Update:06-19-04
.:ANIME NEWS:.
Friday night / Saturday Morning will see the Cartoon Network premieres of .hack//DUSK (Legend of the Twilight Bracelet) at 1:00am and Cyborg 009 Season 2 at 1:30
Genndy Tartakovsky Does Astro Boy :
Sony Pictures has announced that Samurai Jack and Dexter's Laboratory creator Genndy Tartakovsky will write and direct their Astro Boy adaptation. Originally set to be a live action adaptation, production was halted in 2000 due to similarities with Steven Spielberg's A.I.. The film was then re-envisioned as an all-CGI feature, to be directed by Eric Leighton (director of Dinosaur). However, the film is now being produced as a mixture of live-action, animatronics and CGI, with Tartakovsky replacing Leighton and Don Murphy (Angryfilms), Lisa Henson (Jim Henson) and Kristine Belson (Jim Henson) producing. No mention yet on when the film will be released.
Linkin Park Anime Music Video at MTV.com :
The new Linkin Park Video, animated by "The people that animated Kill Bill" is now available to watch on MTV.com
Fullmetal Alchemist Website :
Funimation's fullmetalachemist.com now has a splash page and two trailers for the newly licensed series.
USA Today Article on Manga :
USA Today is currently running an article entitled Girls get their 'shojo' working in comic book shops. The article is a brief introduction to the popularity and success of manga, and includes a brief mention of the particular success with the girls market.
Funimation licenses Fullmetal Alchemist :
Square-Enix announced at E3 that it would be localizing Fullmetal Alchemist in association with Funimation. Square is handling the videogame, while Funimation is distrubuting the anime. Cartoon Network is expected to air the series beginning in October. Square's videogame release is planned for Spring 2005.
G4TechTV confirms Anime Unleashed :
On Friday, May 28th, G4 and TechTV will be formally merged, with the new network named G4TechTV. Many details about the new network can be found on the official website at g4techtv.com, but one important item is the re-confirmation that TechTV's Anime Unleashed will continue airing.
Robotech back on TV :
The Anime Network announced today that it had acquired broadcast rights to all 85 episodes of Robotech and will be airing the series in its entirety later this year.
Z-Gundam Movie in 2005:
Sunrise has a website for the Z-Gundam Movie up at Z-Gundam.net. According to the caption, the movie will be released in 2005.
Live-action film may see US release, remake:
The new live-action Casshern film (based on the 1973 Robot Hunter Casshan anime series) may be on its way to the US. According to Akadot, several Hollywood film studios are currently negotiating domestic release rights. Also mentioned was the possibility of an American remake of the film, following the trend of Dreamworks' version of The Ring and the upcoming US remake of The Jyuon (scheduled for release this fall). Casshern is the first film from Kazuaki Kiriya, the husband of Jpop idol Hikaru Utada. The film premiered on April 24th in Japan.
Hellboy Anime:
Guillermo del Torro, director of Hellboy, has stated that on the official Hellboy website, "We are in talks with Gonzo Anime for the Hellboy anime series." Along with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, del Torro will be involved in the plotting of the anime project, along with other follow-up projects, to make sure the plot flows with the entire Hellboy mythology.
New Monkey Punch Anime:
Wowow has posted some details and images from Mankatsu, a new TV series from Monkey Punch that will air on Wowow starting in July with a 1-hour premiere episode. Mankatsu will feature standard "Monkey characters" and echi-gags found in all Monkey Punch series.
Inu Yasha to end:
Sunrise Studios announced yesterday that the final episode of Inu Yasha will be broadcast in September and the long-running series will be replaced by a new season of Gundam Seed. The first details about Gundam Seed 2 will be available next month.
Grrl Power! To be released Simultaneously:
Although ADV Films had previously announced that Makasete Iruka! would be released in North America before it's Japanese release MangaZoo quotes ADV's John Ledford as announcing at the Tokyo Anime Fair that the OAV would be released simultaneously in Japan and North America. Stated reason for the simultaneous release: circumvent piracy.
Gundam Seed Sells 1 Million DVDs in Japan:
Bandai Visula yesterday that they had sold over 1 million copies of Gundam Seed on DVD. The first volume sold over 100 000 copies, while the one million copies mark was reached with the eleventh volume. According to the statement, Gundam Seed has not only attracted traditional adult Gundam fans, but also younger fans and female fans.
Kill Bill Anime Prequel Planned:
According to IMDB, Quentin Tarantino is planning an animated prequel to Kill Bill, to be drawn in the "Japanese manga style already seen in Kill Bill Volume 1." No word on IMDB about who whill actually animate the prequel, Production I.G provided the animation for Kill Bill volumes 1 and 2. He is also reported to be 'speculating' another return to Kill Bill, a sequel 15 years in the future featuring "the daughter of a character killed in the first film."
Anime Heading to China:
Despite the high popularity of anime in China, numerous factors stand in the way of successfully importing anime and anime good into the country. Chief amongst these barriers are the Chinese governments requirements for censorship and the prevalence of bootlegged goods competing, openly at times, with legitimate products. Despite this, two recent announcements show that Japanese anime producers and licensors are looking at the potentially huge Chinese market. Dentsu's Chinese subsidiary, Dentsu Beijing, has signed a contract with the television production division of the Shanghai City Electric company to import Japanese television programs, including anime, into China. The two companies will form a joint venture, with Dentsu arranging for the rights to various shows and Shanghai Electric managing the distribution in China. Capital for the joint venture is 20 million Yuan (US$2.4 million approx), 51 percent supplied by Shanghai Electric and 49% by Dentsu. Dentsu Inc., the largest advertising agency brand and the fifth largest marketing and communications organization in the world, is the parent company of Geneon Entertainment and Geneon Entertainment USA. Meanwhile, it was announced in a Chinese Newspaper yesterday that China Movie Co. ltd. (?) , the Chinese copyright agent for the Crayon Shin-chan animation, has arranged rights for Crayon Shin-chan merchandise to be distributed in China. Crayon Shin-chan is wildly popular in China, but this is the first time that Shin-chan merchandise will be legitimately available in Chinese stores.
Live Action Witch Hunter Robin Confirmed:
The Sci Fi channel announced several of their new shows for 2004 and 2005, confirming earlier suggestions that they were producing a live action TV-series based on With Hunter Robin. As was stated on Anime Nation in January, Roy Lee and Doug Davison, jointly reponsible for the American Ring remake, will executive produce the TV series. Anime Nation also stated that Joe Menosky, writer and producer for numerous Star Trek series, would write the series and also executive produce it, we don't yet have confirmation of this, nor do we know how many episodes the series will run or when it will air.
Big Apple Anime Fest 2004 Cancelled:
The Big Apple Anime Festival has announced that the 2004 event is officially and completely cancelled. The next event will take place in 2005, with no further updates expected from BAAF until late 2004.
Toonami Saturday Schedule :
On Saturday April 17th, the new Saturday Toonami block will premiere. Running from 7pm to 2am the 7 hour block will be almost exclusively anime, with the few shows not produced in Japan restricted to shows that areheavilly influenced by anime (ie: Teen Titans and Samurai Jack).
Included in the schedule, on Saturday April 24th Dragonball Z: Lord Slug , the DBZ movie that Cartoon Network had previously skipped, will be aired.
April 17:
7.0PM: Duel Masters (#106 Episode 6)
7.5PM: Transformers: Energon (#12 Crisis of Jungle City)
8.0PM: MOVIE (TBA)
9.5PM: Gundam SEED
10.0PM: MOVIE (TBA)
11.5PM: Dragonball Z (#195 The World Tournament)
12.0AM: .hack//SIGN (#6 Encounter)
12.5AM: Knights of the Zodiac (#33 Sightless Dragon's Tears)
1.0AM: Teen Titans (#6 Nevermore)
1.5AM: Cyborg 009 (#19 The Hero)
April 24:
7.0PM: Duel Masters (#107 Episode 7)
7.5PM: Transformers: Energon (#13 The Enemy is After Kicker)
8.0PM: MOVIE (Dragonball Z: Lord Slug)
9.5PM: Gundam SEED
10.0PM: MOVIE (Dragonball Z: Lord Slug)
11.5PM: Dragonball Z (#196 Trunks Vs. Goten)
12.0AM: .hack//SIGN (#7 Reason)
12.5AM: Knights of the Zodiac (#34 Farewell, Comrade)
1.0AM: Teen Titans (#7 Switched)
1.5AM: Cyborg 009 (#20 A Phantom Dog)
May 1:
7.0PM: Duel Masters (#108 Episode Eight)
7.5PM: Transformers: Energon (#1 Cybertron City)
8.0PM: Dragonball GT (#16 A Grand Problem)
8.5PM: Rave Master
9.0PM: Megas XLR (#1 Test Drive)
9.5PM: Megas XLR (#2 Battle Royale - The Most Dangerous Game)
10.0PM: MOVIE: Sanurai Jack: The Legend Begins
11.5PM: Dragonball Z (#197 Best of the Boys)
12.0AM: .hack//SIGN (#8 Promise)
12.5AM: Knights of the Zodiac (#35 Seiya's Journey of Hope)
1.0AM: Teen Titans (#8 Deep Six)
1.5AM: Cyborg 009 (#21 Fossils of Evil)
Note: This scedule is accurate as of March 22nd, Cartoon Network may make changes.
Rave Master on May 1st:
Tokyopop's Rave Master will premiere on Cartoon Network on Saturday May 1st, and in August the series will be aired daily, Monday through Friday.
Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie:
4Kids has released a press release announcing that Warner Bros. Pictures will distribute Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie theatrically in the United States. The movie will be released theatrically in the US on August 13th, and internationally in late August.
Trigun Maximum coming in May:
Dark Horse has announced that it will release Trigun Maximum, the continuation of Yasuhiro Nightow's Trigun, on May 19th.
Attempted Murder over Pokemon:
Omiya Police announced on March 5th that a local boy attempted to kill several classmates over Pokemon related schoolyard taunting. The thirteen year old student at South Omiya Junior High School in Saitama City and injured several classmates using a Japanese sword. According to police, the day before he injured them, the child was insulted by 6 classmates including boys whom he tried to kill. They reportedly likened him to a Pokemon character. Following the incident, the child confessed " I'm Killing them" to police. The sword came from the child's own home, where his grandfather used it as decoration.
No Live Action DBZ?:
One of the administrators of KyleHebert.com has posted the following quote from an unamed source at Fox Studios, "The Dragonball Z movie? We don't have that. I 've got a lot of calls about that so I called around [the studio]. We won't be making that movie."
Cowboy Bebop : The Movie and Vampire Hunter D on the Starz Action Channel in April:
Fans of both the Cowboy Bebop: The Movie and Vampire Hunter D movies have the chance of watching them on the Staz Action channel's Animidnight program at 12:00AM 04/03/04. Click here for live listings.
New JoJo Anime:
Today's Japanese Shonen Jump (issue 14), announces that a new JoJo anime is to be produced. The announcement was made at the beginning of Steel Ball Run, another manga by JoJo creator Araki Hirohiko.
Ghost in the Shell TV Release PR:
Bandai and Manga Entertainment announced today that the first Ghost in the Shell TV DVD will be released June 27th, and will air on Cartoon Network later this year. The new Ghost in the Shell TV website is located at www.ghostintheshell.tv.
Duel Masters On Cartoon Network:
Beginning on Saturday March 13th, Cartoon Network will broadcast Duel Masters as part of their Saturday action block. One episode will air every Saturday. On February 27, there will be a Duel Masters 90-minute, 3-episode preview on Cartoon Network's Toonami Block.
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