Posts Tagged ‘production ig’

The license announcements continued today from both Crunchyroll and Funimation. Before today Funimation promised two things from today’s announcement: it was definitely going to be an anime and it was ‘surreal’. Finally the announcement hit and Funimation has revealed that they are the brand new owners of a slightly used but still very shiny FLCL license!

Originally licensed by Synch-Point, the six episode OVA got its first release in the US via DVD in 2002 and an Adult Swim broadcast (which is where I watched it the first time) in 2003. The series will be released on both DVD and Blu ray before the end of the year and as of the time I’m writing this, there’s no official confirmation regarding if the original English dub track will be used.

I’ll fess up right here though that while this is a very fan friendly move on the part of Funimation I’m personally not that excited. I remember not really being able to get into it when I first watched it. It could be fun to give this one another pass though. Regardless of how I feel about this, this is a slightly bigger deal than usual. FLCL is considered a classic from the last decade of animation by a lot of fans. The story and animation created by Gainax and Production I.G. was really unique for its time (keep in mind; FLCL was released the same season as Love Hina, Sakura Taisen and Saiyuki). Giving it a brand new life on both DVD and Blu ray is good news for fans that never had a chance to add to their collection the first time but I wonder how the moe generation of fans will take to it.

In another part of the internet, Crunchyroll made their next simulcast announcement today confirming the rumored Durarara. Produced by Brains Base, the series premieres on Thursday and will be available to fans in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland on Friday at 11am Pacific.

While we’re on the subject of Crunchyroll, earlier tonight VP of Licensing at CR Rob Pereyda confirmed via twitter that their simulcasts of Omamori Himari will now also be made available in the UK, Ireland and Brazil. He also commented to me earlier that they are attempting to get Cobra the Animation available in ‘the rest of the Americas’.

Updated: Scratch that, it was just confirmed over twitter. “You asked, I listened…just got COBRA approved for the rest of the Americas! Change in effect in a bit on Crunchyroll.”

Full press releases below the cut

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Writer’s block sucks but sometimes all it takes is just a couple of sparks to get you going again. I missed last week but there really has been very little to fall through the cracks. So what has happened in the last couple of weeks? Moe loli triplets will be airing sometime in the future, Gonzo has taken one more step towards obscurity and the holiday season is fast approaching which means more merchandise that none of us actually need but will probably buy anyway simply because we can.

Second Eden of the East Movie Delayed: Fans of last summer’s hit series, Eden of the East, have been very patient when it comes to the movie adaptations. Finally, the big day was just hours away when Production I.G decided to break the collective hearts of fans just a bit more by announcing a two month delay in the release of the second movie. This isn’t entirely bad news however. Originally both movies were set to be 60 minute adaptations of the TV series but then the staff got creative and expanded the story out even further making what was supposed to a 60 minute feature into 90 minutes instead. Surely fans can wait a measly two months for at least 30 more minutes of story?

Ikkitousen Season 4 Green Lit: For those of you who prefer your anime to lean more towards the action fan service variety, a fourth season of Ikkitousen has been green lit for production. Titled ‘Ikkitousen: XX (Xtreme Xecutor)‘, the new season will feature the animation debut of the character Bachou Mouki (voiced by Aya Endo [Sheryl Nome in Macross Frontier, Cruz in Needless]) and will also feature new characters that were never featured in the manga series. Beyond that, all of the cast and crew from the first three seasons will be returning to reprise their roles.

If you’re dying to get your fix, the official website has already opened with a trailer for the special DVD 0 being released at Comiket 77. The trailer isn’t really safe for work though the nipples are censored.

Major Gets Sixth Season: The seemingly perennial baseball anime had a sixth season announced this week. The new season will be getting a spring premiere, more specifically April 3^rd (just in time for baseball season naturally). I remember when this series was still relatively new and I couldn’t go more than a week without someone telling me to check this one out. Glad that’s finally over with.

LAMES

Manga Gamer Editing Upcoming Release: Manga Gamer put two news updates on their site earlier this week regarding their upcoming release of Soul Link from Navel (Shuffle). First the good news, the game will be released later this month (presumably in time to spend any holiday money you have coming to you) for €36.95 (or around $55). The bad news is that the game is being willingly censored by Manga Gamer before its release. In a statement posted to their site on 12/4 the company said:

“A total of 6 CGs from the game will be removed due to having an arguably underaged(sic) looking character naked. Because we don’t want to risk getting the law in the way of our future releases, we have decided to cut this CG from this release.” They go on to note that no text was cut.

As much as I hate censorship, this has not been a good year to be an eroge fan. Between the bans put into place because of one stupid game that wasn’t even made widely available and the Christopher Handley guilty plea, I can understand why Manga Gamer would prefer to go the safe route. It’s exceedingly lame that they buckled to whatever pressure they felt like they were under but understandable. On the other hand, JAST USA proved earlier this year that a little bit of Photoshop here and there (NSFW) can go a long way towards fixing those problems.

STUFF YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEEDED UNTIL NOW

600 Japanese Girls Saying ‘I Love You’: Alright, so it’s not literally 600 girls being shipped to you just so that you can be peppered with the same phrase over and over but how about a CD containing the same thing? For a mere $25 you can have a special two CD set titled ‘Hougen’ which will help even the loneliest of otaku feel special as hundreds of girls (including voice actresses such as Rie Tanaka [most recently known as Nyx in Queen's Blade, Octavia in Tears to Tiara, Minna in Strike Witches]). If that’s not enough, a second CD is included in the set which features the reverse: hundreds of girls telling you they hate you perfect for that post holiday depression. The set will be released on 12/23 and is available for preorder from CDJapan.

 <Ikkitousen image ©YUJI SHIOZAKI・WANI BOOKS/IKKITOUSEN XX PARTNERS, Soul Link image ©Omegavision>

So is everyone excited about having a day off this week? In the middle of this season, even I am planning on taking most of tomorrow off. I’ll be spending time with friends for our special dinner and won’t be able to interject any anime into my dinner but how about you? Got a figure or doll which will be breaking bread with you? Sharing the turkey with a daikimakura? Take a pic and send it in, best ones get featured in a future article.

So, what slipped through the cracks last week?

Quiz Magic Academy Gets Second OVA: So do you love trivia and moe girls? You should be playing Quiz Magic Academy then. Exactly as the name implies, the game takes place in a magical academy and makes players answer trivia questions. Last week it was announced that the new game being released in February will include a special DVD which contains an animated extra. This is the second OVA to be bundled with one of the games after the first one was released last year.

Manga Gamer Adds Da Capo and Koihime Muso: Last week I reported on Manga Gamer finally announcing a release date for the first four chapters of Higurashi. In my excitement to talk about that, I completely glazed over a couple of other announcements in the same post. So, in addition to the Higurashi release dates Manga Gamer also announced the acquisition of two more games created by Circus for the Da Capo franchise, D.C.I.F. ~Da Capo Innocent Finale~ and Da Capo II, and scheduled them for a summer 2010 release.

Also revealed in the announcement was Koihime Muso which will be released in February. 

Production I.G. Creating CG Animated Titan Rain: Production I.G. revealed last week that their new project is going to be a CG anime movie featuring Tow Ubukata (creator of Le Chevalier d’Eon and Heroic Age) as writer, Atsushi Takeuchi as director and Takashi Okazaki (Afro Samurai) is creating the character designs. The animation will be handled by both Production I.G. and Singapore studio Storm Lion Pictures.

KissxSis Gets 4^th OVA: I’m actually surprised that KissxSis has taken off as much as it has in the last few months but here it is in black and white; along with the previously announced TV series fans will be getting a fourth OVA on June 4^th which will ship along with the sixth volume of the manga.

STUFF YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEEDED UNTIL NOW

Sleep With the Girls from K-ON! Alright, so it’s not quite what you might have been thinking (and it’s ok if you were thinking it, I won’t rat you out) but J-List now has the next best thing. Measuring 53×31 inches, this blanket featuring all of the light music club members would keep any moe fanboy warm. Just remember to wash it every once in awhile, no?

You know, it has been FAR too long since I have posted a trailer roundup for everyone. I’m usually really good with keeping up to date with this. The usual excuse applies here; lots of work and that silly sleep habit of mine ate up far too much time. But that was yesterday and now I’m back with possibly the longest trailer update I’ve ever written. Here we go…

Starting with the most recent and working our way back, Kadokawa has posted new television commercials for the upcoming movie Yona Yona Penguin. Opening in Japan on December 23^rd the movie is completely 3D CGI animation and is the work of Japanese studios Madhouse and Dynamo Pictures, Thailand based Imagimax and French studio Def2Shoot. I’m still fuzzy on the story but the trailer makes it look like a holiday Pixar movie.

If you’re feeling more in a Sci-Fi mood to go with your personal Friday the 13^th traditions, the first ten minutes of the movie To have also been posted to YouTube by the Avex Network. The release adapts two of the stories the manga series 2001 Nights and is directed by Fumihiko Sori (producer for Appleseed, Vexille). As previous reported, it will hit store shelves in Japan on December 18^th. I’ve had a very strong curiosity towards this release ever since I first reported on it. Despite having no subtitles, the animation at least clearly shows how Appleseed influenced some of Sori’s work here.

Switching genres once again, the official website for Bungaku Shoujo has posted a minute long trailer. The movie will open during Golden Week next year and centers on a high school girl who is actually a book eating creature serving as president of her literary club. Her only friend is another literary club member who writes stories for her to eat. The artwork and pacing of the trailer will tell you right away that this is going to be a light hearted romance from Production I.G. and is already one of the ones that I am particularly looking forward to.

For those who are still looking forward to the new Eden of the East movies (and at this point, I believe that is most of you) this part is just for you. A new trailer has been posted for the first of the upcoming two movies. It’s only a little under a minute long but with the first movie now only days away from the November 28^th premiere date, it should at least tide you over until the end of the month. You can be patient for just a little bit longer right?

Finally, in the giant mech portion of the roundup, two new Gundam trailers have gone up for Gundam Unicorn and the Gundam 00 movie. Each trailer is over a minute long (with the first being over two minutes long) and has a little bit of everything for fans of the franchise. I’ve made it pretty well known that I have never gotten into the franchise that much so instead I’m going to just post them and let actual Gundam fans share how cool/lame they are. So here they are, have at it!

<Via ANN (Bungaku Shoujo), Nebs Blog (Eden of the East), and Japanator (Gundam)>

Wow has this been a slow news week. Luckily for the sake of having something new to do, a new trailer has been posted online to the official website for Shoujo Fight. The new 110 second trailer shows the first footage from the upcoming OVA being released with the sixth manga volume, October 23^rd. I won’t be checking this one out myself but before you brush off the volleyball sports drama keep in mind that the animation for this release is being produced by Production I.G.

Hm, this is way too short to post on its own as an update so for the sake of filling up space; have you been keeping up with the fall season? If you need some guidance on what to watch, keep your eyes peeled for my daily early impressions of each new series. There, that’s much better!

<Via ANN>

A new two and a half minute trailer has begun streaming from the official site for the upcoming Kuchu Buranko (Trapeze) from Toei Animation. The series has been announced as a mix between 2D animation and live action while featuring patients coming in for help from the odd psychiatrist Ichiro Irabu. I’ve been on the fence about watching this series ever since I first heard about it. After finally getting to see how the series is going to be animated and presented, I can’t wait to see the premiere next week. The series will premiere in Japan next Thursday, October 15^th.

In a quick secondary note, around the middle of September there were four new fifteen second Summer Wars ads placed up on the Kadokawa YouTube channel. For some reason none of them appeared in my Google reader until this morning. I’m not going to embed them all here but here’s one which is more like a short clip than actual advertisement. You can find them the rest of them here, here and here.

 <Via ANN>

At AX today, Production I.G. revealed that they have teamed up with Film Roman to develop a series of anime shorts to compliment the EA game ‘Dante’s Inferno’. The way the project was described, six studios (one of which being Production I.G.) will make a series of six shorts to go along with the game. The first trailer will be released on the Thursday of San Diego ComicCon so be sure to stay tuned for that. Named attached to the project so far include Yasumi Umetsu (Kite), Shugou Murase (Ergo Proxy) and others. This actually sounds pretty interesting making it worth keeping an eye on to at least see who the other directors and production studios are that have signed onto the project.

And there’s number three for the week! Its old news that Eden of the East was headed to the big screen after the initial TV series finished airing. What is new about this though is that the series will be headed there TWICE! Initially Production IG mentioned that Eden of the East would be turned into a movie and released to theaters later this year. The final episode and a staff blog have revealed that it will actually be two movie projects. The first movie will be titled ‘Eden of the East Movie I: The King of Eden’ and will be released on November 28^th. The second movie, titled ‘Paradise Lost’, will be released in January 2010. No details on what the story of these two will actually be but it’s going to be a lot of fun finding out later this year.

The summer season of 2009 is interesting on the surface in quite a few different ways. Only a little less than 40 titles will be released from June to August. That number includes specials, OVAs and movies being released which contrasts against at least 30 TV premieres last summer alone.

In terms of content, this is a summer of dreams for fans of manga based stories with up to eight series being adapted from a manga, though that number goes past a dozen when you factor in light, visual and traditional novels as well. Only two series are based off eroge this season but sequels and continuations are alive and well taking up 10 titles of their own.

In terms of studio activity, Madhouse and Studio DEEN are easily the most active of the season with three releases each. On the Madhouse queue are a TV series, a special and a movie while Studio DEEN will be releasing two television series and a series of web shorts. JC Staff and SHAFT aren’t far behind them though with two releases each and a wealth of others filling out the crowd with one each. One studio will even be making their debut their season with GoHands taking a shot at the eroge adaptation ‘Princess Lover‘.

So enough with the introductions, (with apologies to Gia of AnimeVice for adapting her preview style a bit) listed below the cut are as many of the releases that I could find information for. I have tried to make this listing as complete as possible with my resources but I’m not perfect. If you see any missing titles, feel free to drop me a line in the comments and I’ll make sure to get them added.

Titles are listed by premiere dates and will be continuously edited throughout June. Keep checking back for updates as new premiere dates are listed, previews are written and finally to read all the latest reviews as the new series premiere!

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Eden of the East
Studio: Production IG
Premiere Date: 4/9/09
Genre: Drama

If you can stand the pacing, Eden of the East is setting up to tell one very interesting story.

The Story

In the year 2011, a college senior from Japan is taking a trip to Washington DC. After a suspicious action she meets an odd Japanese man around her age walking around the city naked with nothing but a cell phone, handgun and no memories of who he is other than a passport that says his name is Akira Tokizawa. Pairing up, the pair returns to Japan and begin their search for his past.

It takes no time at all to figure out that there is more to this mystery than either of them could have ever thought: his phone is branded with the named Selecao, is charged with over 8 billion yen in a bank account, a voice on the other end who can get him literally anything he wants and a detective who wants Akira’s remaining money for himself.

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