News

Weekend Wrapup: 17/Mar - 23/Mar

The second promotional video for Oremio's (Ore no Imōto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai) second season has begun streaming, confirming the series returning cast and staff. The trailer was revealed by the series official website alongside some of the new merchandise (including hoodies & mugs) and the art for the wrapped Chiba Urban Monorail train. The second series will be helmed by director Hiroyuki Kanbe but produced at A-1 Pictures instead of AIC Build due to production scheduling. Oremio was originally streamed in Australia by Siren Visual and ANN and was later released on DVD by Madman Entertainment and has been screened on free-to-air community TV around Australia.

Code Geass: Akito the Exiled's first episode will be given a subtitle only release on DVD by Madman Entertainment and be the first release outside of Japan. Three more releases are planned as the series is released on home video in Japan.

The 2012 GTO live-action remake series with EXILE dance/vocal group member Akira in the role of Onizuka, will recieve a new two hour special to be released on the 2nd of April. The "GTO Kanketsuhen ~Saraba Onizuka! Sotsugyō Special~" (GTO Final Volume ~Farewell Onizuka! Graduation Special~) will center on the graduation of Onizuka's students and focus on the students worries about the future, Original manga creator Tohru Fujisawa is collaborating on the special's composition.

For fans of Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga, Shueisha are releasing a artbook collection on the 19th of September which will include an 208-page artbook with images from the 2012 Jojo exhibition in Tokyo, two supplementary books and and two Blu-ray discs. The collection is part of the 25th anniversary celebrations and are made to order, requiring a pre-order and will cost 20,000 yen (about $200 AUD). A second collection without the Blu-ray discs will ship in 2014 and cost 8,500 yen (approx $85 AUD).

Tomihiko Morimi's Uchōten Kazoku (Ecstatic Family) will be adapted into a TV anime by Anime studio P.A. Works for broadcast in July. Momori wrote The Tatami Galaxy (Yojō-Han Shinwa Taikei) novel that inspired the 2010 TV anime and the series original character designs will be handled by Kôji Kumeta (Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Joshiraku, first time Kumeta has done so for a series not based off his manga). Uchōten Kazoku is set in Kyoto, where tanuki (shape-shifting raccoon-dogs), tengu (long-nosed goblins of Japanese folklore), and humans intermingle. The story follows the Shimogamo family of tanuki who live in the Tadasu no Mori forest of Shimogamo Shrine.

And finally, Anime studio Gainax has been very busy at the Tokyo Anime Fair presenting updates on several projects including the following;

• Tenshi Yohō ~Strange Weathers~ (Angel Forecast ~Strange Weathers~): Involving space, a angel and a demon looking for the Book of Zero, they have plans to produce this new CGI anime, but the project is not green-lit and still collecting funds.
• Sadon-Desu: Adaptation of the collaboration manga between Gainax's Nowa and manga creator Kyo Hatsuki which revolves around puns and snacks in the school's tea ceremony club, but the project is not green-lit yet.
• Akubi o Suru ni wa Wake ga Aru (There Is a Reason That We Yawn): A project that has been in the works for six years, set in 2093 where the most prestigious town in Japan is 30 meters under water, intended to run for a half-year season the project has not been green-lit.
• Hōkago no Pleiades: A theatrical adaptation of the Gainax and Subaru anime collaboration revolving around a after school group of magical girls who collect fragments to allow a alien from Pleiades can return home.
• Blue Uru (Aoki Uru) project: Planned since 1992, two of the principals from 1987's Wings of Honneamise are involved, Hiroyuki Yamaga is writing and directing the project with character designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.