Anime News (245)
Galbraith Holds Otaku Conference in Ottawa
Written by Theodore Mak
Otaku scholar, Patrick Galbraith will be be holding a conference at Ottawa University on Friday January 8, 2009 1PM to 5:30PM. The lecture will be a discussion on the otaku movement and will be titled "Onnichan, what does moe mean?" Galbraith will also be presenting the potential, and limits of moe and a little about his book, The Otaku Enclopedia. If you will be in the area, might want to check it out. Flying image included inside.
A Japanese magazine scan has appeared online announcing that online RPG Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine will be collaborating with the popular series Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. Story events, characters, and missions from the series will tie into the online game. The English adaptation of the game is published by Aeria Games, and it is currently unknown if the content update will appear on American shores. We'll keep you up to date as more information is released. A small scan of the article has been included inside.
New Ikki Tousen and Code Geass Projects Announced
Written by Theodore Mak
Yuki Siozaki's high school fighting series Ikki Tousen is getting a fourth season dubbed Xtreme Xecutor with a new added original character not seen in the manga. A special volume 0 DVD episode will be released early at Comic Market 77. The series will air in April 2010.
Rumors of a new project or sequel had been rampant after the ending of the second season of Code Geass. After a little more than a year later, Bandai made an announcement on their mobile website with an image confirming a new project is in the works forthe series yesterday. The image promises to have have more information next year in 2010. Image can be seen inside.
It's been roughly 5 months since I sat down with the director for the second Gurren Lagann movie, Hiroyuki Imaishi, and I finally got to see the film a few days ago at Viz Cinema in San Francisco’s Japantown. Was it worth the wait? Read more to find out!
Japanese entertainment company Avex Network has released a ten minute trailer of Fumihiko Sori's To on their Youtube channel. The film is an adaption of Yukinobu Hoshino's 2001 Nights science fiction manga. Fans of the CG movie adaption of Appleseed and Vexille will instantly recognize the character designs as Fumihiko has previously worked on both. Interestingly, Aya Hirano is part of the voice cast. The movie will be released on December 18, 2009 in Japan. Video included inside.
A preliminary list for the upcoming winter season of anime has been released. Gainax's Hanamaru Kindegarten adaptation announced eariler this year at Anime Expo will be debuting. We'll keep you updated as more series are announced.
The November lineup is out for the San Francisco theater, Viz Cinema, and local fans are rejoicing. The second Gurren Lagann movie, Lights in the Sky are Stars will be making its American debut on Tuesday November 17, and Wednesday November 18 at 7:30PM. The film originally was shown in Japanese theaters on April 25, 2009 and will not be released on DVD until January 27, 2010. Viz will also be showing the first film on the same nights at 5PM. Viz Cinema is located in Japantown at the recently opened NEW PEOPLE building.
Now if only Viz can get the rights to show the Rebuild of Evangelion movies...
A new trailer for the Gundam 00 movie has appeared online. The trailer starts with the production staff working together, Seiji Mizushima (Director) and Yosuke Kuroda (Writer) both can be seen. Towards the middle, a first glimpse of the new Gundams are introduced: Raphael, Zabanya, Harute, and 00 Quan[T]. Video can viewed inside.
Announced a couple days ago, fans of the popular sci-fi manga Gantz can either rejoice or cringe in fear as a two part live action adaptation is on the way. Good news is that it's not being made by Hollywood. Ken'ichi Matsuyama (probably most well known for his acting work in live action adaptations as L in Death Note, Johannes Krauser II in Detroit Metal City, and Shinichi Okazaki in Nana) along with Kazunari Ninomiya will be starting in the film. Filming is reported to begin next month with an expected opening date between winter and spring 2011. The CG will be handled by Digital Frontier who has worked films such as both Appleseed movies, Evangelion: 1.0, Resident Evil: Degeneration, and Summer Wars.
ItaG Festival happened earlier over this weekend in Odaiba, filling up parking lots with itasha, anime themed decaled, vehicles. Some of you may recognize the parking lot as it is near the former 1/1 scale Odaiba Gundam and is visible from the monorail heading towards Tokyo Big Site. Links inside.
More...
Better late than never, here's the preliminary list of anime titles airing Fall 2009 inside. A lot of exciting titles debuting this season including the popular manga title Fairy Tail, and CLAMP's Kobato. We will also be seeing bunch of sequels to existing titles such as the heavily fan serviced series Queen's Blade and the light romance comedy Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu. (Updated chart to latest version 3.)
While on our recent trip to Tokyo last week, we constantly saw commercials for the 3rd and final movie adaptation of Naoki Ursawa's manga, 20th Century Boys. The film is scheduled to be aired in theaters across Japan on August 29, 2009, but in a surprising twist, the newly opened Viz Cinema, located at the New People complex building in San Francisco, will also be showing the movie with English subtitles from Friday August 28 to Thursday September 3. Fans of the series in the area may want to consider going to see the movie since there will be an alternate ending different from the manga. More information as well as a trailer of the film inside.
As an added note, on the grand opening of the New People complex on August 15, 2009, actress Takako Tokiwa was present on the red carpet to promote the 20th Century Boy trilogy. Viz Cinema is also currently playing the first 2 movie for a limited time.
Just got settled after returning from day 1 of the anime concert Animelo, and during the special Hatsune Miku performance, 2 trailers were played for an anime project of Black Rock Shooter, a song made from Hatsune Miku. At the last trailer, a web address appeared which you can find more information on the anime. Figure maker and distributor Goodsmile Company has also added information on the anime pilot Blu-ray, DVD, and CD release.