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Watch Studio Ghibli’s ‘Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo’ Short Film
This short film was commissioned by Hideaki Anno for The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo in 2012 as part of a special Tokusatsu exhibition. The film is directed by Shinji Higuchi and marks the first time that Studio Ghibli produced a live action film: Read more… Little Witch Academia Available for Free on Youtube
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 21, 2013 in Anime
Many people have been sadden that popular animation studio GAINAX has become an empty shell of its once impressive stature. What many might not know is that GAINAX legendary, Hiroyuki Imaishi, the director of Gurren Lagann and Panty & Stocking, character designer on FLCL, as well as a multitude of other projects, has formed his own studio. Studio Trigger was founded by Imaishi along with Masahiko Ohtsuka. Yoh Yoshinari is also working there, and their project for Anime Mirai, a government job booster program, has finally arrived on YouTube, fully subbed and completely free. I have high hopes for Trigger, and Little Witch Academia is a beautiful omen for the future. Trigger is currently working on a new anime series that will air sometime later this year. Read more… Next Iron Man Anime Looks Surprisingly Cool
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 2, 2013 in Anime, Comic Books
I remember being so pumped for the Iron Man anime, based on a short concept trailer with fantastic animation. Alas, despite studio Madhouse’s involvement, it turned out to be a pile of crap, with awful CG, terrible art, and poor direction all around. So why does this new Iron Man anime film look so awesome? Read more… RIP: Toren Smith, a Manga Translation Pioneer
Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 8, 2013 in Anime
Some sad news for anime and manga fans everywhere: Toren Smith has passed away. He was an early translator of many popular manga titles and helped bring over many early works. He helped translate The Legend of Kamui, one of the first manga titles brought over, and went on to found Studio Proteus which aided in bringing over manga like Akira, Appleseed, Astro Boy, Lone Wolf and Cub, and Nausicaa. He also helped found AnimeCon 1991, along with Gainax’s Toshio Okada and John McLaughlin. Gainax even featured him (in name) in Gunbuster to recognize his accomplishments. His influence has been felt far and wide, and the anime & manga industry today would be very different if not for his impressive body of work. He will be missed. Read more… FUNimation Posts Wolf Children Trailer, Coming To Select Theaters
Posted by Bob Muir on Mar 5, 2013 in Anime
Wolf Children (or The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki in Japan) is the latest film by director Mamoru Hosada. Hosada has been rising in prominence in the past decade, having initially directed Digimon: The Movie and the sixth One Piece movie before releasing The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in 2006 to positive reviews. Summer Wars followed in 2009, also receiving strong praise. Now, FUNimation is preparing to release 2012’s Wolf Children in the US. Read more… Watch The Crazy New Moves In One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 26, 2013 in Anime, Videogames
One Piece: Pirate Warriors may have just been a Dynasty Warriors game, but it was still pretty fun despite the dumb gameplay. A large part of that were the energetic and wacky attacks. Lo and behold, there is a trailer for One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 focusing on the entire Straw Hat crew and the new moves they’ve attained during the two-year time jump that occurs in the manga’s plot. Read more… Latest Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Trailer Looks Pretty
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 19, 2013 in Anime, Videogames
The Naruto videogames keep coming, and while not every game leaves Japan, we tend to get most of the better ones. The latest in CyberConnect2’s Ultimate Ninja series is Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, and the graphics still look as beautiful as ever. While the gameplay of previous Ultimate Ninja Storm games has never been that special, the cel-shading is always well done. And of course, there are over 80 characters, giving it the biggest roster yet. Major Kusanagi Is Back In Action In Ghost In The Shell: Arise
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 13, 2013 in Anime
Production I.G. is on a mission to show the world what 2D animation can do with their latest project, a four-film series in the Ghost in the Shell franchise. As a massive fan of 2D animation, I couldn’t be happier, and the fact that Ghost in the Shell is such an interesting universe is pretty nice to boot. The first film is named Ghost in the Shell: Arise, which focuses on Makoto Kusanagi, back in her younger days before she was the Major we’re familiar with. Read more… Warner Bros. Finds Director for Live-Action Robotech
Wondered what happened to that live-action Robotech we were supposed to get? Or perhaps you just forgot about it entirely. I know I did – and it has been in development since 2007. So who knows if we’ll ever see it in theaters, but we’re one step closer now: Warner Bros. has chosen a director for the film. Nic Mathieu is a popular commercial director and this will be his first feature film, so good luck, buddy! Perhaps Warner saw the oncoming Pacific Rim and are preparing for a wave of giant robot films? Read more… First Trailer for Studio Trigger’s Little Witch Academia
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 18, 2013 in Anime
The Anime Mirai program in Japan is part of a government funding project to support studios that train new animators. The 2013 program has a few new anime shorts featured, and one of those is from Hiroyuki Imaishi’s new studio, Trigger. They’ll be releasing a new short on March 2nd (along with the others) called Little Witch Academia, and none other than Yoh Yoshinari will be directing. It looks to be very cute and reminiscent of GAINAX’s old work (which is no surprise given that Trigger features several GAINAX veterans). While you’re paying attention, also check out Studio Trigger’s other show, Inferno Cop, which is my anime of the year. It’s that good. Read more… New Ghost in the Shell Anime Announced: Arise
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 18, 2013 in Anime
Are you ready for more Ghost in the Shell? How about a new anime? And what if it looked to be completely new? That’s what we’ve got with Ghost in the Shell Arise, a new project from Production I.G.! While Kenji Kamiyama is not involved, Kazuchika Kisa will be the chief director, and Tow Ubukata will be supervising and scripting the anime. Cornelius will be composing music. Ubukata is the writer and creator of Mardock Scramble, which will either make you apprehensive or pleased. I’m the former. Still, I can’t help but be interested in seeing how a new Ghost in the Shell anime will turn out. We’ll be hearing more details at a livestreamed event on February 12th. Click below for full art of the new look for Makoto Kusanagi! Read more… Amazing Eva 01 Cardboard Figure
Papercraft? Pfft! That’s so last year. What’s hot in 2013? Cardboardcraft! Or cardcraft! Boardcraft? Whatever we end up calling it, suffice to say, it is awesome, as theWonder.it user wakabua has proved. He has recreated the Eva 01 unit from Neon Genesis Evangelion in a fully-posable cardboard form. Even better than that already impressive feat? It transforms into a tank. Why? Who cares! That’s freaking cool, and this is definitely the best way to start off 2013. Check out all the images below! Read more… Atlus Teases Persona 3 Anime Movie
Dang, Atlus, slow down! Just yesterday I’m writing about the Devil Survivor 2 anime, and now there’s a teaser trailer for a Persona 3 anime adaptation! Read more… Devil Survivor 2 Anime Trailer Looks Just Like The Game
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 2, 2013 in Anime, Videogames
Bravo on Atlus for having the guts to retain the original name of a game when it’s adapted into an anime. Even though Persona 4: The Animation was the first Persona anime actually based on the games (we don’t talk about Persona: Trinity Soul), it didn’t shy away from keeping the “4” in the title, despite the fact that it may alienate potential viewers a bit. Now they’re doing the same with the Devil Survivor 2 anime, and here’s the trailer to prove it. Read more… Next Bakemonogatari Series Teased Alongside Newly Premiered Miniseries
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 1, 2013 in Anime
Bakemonogatari is one of the best anime of the previous decade, with a striking visual style and unusually smart dialogue. Shaft, the studio that has been adapting author Nisio Isin’s light novels, has previously announced plans to continue adapting his follow-up stories. Nisemonogatari aired earlier this year, and now we have a preview for even more. Read more… Be Mindful Of Falling Lances From Evangelion
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 27, 2012 in Anime
I love well-done marketing stunts, and since Evangelion is so big in Japan, it’s had its fair share over the years. The third Rebuild of Evangelion movie has been out for a bit, but that doesn’t mean they can’t put a giant Lance of Longinus in the ground at Tokyo Sky Tree Town. Read more… Dragon Ball To Be Reprinted In Color
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 26, 2012 in Anime
Though it’s old hat by now, Dragon Ball (or for the portion that American fans like, Dragon Ball Z) is one of the biggest, most popular manga ever released in Japan. It’s always in print, with a new definitive version, but now a new version is finally adding something to make it even more palatable for anyone turned off by manga’s black-and-white style: color. Read more… One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 Is A Weird Mix Of Old And New
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 26, 2012 in Anime, Videogames
One Piece: Pirate Warriors could have used some more polished gameplay and it was pretty dumb, but it was also dumb fun. I had hoped for a sequel that would improve and hopefully add some major arcs that were previously skipped over. Now that One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 is coming out, it looks like Omega Force and Namco Bandai are doing that…sort of. Read more… First Teaser for Hiroyuki Imaishi’s New Anime, Inferno Cop
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 24, 2012 in Anime
And there’s barely any details… Hiroyuki Imaishi is one of my favorite Japanese animators, particularly for his work on Gurren Lagann, Panty & Stocking, Dead Leaves, and FLCL. But now that GAINAX has fallen apart, he’s gone his own way and formed a new studio called Studio Trigger with many of his old buddies from his last job. They have just released a short teaser for their first project, Inferno Cop – and there’s not too much to go on in the teaser. It’s set to debut on Christmas though, so I’m sure we’ll see more then. Along with Imaishi, Shigeto Koyama, Hiromi Wakabayashi, and Akira Amemiya are also working on this anime. It’s a pretty solid lineup, so I’m anxious to hear more details about this in the next few days! Read more… Shout Dramatically With InuYasha Blu-ray Movie Collection
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 20, 2012 in Anime
Man, I remember loving InuYasha back in early high school. It was a great premise with colorful characters and lots of action (or at least that’s how I felt at the time). Then all the plot beats started looping, which made it feel like the characters and plot were going nowhere, and by the time it picked up again, my tastes had matured too much to stand the expository dialogue and mounds of wretched filler episodes. Maybe that’s why we have the movies! Read more… Artist Finally Resumes Work On Black Lagoon Manga
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 18, 2012 in Anime
If you haven’t seen Black Lagoon, an anime from 2006, let me bottom-line it for you: it’s a loving take on American action films and Western tones, as well as directors such as Quentin Tarantino and John Woo. It sounds like that would result in a parody, but it feels like an excellent homage, telling the story of a multicultural group of mercenaries and the people they meet in the criminal underground of Southeast Asia. The manga has been running since 2002, with most of it adapted in anime form, but has been on hiatus since 2010. Thankfully, fans won’t have to wait much longer for more! Read more… Miyazaki’s Kaze Tachinu and Takahata’s Kaguya-hime no Monogatari Revealed
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 15, 2012 in Anime
Been wondering what the Ghibli folks are up to? We had heard inklings from the domain names register earlier and Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata’s comments over the past few years, but now we have official word on the next two Ghibli films. The first will be Miyazaki’s Kaze Tachinu, based on the life of Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the Mitsubishi A6M fighter plane. Miyazaki has already done a 2-part manga series on the man, so presumably he’ll be drawing upon that and the book Kaze Tachinu by Tatsuo Hori. Isao Takahata is returning to the director’s chair as well, with Kaguya-hime no Monogatari, based on the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Both films will be released on the same day this summer in Japan, something that hasn’t happened since Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies in 1988. Wow! Read more… Dragon Ball Z: Battle Of Gods Trailer Brings The Action
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 13, 2012 in Anime
As noted last week, there’s another Dragon Ball Z movie coming out, subtitled Battle of Gods. We now have a trailer to go along with the announcement, and as it expected, it looks far more visually exciting than the budget of the original TV series, filler plot be damned. The movie is also taking more cues from artist Akira Toriyama’s post-Dragon Ball Z art style, which feels a bit more cartoony than what he used before. Read more… Star Driver The Movie Ad Airs, Needs More Fabulous Poses
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 6, 2012 in Anime
Look at that robot above. That’s a mech from Star Driver, the 2010 anime from Bones that features fabulous mechs. There is a semi-new anime movie coming out simply called Star Driver the Movie, and I can immediately tell that there are not sufficient levels of fabulousness to be found in the ad. For something that is being termed a “new construction” of the TV series focusing on Takuto, Waka, and Sugata (plus a new segment about their lives after the TV series), it seems they are taking the sass right out of that robot. The movie opens in Japan on February 9, so there is plenty of time for them to put those fabulous poses back into trailers to recapture the spirit of, well, that picture I posted above. Get on it! Read more… |
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