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Weekly Wrapup 30/Oct - 5/Nov

posted on by Georgia Blair
Vagabond to resume, Akamatsu speaks out against TPPing Japan, Japanese CG animators to work on another story about cats and a new Berserk movie trailer is released

Manga creator Takehiko Inoue will resume his Vagabond manga after a year-long hiatus. Vagabond, based on a novel about the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi was put on hiatus in August, 2010 due to health issues. Inoue announced on Twitter that he is working on the layouts for the new chapters and will reveal dates and other details when they are finalised. Viz Manga publishes the work in English, and released the 33rd and latest volume in October, 2010.

Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina, Negima) spoke out against proposed changes to Japan's copyright law under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). The TPPA is a international agreement between countries currently including the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam, intended to standardise copyright laws on an international scale. Amongst other changes, the TPP would lengthen the time copyright protection remains on works after the creator's death, permits police and prosecutors to act against perceived copyright infringements without the copyright holder themselves filing a complaint, and would allow copyright holders to control parallel imports. Japan's possible involvement will be discussed at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on November 11 and 12. Prompted by an essay on the TPP written by an Nihon University professor, Akamatsu stated that these changes would "destroy" dojinshi culture and diminish the power of the manga industry as a result. Ken Akamatsu recently founded J-Comi, a service providing out-of-print manga and derivative doujinshi with the permission of artists and original creators.

The creators of Cat Shit One: The Animated Series will be involved in a CG film version of Tailchaser's Song a fantasy novel by Tad Williams with a cat protagonist. Production company Animetropolis announced that IDA (International Digital Artists), which has created one episode of Cat Shit One (known as Apocalypse Meow in North America) and is working on further episodes, will be an animated production partner in adapting Tailchaser's Song into a computer-generated animated feature. IDA is the first Japanese animation studio to receive a nomination for the Visual Effects Society Awards due to its work on Cat Shit One, focusing on a private military company in a world where nationalities are represented by different animals.

Finally, a new trailer has been released for the Berserk Golden Age Arc I: Egg of the Supreme Ruler, the first of three upcoming films based on the Berserk manga by Kentaro Miura, and is streaming on Yahoo! Japan and YouTube. The series of films will retell the Golden Age story arc, also featured in an television anime series which screened from 1997 to 1998. The trailer features music from the film, including the ending song sung by Japanese-American singer Ai. The film will begin screening on February 4.


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