Anime News (245)
Space Dandy Trailer, Art, and Stills from Japan Expo USA
Written by Theodore Mak
While there was clearly an industry presence at Japan Expo USA, we were surprised to find Studio Bones there with a booth as a part of Bandai Visual. Masahiko Minami, the President of Bones was present at the event as a Guest of Honor.
Bones was promoting one of their newest series, Space Dandy is directed by Shinichiro Watanabe who many Americans will recognized for his work on the much celebrated Cowboy Beebop and Samurai Champloo. Bones had on display several preproduction art (genga and douga) from Space Dandy along with a trailer (which can now be viewed inside/below this post) and productions tills along the wall. Space Dandy follows the story of an alien hunter, Dandy, who's job is to seek out new life to collect bounties.
Viewers who have seen the 2009 anime movie REDLINE will notice some similarities in style such as the funky space theme and colorful palette and we are definitely excited for it. Check out inside for the photos we took of the booth!
Studio TRIGGER has released a new awesome trailer for their upcoming anime series, KILL la KILL on Youtube. The new series will compromise primarily by many of the same staff who worked on Gurren Lagann including the director, Hiroyuki Imaishi. Unfortunately currently the video has been region locked so viewers in the United States will not be able too view it; however, it appears someone has reuploaded it to DailyMotion. Check it out and see for yourself! We have embedded the video inside.
Studio TRIGGER Responds to Little Witch Academia 2 Kickstarter Success
Written by Theodore Mak
Over the weekend in response to the overwhelming success of the Little Witch Academia 2 Kickstarter campaign, the president of Animation Studio TRIGGER, Masahiko Otsuka was overjoyed by the support the fans and released a statement:
“The pledged amount was well over what we expected, and we cannot thank everyone enough who supported the Little Witch Academia 2 project on Kickstarter. At the same time, we definitely feel the pressure because we have to respond to this new challenge with our title. We’ve received the baton from our fans. We are ready to run as fast as we can, baton in hand!”
The original Kickstarter goal was $150,000 but raised over $625,000 with over 7,938 backers. Little Witch Academia 2 is estimated to enter the production phase in 2014. Full press release inside.
Pre-Order the Collector's Edition of Little Witch Academia Starting August 13
Written by Jason Young
Studio TRIGGER, fresh on the heels of their uber magical Kickstarter Little Witch Academia 2 campaign, has announced, in collaboration with acttil, they will begin taking pre-orders for the Collector's Edition of Little Witch Academia worldwide beginning August 13th at TRIGGER's Online Store.
Earlier this week, various photos on twitter has popped up of a life sized Ingram from the series Patlabor near a harbor in Yokohama, Japan.
The original series director Mamoru Oshii will be involved with the movie and is estimated to be released sometime in 2014. Little else is known, interested fans can stay tuned to the movie's official website: http://patlabor-nextgeneration.com/
The original Patlabor series was a comedic drama that follows the story of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Special Vehicle unit who employs mechs units called Patlabors to combat crimes committed by people in construction mechs called Labors.
Since 1988, there has been 3 movies, 2 OVAs, and a 47 episode television series.
I use to be a huge Patlabor fan as a little kid and hopefully once they're done with the movie, they'll have it on display somewhere like the 1:1 scale Gundam for fans to visit. Who wants to take a photo with the life sized Ingram in cosplay?
Check out more photos inside.
Source: kyo-kan.net
acttil to Help Release the Collector's Edition of TRIGGER's Little Witch Academia
Written by Jason Young
Yesterday, acttil announced their first official project yesterday with news of an upcoming collaboration with TRIGGER to release the Collector's Edition release of Little Witch Academia on Blu-ray this summer. The Collector's Edition will come with one Blu-ray disc, an original soundtrack, and a 112-page art book. TRIGGER will be publishing the disc while acttil handles PR and marketing.
Check out the first 8 minutes of Ghost in Shell: Arise subtitled in English!
Aniplex USA Opens Pre-Orders for Sword Art Online, Blue Exorcist
Written by Jason Young
Fans of the Aniplex series, Sword Art Online and Blue Exorcist, will be happy to know that the two A-1 Pictures animated series are now available for pre-order from Aniplex's official retailers including Rightstuf.com.
Silver Spoon Trailer Released!! Staff and Cast announced!
Written by Ken
Starting this July, Silver Spoon will be aired on Fuji TV's noitaminA block. As some may already know, Silver Spoon is written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa, the same mangaka for the international hit Fullmetal Alchemist. Silver Spoon has receive recognition, wining the 5th Manga Taisho Award and 58th Shogakukan Manga Award.
Monogatari Second Season Air Date Announced!! ED performed by Luna Haruna!
Written by Ken
Starting July 6th, Monogatari Series: Second Season will be aired as a continuation of the anime adaption of Nisio Ishin's popular Monogatari light novel series.
More...
Limited Saint Seiya & Fist of the North Star Shirts Promo from Uniqlo
Written by Theodore Mak
Japanese clothing store Uniqlo has announced they have released new t-shirts from the the highly popular Saint Seiya and Fist of the North Star series for their US store. They are also doing a buy 2 get 1 free t-shirt promotion, so if you can't seem to find 3 shirts you like, split with a friend! As usual, Uniqlo graphic shirts are limited and are only sold for a limited time so jump on while you can.
As a reminder for people who have purchased Uniqlo shirts in the past, t-shirts released for the US store are larger than their Asian counterparts.
Attack on Titan's Marketing Blitzkrieg to Include Visual Novels, Mobile Card Game in Japan
Written by Jason Young
One of the hottest anime series this season has been Production I.G,'s Attack on Titan, and for good reason. The tale of humans versus giants is so chalk full of plot twists and brutality that I've actually dubbed it as the anime industry's equivalent of Game of Thrones; as anyone who's seen up to episode five at the very least can attest to. The series' stunning and serious opening credits have been parodied countless times on YouTube and Nico Nico, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Production I.G. has teamed up with some of the most well-respected video game companies in Japan to expand the universe aside from the usual anime collectibles, manga and anime series.
Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (OreImo) official website has released their newest promotional video today, March 17, 2013.
Be sure to watch the trailer inside.
Ghost in the Shell: Arise Release Info and Trailer
Written by Theodore Mak
Earlier this morning at a special launch event held by Bandai Visual, Production I.G revealed that Ghost in the Shell: Arise will be a prequel series consisting of four films that will revolve around a younger Motoko Kusanagi. Each film will run approximately 50 minutes each (similiar to an OVA) with the first titled Border 1: Ghost Pain releasing on June 22, 2013 in theaters along with advanced copies of the the Blu-ray disc for two weeks, with a general Blu-ray and DVD release later on July 26. All of the original voice cast have been replaced, Motoko Kusanagi is now voiced by veteran seiyuu Maaya Sakamoto.
Be sure to watch the trailer inside.
Update: Correction on voice cast information.