due to radical religious groups, most of this anime has been removed. And some other times they've been removed due to poor scheduling, since TV stations want to have steady ratings of over 15 points all the time wich isn't posible. But, cable channels are gaining what public TV is denying the fans, and especially one channel in particular named Locomotion.
Here's what is airing on Mexican TV: Public TV: Pokemon and Digimon on Channel 2 Televisa, Kaitou Saint Tail Channel 7 TV Azteca.
Locomotion has become some sort of "alternative" channel, airing shows that are no longer just meant for small children, and, during prime time they air such series as Those Who Hunt Elves, Saber Marionette J to X, Soul Hunter, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 and lots of other shows, airing also a lot of anime movies on Saturdays.
Cartoon Network Latin America is airing the japanese version of Card Captor Sakura and Pokemon.
Fox Kids is airing Digimon Adventure (Japanese version), Patlabor, Dinozaurs and will soon start with Digimon Adventure 02. Lots of dubbing STUDIOS are still working on anime, but, since the Public Tv veto, they'll probably end up on cable channels if ever.
Cartoon Network Information
Cartoon Network finished the month of April and tied for second place (with USA) in prime time ratings (1.7) and third place in total day ratings (1.1) among all ad-supported cable networks, continuing the network's remarkable first-quarter ratings and delivery growth pattern. Tweens 9-14, kids 6-11 and kids 2-11 all set April prime time rating and delivery records, while households set a prime delivery record for the month. In total day, tweens 9-14 and kids 6-11 set April total day ratings and delivery records, while households and kids 2-11 set an April total day delivery record. The all-animation network posted mostly double-digit rating growth across all targeted demographics, while delivery gains consistently outpaced the network's powerful 16 percent distribution growth vs. last April. This is probably moderately bad new for anime/Toonami fans. Cartoon Network's primetime programming is their Cartoon Cartoon block, and they have already starting using time that as once used for Toonami for Cartoon Cartoon programming.
AolTimeWarner.com has posted an interview with Cartoon Network President Betty Cohen which talks about CN's demographics. Talks about "age-up" their programming.
Q: Many of Cartoon Network's programs seem geared to adults as well as children. Have the demographics for cartoons broadened?
A: ".......Now, as we experience great success with Japanese Anime' shows presented in our Toonami afternoon action-adventure block, we're beginning to see our biggest growth with 9-14 year olds, the "tweens." This presents new opportunities to grow our overall audience as well as to attract advertisers that wouldn't necessarily think of Cartoon Network first for reaching this highly sought for demographic."
Q: Cartoon Network has grown rapidly internationally, and recently expanded to 24-hour programming in the Asia Pacific region. Do cartoons transcend regional taste barriers?
A: ".......Part of the reason for this is that cartoon humor tends to be more visual and doesn't require the viewer to be familiar with all the nuances of language......Cartoons also are easily dubbed into foreign languages - ours are now available in 14 different ones - because animated mouths are not as precise as live ones, so viewers cannot tell if the dialogue is out-of-sync with the visual image. And many cartoon characters are anthropomorphic, which enables them to easily transcend race and nationality preferences of audiences around the world."
The full interview can be seen at here
Dragon Ball Info
FUNimation Productions Ltd announced its Dragon Ball TV series will debut June 25th on the Cartoon Network, airing Monday through Fridays at 5:30 p.m. EDT, joining FUNimation's Dragon Ball Z on the network's famed after school Toonami Block of programming.
FUNimation president Gen Fukunaga announced that new episodes of Dragon Ball Z will begin airing on the Cartoon Network beginning September 3rd. They has confirmed that the first new home video release of Dragonball will be the uncut hour long tape "Tournament - Roshi's Request," to be released on June 5th. Based on the title it can be assumed that the original Dragonball series will be picking up where the original 13 American release episodes ended. Funimation has also confirmed that Dragonball Z movie 4, "Lord Slug," will be released on edited and uncut VHS on August 8th.
KTEH To Show Ruin Explorers
Anime friendly PBS station KTEH has announced that they will be showing the Ruin Explorers OAV on Sunday, June 3rd, starting at 8:30pm. The station will also be showing Evangelion again starting this coming Sunday, May 6th. Ruin Explorers is a Slayer-esque fantasy comedy/adventure.
New CPM DVD Dates
Central Park media has announced that they will be releasing Utena, Revolutionary Girl: The Movie on November 13th. Utena is a surreal tale about a girl who wants to be a prince who transfers to a school whose student government duel for control of a girl known as the rose bride. Night on the Galactic Railroad will be released on October 9th. The featured is based on a novel by children's writer Kenji Miyazawa about a boy who while working hard to support his invalid mother is given the opportunity to raid a train across the Milky Way.
Other titles being releases include Sohryuden: Legend of the Dragon Kings: Under Fire, Battle Skipper: The Movie (1-3) and Ping Pong Club 5: Goes for Broke on 11/13,
Direct Offer DVD Sets
AnimEigo and ADV Films have offered new direct order DVD box sets of anime titles. The prince of the box sets will be based on the number of orders the sets receive.
Animeigo has started taking pre-orders for the second 5 dvd set of Rumiko Takahashi's(creator of Ranma ½) comedy Urusei Yatsura on their web site. For more information see here. Urusei Yatsura, which roughly translates to Those Obnoxious Aliens, is a romantic comedy about the relationship between a lecherous student, and a green-haired, horned, tiger-stripped bikini wearing oni named Lum.
ADV's release of the 63 episode City Hunter 2 TV series will be released as two 5 disc DVD boxsets. They are currently taking pre-orders for the first box set. When the number of preorders reaches 2000, they will begin production of the DVDs. The price starts at $124.98 if there are 2000 order, but drops down to $49.98 if there are more than 8000 orders here
Shaman King Anime
Manga periodical Shonoen Jump has announced that the series Shaman King by Takei Hiroyuki will be adapted into an anime series. The series will start airing Wednesday July fourth in the 6:30 time that was used for hits such as Dragon Ball and the pirate adventure One Piece in the past. Shaman King is an odd take-off on the fight genre about a show who allows spirits to poses his body to fight.
New Tsukasa Hojo Manga to appear in Weekly Bunch
According to Tsukasa Hojo's official website www.hojo-tsukasa.com his newest Manga, Angel Heart, will appear in the May 15th issue of Weekly Bunch. Hojo, who is best known for City Hunter, is said to have spent five years creating the basic script for Angel Heart. Anime Dream has posted images of the series at here According to Anime Dream, it appears that "Angel Heart is a full-fledged story fleshing out Hojo's 1997 short story, The Eyes of the Assassin, which was featured in the Parrot ~Shiawase no Hito~ short stories collection". Hojo's previous series City Hunter, about a lecherous private investigator, and Cat's Eye, about three sisters who work to steal back their father's art collection, were animated.
Getter Robo Relase
David Williams of ADV posted on Anime on DVD's forum that their next series to come out this summer now has a date: Getter Robo Vol. #1 will arrive on 7/17/2001A trailer for the series may be on Gasaraki #5. Here is how they are describing Getter Robo: "In mankind's darkest hour, the Getter Robos arrived on the cold lunar battlefield and saved mankind from its impending demise at the hands of the ruthless alien invaders. As the years passed, the weapons that once saved mankind became an element of fear that drove humanity to destroy their protectors and the man responsible for their creation. Now like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the man behind the Getter Robos has returned from the dead with an army of Getter Robo G's bent on seeking revenge against those who would use the Getter technology for their own evil purposes. As nuclear annihilation and alien invasion loom on the horizon, old heroes as well as new ones must heed the call to battle as the war for Earth's survival begins anew!"
Streamline Cache
I shy away from reports on retail, but this is pretty exceptional. Right Stuf has acquired a number of copies of dubbed VHS titles for the now defunct (several times over) Streamline which includes Akira Production Report, Doomed Megalopolis Vol. 3, Doomed Megalopolis Vol. 4,8th Man After Vol. 1- 4, Lupin III: Tales of the Wolf Vol. 1- 2, Nadia (Streamline Version) Vol. 3-8, 3 x 3 Eyes (Streamline Version) Vol. 1, 3 x 3 Eyes (Streamline Version) Vol. 4 , Twilight of the Cockroaches (live action), Zillion Vol. 1 -5, Zillion Set 1-5, Zillion: Burning Night and Lensman. Short of finding a video store's going out of business sale, this is the only way of obtaining some of these series. The two Lupin III tapes are particularly noteworthy. They feature the TV show episodes "Shi no Tsubasa Arubatorosu" (Albatross, the Wings of Death) " and "Aloha Lupin" (originally known as "Farewell Beloved Lupin") by Hayoa Miyazaki. Albatross showcase Miyazaki's interest in aviation with a plane modeled after the Spruce Goose. "Aloha Lupin" is Miyazaki's farewell to the Lupin character with scenes that resemble Castle of Cagliostro, and a homage to the Fleischer Superman cartoons. For more information on Miyazaki's involvement with Lupin see Nausicaa.net's FAQ For availability call 1.800.338.6827 between 8-5pm CST.
Oh! My Goddess Release Dates DVD
The classic anime romonantic comedy Oh! My Goddess will be released on two DVDs. The first volume with episodes 1-3 will be released on 7/24 and the second volume with episodes 4-5 will be released on 8/28.
Q&A
If you have any questions sent them to sgreen@skuldo.com and I'll try to answer them.
There's an addendum to last week's answer about Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno.
He did worked on an anime series after Kara Kano called called Modern Love's Sillyness.
There's an addendum to last week's answer about Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno. He did worked on an anime series after Kara Kano called called Modern Love's Sillyness.
There a little information about it at here
Palpatine sent in a great deal of information about the Anno.
Hideaki Anno's live action film Shikijitsu ("Ritual"), a co-production between Gainax and Studio Ghibli, is still currently touring the festival circuit. Ritual is not a true autobiography of Anno, it based on a book written by Ayako Fujitani, who also starts in the movie, which Anno re-wrote the book to make it about a film director, instead of a shop owner. Its my understanding that Ritual is thematically similar to Anno's life, making it semi-autographical. A comparison could be drawn to how Edward Scisssorhands is thematically similar to Tim Burtons life. Ritual won best artistic contribution at the Tokyo Film Fest and is currently in the top 20 films (audience poll) at the Hong Kong Film Festival. The following is a link where you can read a Q&A with Anno and Fujitani here You can also read a summary of the movie and view a video clip here and a trailer is at hrt
In an interview at hrtr he states "I felt my career as an animation director had gone as far as it could, and decided I would like to try a new creative media. I am not complaining about the animation industry, but I felt I couldn't get any more satisfaction from making animation and I needed to try something new to stimulate my creativity. I knew Ayako Fujitani and I loved her book when I read it. So I decide to try and make it into film." In response to the question "Where does your career go from here?" he stated "I started acting at thirteen, but I tend to be a bit lazy. I was in the 3 recent Gamera films, but I haven't done many serious film like Ritual before; I hope I will have the chance to do more. I recently completed a French film and I am now busy writing my second book; the deadline is the end of next month but I'm only half way through it, so I really don't know whether I can finish it in time."
Q: What's going on with Macross 7. I have been waiting for ever and a day for that to come outI have a fansub VHS copy of a copy of a copy or a few episodes and I want to see it on DVD. Does anyone even have the license for it in the US?
A: Last August at the Otakon anime convention Bandai stated that they have no plans to release Macross 7 in the US because they will be focusing on Gundam. Then again the Japanese DVD was just released this M arch, so things might change.
Last December the PBS station KTEH in California ,which airs a great deal of anime stated the distributors of "the newest Macross series" may first air it on KTEH if they can raise enough money to acquire it. Most people took this to mean Macross 7, but I'm not sure what ever came of it.
There have been rumors that one of the problems keeping Macross 7 from being released in the US is the high asking price to license the music in the series. Another problem with Macross 7 is that many Macross fans don't like Macross 7. Many find it too light in comparison to the more series following up to the Macross series, Macross Plus. The theme of music solving conflict, and details like an advanced fighter craft with a guitar head for a flight stick turn many off to the series.
