Posts for 'Gossips' Category

Director Satoshi Kon dead at 46
Satoshi Kon, celebrated anime director of Paprika and Paranoia Agent, died Aug. 24 after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 46. His sudden death reminds observers of the awkward place in which Japanese animation finds itself today.

Kon first came to prominence after his directorial debut in 1998’s Perfect Blue. Critics praised this Hitchcock-like thriller about a pop star turned actress who is unable to distinguish her characters between herself. His next movies, Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers, possessed an emotional sensitivity rarely seen in film or animation.
With the popularity of Inception, many are now discovering Kon’s Paprika.

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The Oh My Goddess! (or Ah My Goddess in some circles) universe is quite large and somewhat tricky to piece together. It consists of the original 40 volume (at the time of this review) ongoing manga , 2 sets of OVAs, 2 different TV series, and finally 1 movie. The title is literally “Ah My Goddess” and some localization teams feel it is better that way. The author himself has stated however, that his original intent was something closer to “Oh”. This review is actually for the OVA produced in the early nineties and distributed here in America by AnimeEigo. This particular OVA is actually the first animated adaptation of Kosuke Fujishima’s popular manga series of the same title. As with many OVA’s, it offers up a small number of high quality episodes but ends all too quickly.

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An exhibition of the latest manga, "anime," art and the next generation of electronic entertainment technology from Japan and abroad opened Thursday in Kyoto.Since 1997, the Cultural Affairs Agency has sponsored an international festival of Japanese and foreign manga and anime artists, as well as those artists working on modern designs or involved in entertainment. Last year's festival in Tokyo drew around 63,000 people from 54 countries to the 2,000-plus exhibits on display.

The Japan Arts Festival in Kyoto marks the first time the top prizewinners at past festivals have been exhibited in the Kansai region. Sponsored by the agency as well as the city, the show takes place at the Kyoto Art Center and the Kyoto International Manga Museum, which are cosponsoring the event.

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Anime  Videos: Gundam 00 Movie Set To Premiere This October In NY Fest: Its going to be great news as Gundam 00 Made its announcement on having its Film set to premiere over at the NY fest this coming october. it was clearly announced by Japense Anime Studio Sunrise that they Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A wakening of the Trailblazer will be over at North America for a premiere over at the New York Anime Festival this coming October 10 at 2:00pm. The premiere will not come in english but will be under English Subtitles only.

This two hour film of Gundam will be the sequel for the two season Mobile Suit Gundam 00 television anime. The director of the Movie is Seiji Mizushima. The film will be opening in Japan this Coming September 18, 2010. Check out the trailer here as we wait on for Gundam 00 Movie to premiere to the world.

Anime Fashion:  The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry will establish a new section specializing in nurturing culture-related industries, such as anime and fashion, according to sources. The ministry has been emphasizing the promotion of manufacturing and other conventional industries, but also intends to develop the export potential of domestic anime and fashion, which are popular overseas.

Tentatively called the creative industry department, the envisioned section will have about 50 officials. Expenses for setting up the new section as part of the ministry's reorganization will be factored into the ministry's fiscal 2011 budgetary request, the sources said. The government's new growth strategy aims to produce 1 trillion yen in profit from the Asian software market in 2020.

Anime convention coming to Avila: Anime Five Cities will bring the Central Coast’s first anime and Asian pop culture convention to the Avila Beach Community Center from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 28. Guests of honor will include members of AniMaid Cafe and published Central Coast artist Irene Flores. Admission is limited, so those planning to attend are advised to sign up soon, organizers said.

The “family-friendly event” will feature an exhibits area, live performances, a cosplay costume contest, panel presentations and imported Japanese snacks, an event spokesman said. The convention is designed to bring the fun and excitement of anime and Asian pop culture events from California’s metropolitan areas to residents of the Central Coast, the spokesman said.

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There's a whole lot going on in the Japanese anime  fantasy "Tales From Earthsea," so why is it such a bore? It could be because this 2006 production from famed Studio Ghibli ("Princess Mononoke," the Oscar-winning "Spirited Away"), while covering dungeons and dragons, wizards, witches and the quest for eternal life, is so stiff and humorless it rarely if ever engages its audience.

And, really, who is its audience? Although being released by family-friendly Disney, "Earthsea," directed and co-written by Goro Miyazaki (son of Ghibli co-founder and veteran filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki) and based on a series of books by Ursula K. Le Guin, touches on such grave topics as patricide, child abuse and slavery. It also features deaths by strangulation and immolation as well as a nasty bit with a flying severed limb.Kids may be less put off by all that, though, than by the film's uninspired hand-drawn animation, visual flatness and elongated running time.

Publisher Namco Bandai announced this morning that copies of the game will feature a 30 minute version of the original video animation (OVA) episode that's been "reconstructed, re-scripted, and re-edited" just for the North American and European audience that never saw it.

Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans takes place between episodes 195 and 196 in Dragon Ball Z continuity.It's a nice bone to throw to the loyal fans that buy all the Dragon Ball games -- but should they continue the trend with future games, we're not sure what else they could run besides the new-ish movie, Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!

The first teaser has been unveiled for the Japanese broadcast of the anime TV incarnation of Supernatural. The show will be done as a twenty-two episode series and will see a home video release in Japan on 01/12/2011 with the first volume containing the first two episodes. A month later, the first box set will ship with episodes 3-12 and then in April, the last half of the set will be released. The show will be available on both DVD and Blu-ray.

This release will apparently cover the storyline from the first two seasons of the live action series while also having some new original stories mixed in that will include material of the Winchester brothers' younger days and more such as  anime-only enemies and stories focusing on the supporting cast from the live-action version.

The official Japanese website for the Supernatural the Animation project is now streaming a 34-second teaser trailer.

(In the linked page, select the "Trailer" icon on the righthand side.) The acclaimed anime studio MADHOUSE (Death Note, Paprika, Vampire Hunter D, Summer Wars) is producing the previously announced 22-episode anime for Warner Brothers.

Shigeyuki Miya (Lupin III: Green vs Red, Aoi Bungaku Series, Buzzer Beater) and Atsuko Ishizuka (Aoi Bungaku Series) are co-directing the project. Warner Home Video will ship Supernatural.

The Animation on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan in two boxes on January 12 and April 6, 2011.The original live-action series follows the Winchester brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles).

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