Posts Tagged ‘summer wars’

You might remember me publishing a piece a few days ago about Funimation attempting to jump through whatever hoops were necessary to get Summer Wars in the running for a Best Animated Feature award at the next Academy Awards. At that time, all Funimation would say is that they were getting through the paperwork and were working on setting up a qualifying theatrical run for the month of December and, as advertised, released details for those screenings today. In order to qualify for an Academy Award nomination, a movie must have a qualifying commercial theatrical release within one of the Los Angeles counties that lasts for at least 7 days. The week long screening will be followed up with future theatrical screenings in both New York and Los Angeles with details to be revealed about those later.

So… if you live in the Los Angeles area and want to see this movie on the big screen before it hits DVD next year, you’ll be able to see the film from December 10th to the 17th at the AMC Covina 30 theater. The initial report doesn’t explicitly say that the screening would be in English but the dubbed version is premiering in New York later this month so there is a chance. I tried getting through to the theater in order to find information about screening times, language, etc but wasn’t able to get through (it’s a movie theater in Covina, just how busy are they?). I’ll try to update with that information if I’m ever able to get through/it’s made available.

If I lived in LA, I’d make an extra effort to see this movie because I’ve never sat down to watch this movie in its entirety. I did try to make it through once but was so tired by the middle that I hit stop and never picked it back up. Then again, I wasn’t exactly enthralled by what I was seeing anyway. Now that Funimation is getting it ready for 2011 (seriously, I’m really glad that we’re seeing some movies make their way over along with the TV series), half the fun of this release is going to be seeing what kind of reception it’ll receive.

<Tokyograph via ANN>

Updated: So did you know that Funimation was having a panel at Anime USA today? Yeah, me either. Luckily their web team was quick to deliver the update which includes all the theatrical screening dates for the next two months. Sweet! So here are the theaters to be staking out for Summer Wars movie tickets:

Dec 3-8 Chicago,IL-  Siskel Film Center
Dec 10-16 Los Angeles, CA – AMC Covina 30
Dec 24-30  San Francisco, CA- Landmark Bridge Theater
Dec 29-Jan 4 New York, NY- IFC Center
Jan 5-12  Boston, MA- Museum of Fine Arts
Jan 7-13 Denver, CO- Starz Film Center
Jan 7-13  Santa Fe, NM- CCA Cinematheque
Jan 14-20 Los Angeles, CA- Laemmle Sunset
Jan 21-27  Philadelphia, PA- Landmark Ritz at the Bourse
Jan 23-Feb 3 Honolulu, HI- Academy of Arts,
Jan 28-Feb 3 Seattle, WA- Landmark Varsity

Sadly no Portland is listed this time so it looks like I’ll be missing out (I’m sure not driving to Seattle in January). If anyone hits these screenings I’d love to hear from you.

It’s not really common to hear anyone use the words ‘anime’ and ‘academy award’ in the same sentence unless you’re talking about Spirited Away. A few exceptions have snuck through but up until now, the rules have made it kind of hard even if it was good enough to be worthy of a nomination. Thanks to a change in the rules this year, an anime movie may have a chance at getting some recognition at one of the biggest award shows of the year. This year, movies that opened in another country after the first day of 2009 could be eligible for nomination if they also later hold a qualifying theatrical run in Los Angeles later. Since Summer Wars had its theatrical premiere in August of 2009, it’s eligible and Funimation is well aware of this.

Earlier this week, Funimation confirmed through ANN that they are working on the paperwork to get the movie possibly nominated for an Oscar. They say that there are still a number of hurdles to leap and deadlines to meet but are excited "to bring this beautiful film to the attention of the movie-going public,” which includes a theatrical run in LA sometime in December (details to be announced soon). I think it would be really neat if this movie got a nomination, not really because I think it’s an amazing piece (eh, it’s ok) but just because it’s a different and at least deserves some recognition.

Alright, finally we’re in the home stretch of this very busy news cycle that Funimation put everyone through today. Saving the best bits for last, Funimation made five license announcements today at their panel at Otakon. Starting with two new summer simulcasts, Funimation revealed today that they will be picking up the “fairy tale parody” series (I use that phrase very loosely and love that even Funimation use the phrase ‘fairy tale-ish’ in their release) Ookami san, the vapid moe harem eroge adaptation Blessed of Campanella (Shukufuku no Campanella) and the popular fan service series Strike Witches 2. Honestly all three of these are kind of a surprise to me; Strike Witches 2 because it started as a Crunchyroll simulcast earlier this month and the other two because they really aren’t that good. Regardless, all three series will begin streaming on the official Funimation site in August with DVD releases all planned for 2011.

In Hetalia news, Funimation also announced today that they have picked up the latest season of the popular series Hetalia World Party along with the movie Hetalia Paint it White. Like the previous announcements, the latest season will begin streaming on their official site in August and the movie will see a DVD release in 2011.

Finally, Funimation licensed two additional movies. The first one is the one that fans have probably long suspected would be coming but here it is anyway: Yes Virginia, Funimation is releasing the second of the four Evangelion remakes Evangelion 2.0: You Can [Not] Advance. The movie originally opened in 2009 in Japan and will finally be getting its North American DVD and Blu ray release in 2011.

Last from Funimation is the one that completely took me by surprise. Released in 2009, the family fantasy movie won the Best Animated Film category at the Japanese Academy Awards and features a family coming together to fight off a real world crisis that occurs after a teen accidently brings down a worldwide social networking site. That’s right, Funimation has picked up Summer Wars. You can tell them thank you for that in all the usual places.

And that does it for today. It’s almost 1am and I’m exhausted! If there are any incoherent rambles, typos or just plain weird passages that you notice I haven’t fixed feel free to point them out and I’ll fix them in the morning. For now though Funimation, thanks for an exhausting night of catch up. For everyone else, all the press releases are below the cut and as always it’s been real, it’s been fun, it’s been… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

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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>

The Locarno International Film Festival have posted the opening sequences for the upcoming First Squad and the already released to theaters Summer Wars. The opening sequence for First Squad is a little over two minutes and will catch you off guard; a Russian veteran gets you started and a very Russian feeling opening animation finishes you off. I’m not convinced that I’m going to like this release but I am convinced that it’s going to be something that needs to be seen. The opening sequence for Summer Wars is the same two minutes fans saw earlier this month posted at Yahoo Japan. This time there are difficult to read English subtitles though! To see either trailer, hit “extra” on the linked pages.

It has been a very busy couple of days for trailers! Starting with the fall premieres, the first trailer is for the upcoming OVA (really? I was under the impression that it was going be a TV series), Kemono to Chat. The first volume of the series will be released on October 23^rd with animation produced by new studio Usagi.Ou. The 72 second trailer is the first real look at the series and apparently they’ve gone with a better than average flash animation feel to the series… that’s an interesting approach. <Via ANN>

In summer news, the first five minutes of Summer Wars has been uploaded to YouTube by Kadokawa for fans to watch for free. It doesn’t feature any subtitles so those who don’t speak the language are out of luck there. It does however feature an absolutely gorgeous introduction sequence worth checking out. The movie will be released August 1^st (technically today since its past midnight in Japan) to theaters.

And wrapping up my little catch up; a second trailer has begun streaming from the Yahoo! Movies sit for the upcoming Ghibli movie ‘Ponyo’. It’s hard to think of things to say that haven’t already been said about this movie; the buzz surrounding Miyazaki on his recent visit to California was very interesting to watch happen (even if I wasn’t one of the lucky few to see him). Check out the new trailer and then check out Ponyo when it is released to theaters August 14^th. <Via ANN>

It’s been announced via the official website that the upcoming anime movie ‘Summer Wars’ will be getting a special episode aired on Japanese television a day before it premieres in theaters. The announcement doesn’t come with any news regarding what the actual episode will be about but the first airing will take place later this week on July 31^st with a special expanded edition of the same episode airing a day later. The movie produced by Madhouse premieres on August 1^st as well so I’m guessing they’re hoping that people will either watch the episode before going to see the movie or vice versa. Well, if Summer Wars ever happens to find its way to American shores we know what our first DVD extra is going to be at least.

Why yes, the summer anime season is RIGHT around the corner. Was the larger than average trailer roundup that reminded you of this? ^_^ I hope everyone is comfortable with their favorite beverage of choice. I can wait if you don’t…. ok, we good now? Alright, on with the trailers!

First up is a two minute trailer via Twitch for the upcoming Madhouse movie, Summer Wars. Madhouse has been putting more and more stock into this August release and judging from previous trailers it’s no shock why. Director Mamoru Hosoda and writer Satoko Okudera have put together what looks to be a stunning visual treat that even has a good story behind it. If you don’t already have plans to check this one out, start making them now. This trailer gives fans its first real look at the characters and story behind the feature and it seems that no step is missed; the story is interesting and the characters are already coming across as entertaining.

Next up, the roundup jumps into the future a bit to look to the October release from Production IG, ‘Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike’. Another movie originally based on an RPG, Tales of Vesperia will serve as a prequel to the original story and already looks like it’s going to give fans a fun, fantasy adventure.

Finally, EvaGeeks.org has posted the newest trailer for the upcoming Evangelion 2.0 movie coming out next week. Unfortunately the trailer was filmed on a cell phone so I’m not going to embed it here (quality is pretty bad) until the official release is made. Even still, its 35 seconds of mostly character shots so it’s worth looking at if you’re planning to watch the next film.

Updated: Had to remove the first embedded vid since the visual portion wouldn’t play, sorry!

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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