Urban Vision told fans at San Diego Comic Con last month that while some titles will certainly see a DVD release, a few have hit road blocks in their production. Tekkaman Blade II series is still partially owned by Saban, and therefore won't see a release, nor will DNA Sights 999.9, which was an extremely expensive license that sold very poorly.
A few more film festivals will be showing the English version of Princess Mononoke, including the 24th Toronto International Film Festival (which begins 9/9), where Miyazaki himself may be in attendance. (http://www.bell.ca/filmfest/99/index2.asp) Previously announced was the New York Film Festival later this month.
Viz Communications has dropped the price on its Pokémon cardboard standee set from $19.95 to $14.95. The book-sized set contains 20 standees altogether, all of them in full-color, and will go on sale November 12. Also set for a late 1999 release are a year 2000 Pokémon 2'x3' calendar and a graphic novel of the Pokémon animation comic series serialized in Nintendo Power. To make room for the new products, some Viz Video products will see slight delays, and Viz is now reworking its schedule to accomidate them. In their monthly press release, Viz also announced the Pokémon movie film art book, as well as film comics of both Mewtwo Strikes Back and Pikachu's Vacation. Other non-Pokémon material announced includes a Heartbroken Angels graphic novel (oversized and hardcover), the second Fushigi Yuugi graphic novel and the third Banana Fish graphic novel.
With the licensing of Card Captor Sakura by Nelvana, fansubber Studio Hooseki officially closed last week. The scripts from Hooseki's tenure are still available at the group's web site at http://anime.jyu.fi/greyhawk/hooseki/.
UCLA Film and Television Archive announced Monday their newest film festival, the works of Studio Ghibli, including the films dirrected by Hayao Miyazaki (Nausicaa, Totoro, Mononoke, Kiki), Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Omoide Poro Poro, Pon Poko), and Yoshifumi Kondō (Whisper of the Heart). To begin on September 30, the screenings will take place at the UCLA James Bridges Theater and will be shown in their original 35mm format. More information is available from the archive hotline (310) 206-FILM and the web site (www.cinema.ucla.edu). The Museum of Modern Art in New York City event announced earlier will also be touring to the Cambridge Brattle Theater in Cambridge, MA from September 19 to October 17.
My Neighbors, The Yamadas has now dropped to 6th place this weekend, taking in only 5,372,000 yen. Japanese cinema magazine Kinama Junpo expects the film to end up taking in less than 1 billion yen total. Production costs were 2.4 billion, making this the only Ghibli film to ever fail financially.
Encore Media, owner of pay-cable channels Starz!, Encore!, and Encore Action, has signed a 10-year agreement with Disney and its theatrical subsidiaries (includign Touchstone, Hollywood, Miramax, and Dimension) that will allow them to show all theatrical releases from each of these labels, according to Kevin Cook of Animania DVD. Since Disney owns the rights to all Studio Ghibli films and has a track record of showing anime in both subtitled and dubbed formats, many fans are considering what this could mean for the works of Miyazaki on US cable.
Original creator Akira Toriyama writes screenplay, designs characters― Toei Animation officially confirmed on Sunday that it is developing a second anime film in the Dragon Ball Super franchise with a planned release in 2022. Toei Animation Europe had briefly listed a new film in the franchise earlier this week. Original creator Akira Toriyama is in charge of the screenplay and character design. Tor...
Season two has ideas about storytelling in sports that it earnestly wants to use its cartoon horse documentary structure to explore.― The first season of Uma Musume Pretty Derby can take a bit of getting used to with the terms it wants to be engaged on in order to get into, to let yourself have fun with it. Similarly, Season 2 has a bit of its own circumstances that viewers have to understand going ...
Cast, staff return for season 4; film project covers 'Holy Kingdom Arc'― The live special during Saturday's streaming marathon of the Overlord television anime series announced that a fourth television anime season and a brand-new anime film project, covering the Sei Ōkoku-hen (Holy Kingdom Arc), has been green-lit. The returning staff for the new television season includes: Director: Naoyuki Itou S...
Manga's 22nd volume bundles 3-episode OVA on May 19― The official Twitter account for the anime of Aka Akasaka's Kaguya-sama: Love is War (Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunōsen) manga began streaming the newest promotional video for the upcoming three-episode original video anime (OVA) on Friday. Select the image below to play the video on Twitter: The manga's 22nd compiled book ...
Give your wardrobe a '90s reboot with Bershka's latest mini capsule inspired by a popular Japanese anime― Give your wardrobe a '90s reboot with Bershka's latest mini capsule inspired by a popular Japanese anime. EVANGELION is a medium-defining franchise. Even 25 years after Shinji first got in the robot, the latest EVANGELION film is finding new records to break in the Japanese box office, and lifel...
Companies that have dealt with Apple and/or Epic – which is roughly 98% of the game industry – are scrambling to make sure these two firms don't accidentally leak stuff while they engage in their courtroom slapfight. Comedy all around!― Hi again! It's another interesting week of gaming news… though, if I really wanted to, I could probably just write a whole column about the Epic vs. Apple court proc...
Stagnation, wheel-spinning, episodic shenanigans – whatever you choose to call it, every shakeup of the love triangles in volume three of Maison Ikkoku ends up settling right back into the status quo, with little major character development to show for it.― In every long-running romantic comedy, there's bound to be a volume or two where there's no forward momentum. Stagnation, wheel-spinning, episod...
A lot of you seemed to liked when we broke down what we considered to be solid English dubs for some weekly seasonal anime. So we'll do our best to highlight the attention that we think these new shows deserve.― Hey everyone, it's AJ from the Cartoon Cipher and a lot of you seemed to like the last bit of coverage we did for Anime News Network where we broke down what we considered to be solid Engli...
Bon appétit, Tokyo Ghoul fans! Funimation dropped the two side story OAVs on its service recently so we had Nicky and Steve dust off their best masks to revisit some our favorite flesh-eaters.― Bon appétit, Tokyo Ghoul fans! Funimation dropped the two side story OAVs on its service recently so we had Nicky and Steve dust off their best masks to revisit some our favorite flesh-eaters. This series is...
Alex Dudok de Wit's analysis argues that to see the film as nothing more than an emotionally manipulative weepy is to ignore Takahata's original vision for the piece–that the children's fates were in part a result of selfishness.― If you ask most anime viewers, Isao Takahata's 1988 World War Two film Grave of the Fireflies is the saddest movie released by Studio Ghibli. While this is largely true – ...
Dudok de Wit delves into Grave of the Fireflies' production, the modification of Akiyuki Nosaka original story, and whether the film reflects a mentality that Japan was the "victim" in World War II.― Alex Dudok de Wit's new book study of Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies is published in the British Film Institute's BFI Film Classics range, and offers a fresh appraisal of one of the most acclaim...
Days on Fes is a tender, comfy little work. There is a certain charm to the way it carries itself. It is not a grand story, nor is it a particularly deep one. The stakes are only as dire as ”How will we pay for the next show?!” and will not have you gripping your seat with anticipation.― Days on Fes is a tender, comfy little work. There is a certain charm to the way Days on Fes carries itself. It is...
When Tom told me that there was a “movie” that was going to air called The History of Trunks, I was hyped. When it aired, Trunks immediately became my favorite character in the series, going down, in my mind, as the greatest OVA in DBZ history.― Let me set the stage. We've followed Goku's ascendency to Super Sayian (at the time where this level was the be-all-end-all transformation), in order to de...
The practice of piracy has been around for a very long time, and not just where European sailors plied saltwater.― Even to the present day, views on piracy have tended towards two sides. On one side, pirates are, by virtue of their criminal maritime activities, regarded as bandits, brutes, and thugs of the seas, raiding civilians on the ocean and shore, robbing innocents of their lots and lives. On ...
RightStuf - Anime, Manga and More