posted on 1999-07-06 00:00 EDT
In their monthly press release, Viz Communications announced their usual round of new releases for the month of October, including the first Video Girl Ai graphic novel, a special super-sized anniversary issue of Animerica Extra, Fresh Pulp (a book of the articles from Pulp magazine), the first issue of No Need for Tenchi Part 8 (This SHOULD be one of the last series), the 5th Inu Yasha graphic novel, the 2nd Black and White graphic novel, new dubbed tape "Ranma 1/2 Martial Mayhem: Marry Me, Akane", new subtitled tape "Ranma 1/2 Outta Control: The Harder They Fall", the new Pokemon Adventures comic series, and the next issues of their multiple comic series.
The newest issue of Cinefantastique reports that Princess Mononoke's October release date may only be for the New York City and Los Angeles markets. The article fails to mention a source or even imply a release outside of those cities, but for Miramax's art house releases, a one or two week long run in those cities before a nationwide release is quite common. Meanwhile, Miramax has finally sent out trailers to movie theaters, although it's currently unknown just how much play they'll get.
A bunch of Pioneer's new announcements got taken from them ahead of time. The September issue of Previews reports that Nacza, Trigun, and Fushigi Yuugi are all slated for DVD release. Others include Black Jack, Dragonball Z Volume 10: Rebirth, Dragonball Z Volume 11: Namek, Dragonball Z Volume 12: Betrayal, Dragonball Z Volume 13: Zarbon!, Fushigi Yugi/Mysterious Play DVD Boxed Sets, Macross Plus DVDs, Pokemon Volume 8: Primeape Problems, Pokemon Volume 9: Fashion Victims, Pokemon Volume 10: Fighting Tournament, Sonic the Hedgehog Movie, Tenchi in Tokyo Volume 6: A New Challenge & The Wings Of Honneamise. This list is not believed to be of material coming out in September. Pioneer was not on hand at Otakon to clear up the confusion.
AnimeOnDVD.com reports that contrary to previous statements, MGM still has the rights to Akira and plans on redubbing it into Dolby AC-3 5.1 format. A new theatrical release is not out of the question.
J-Dream has announced its new direct e-mail weekly newsletter, J-Dream Direct. Those who sign up to receive the weekly e-mail will get 10% off of the company's online store.
AnimeNext.com has opened several web-based services, including a streaming fansub download site and an eBay-like auction site, with ImageAnime.com cooperating to get new material available as a test. AnimeNext actually finished erecting the auction site a bit before AnimeOnlineNetwork.
Entertainment Weekly Magazine listed Hayao Miyazaki as one of the "100 Most Creative People" list late last month. Princess Mononoke got coverage in the article, which also listed Miyazaki's work habits.
Also regarding Princess Mononoke, two Japanese music textbook publishers (of the three that are out there) have selected songs from the film for 5th grade recorder selections. "Because it uses high tones, it's difficult to sing, but it's suited to play with a recorder. The anime depicts the relationship between men and nature, so it's a very good material to make children think about the environmental problems," said one publisher. "Sampo" from My Neighbor Totoro is already used in textbooks.
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