Live action Initial D beats Star Wars in Hong Kong

From Anime News Network: The associated Press reports that the new Initial D live-action movie earned US$3.6 million during the first ten days of its Hong Kong theatrical release. By comparisson, Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, both currently showing in Hong Kong, earned $2.4 million in 45 days and $2.8 million in 25 days respectively. The movie features Chinese superstar Jay Chou and is directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, the directors behind Infernal Affairs, one of the most successful movies ever released in Asia.

Evangelion on Cartoon Network

According to Anime News Network ADV Films has announced that Neon Genesis Evangelion will be airing in its entirity on Cartoon Network.

This won't be the first time that Eva has been shown on CN. I think it was like a year (or two?) ago when they aired the first two episodes as part of a special "Giant Robots week" theme on their toonami programming block. The experimental broadcast bombed in the ratings, which probably has something to do with the fact that it was only airing two episodes of a 26 episode series, which begged the question of "why bother watching at all?" It also was probably partially due to the fact that the episodes were horribly hacked and edited so as to appear kid-friendly for the time slot's younger target audience.

There was no mention in the article of whether or not Eva would air in the Adult Swim time slot, where -- if history is any indication -- little editing of the series content would be required. Also not mentioned was whether CN intended to air either of the two Evangelion movies, which were actually intended to replace (or arguably suppliment) the final two episodes of the series.

Either way, it has always seemed like just a matter of time before Eva saw extended action on Adult Swim. No doubt it's broadcast will be guarenteed to generate a new generation of obsessed Eva (and Rei Ayanami) fans as well as new rounds of intense debate over the show's religious symbols, philosophical themes, and controversial ending. I guess some things were never meant to end.

[Edit: The info below was added to this entry because for some reason I didn't think it warrented its own post.]

In other Eva-related news, Newtype magazine has ended its run of the Lagoon Engine Einzats manga (at least for now) and will be replacing it with the Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel manga (which be retitled Evangelion: Angelic Days). I'm guessing that the Girlfriend manga is based off of the Girlfriend of Steel video game (or maybe vice versa), which was released in Japan some years ago but was never released in the US.

And lastly, ADV has also signed deals to show Chrono Crusade and Peacemaker Kurogane on Showtime, and show Colorful G4.

Baseball Legend Seeks to Ban Cromartie High School Movie

From AnimeNation:

Warren Cromartie, a former professional baseball player for the Montreal Expos and Japan's Yomiuri Giants, has filed an injunction to prevent Japanese screenings of the live action Sakigake! Cromartie High School motion picture because Mr. Cromartie believes the film slurs his name. The film was scheduled to open in Japanese theaters later this month. [Source: Mainichi Daily News]

You might remember a similiar case way back when professional hockey player Tony Twist was suing Todd McFarlane over using Twist's name for a crime boss in the popular Spawn comic. Of course in the case of Spawn, the name was used intentionally; whereas in Cromartie, I think it's just a coincidence. [Edit: Actually many of the characters were intentionally named after basketball players. My bad.]

Official Advent Children Trailer

From AnimeNation (again): The official Japanese website for the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children movie now hosts an "official trailer" which contains a significant amount of previously unreleased footage.

Far Out Trailer from the mind of Go Nagai

From AnimeNation:

A trailer for the live action pro-wrestling/tokusatsu movie Kabuto-o Beetle is now available in Windows Media format and Real Media format. The movie's story and protagonist were created by Go Nagai, creator of Devilman and Cutey Honey.

Japanese Production of US Material

From AnimeNation:

Comic book studio Top Cow now hosts a short trailer for an apparently Madhouse Studios produced anime adaptation of American comic book Aphrodite IX. Please note that the trailer contains intense graphic violence.

The trailer looks awesome because the character designs look just like the comic. As opposed to most US cartoons-adapted-from-comics where the designs are annoyingly simplified for easier production (like the Spawn animation for example).

Also:

Toy News International now hosts the first known images of Gonzo Studio's production design art for American G.I. Joe Sigma 6 animated series.

New All-Japan Music Channel on XM

According to Anime News Network:

In an interview on Episode 55 of the J!-ENT RADIO podcast, it was revealed by Chris Simmonds that XM Radio will be providing a Japan-Only music station. The station entitled, "Radio Wasabi" will begin airing in July. For the initial programming, it will be limited to a few select songs, however the programming will increase by the beginning of next year.

The station is looking at looping a weekly 4 hour show and then adding more and more content as it grows every week. Radio Wasabi will try to ramp up to a full fresh 24x7 programming schedule by January at the latest.

No mention of exactly what kind of Japanese music they are going to play. I have XM in my car so I'm hoping they go with a full J-Pop and J-Rock line up instead of something like "J-Oldies" (if that's a real term). Maybe, if the station is popular enough, they will have a spin-off channel of all anime music called something like Animagic! Or not.

Initial D's directors Alan Mak, Andrew Lau talk about fans' expectations

ChannelNews Asia has an article in which the directors discuss their attempt to bring the uber-popular Initial D franchise to the medium of live action cinema.

One part I found kind of funny (at least when you compare it to Hollywood finance standards) was their excitement and concern over the large monitary investment being put into production:

"There is definitely pressure stemming from the expectations of investors and audiences," Initial D director Alan Mak said. After all, the film boasts a star-studded cast and has a sizeable production budget of US$12 million ($20 million).

Apparently the directors wanted to play it safe by going with actors that they were familiar with.

"I choose actors whose personalities are close to those of their roles," said Lau. And what better pool to select from than one with actors they've worked with before. "We already know their characters and behaviour, so it's easier to do casting and bring out better performances in them," said Mak. "After all, many directors always work with the same actors."

And they even talked about the wrecked cars. I heard they had totalled like 7 86's during the filming -- though that may be exaggerated.

"All the stunts had to be real and stay true to the spirit of the comic."

Hence, it was inevitable that car crashes occurred on the set, with Jay Chou and Chapman To having first-hand experiences. Thankfully, nothing nasty happened to them.

"These young guys like to speed," said Mak. "We told them to slow down, but they still raced along in the end."

But it was all in the name of producing a good film.

It might have been a risky shoot, with an element of danger, said Lau." But it was the only way for viewers to enter the world of car racing, and we're glad to have recreated it on screen for them."

Eureka 7 Episode 1 Review

I saw the first episode of the latest anime from Studio Bones (my second favorite anime production studio of all time), Eureka 7 not too long ago, and I have to say that it did not disappoint.

As far as the plot goes, it is pretty much the ever familiar giant robot story that has been around for forever: Inexperienced kid ends up pioloting a giant robot which was created by his father from the same technology as the aliens that it was designed to fight against. Although I was not totally clear whether it was supposed to be aliens they were fighting or what. It's cliche, but some times it works.

The plot is not the star of this show though. It's the animation and the mecha designs. The mecha ride on these surfboard-like objects which glide on the air trailed by a stream of glowing exhaust. It makes for some super-cool mind-blowing visuals. Of course, designs are only amusing for so long and if the plot does not hold up the series can become tedious really quick (see Gad Guard). So hopefully the story will be as impressive as the visuals as the series progresses.

But you can be guarenteed that I will be desperately waiting for the second and further episodes to download. Studio Bones has not come out with a disappointing project yet as far as I am concerned, so I am looking forward to it.

Stand Alone Complex Movie

From AnimeNation:

Bandai Visual of Japan has announced that a 140 minute long "Laughing Man saga" movie version of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex television series will be released to Japanese DVD on September 23rd. The compilation movie will include some new animation footage and entirely re-recorded dialogue. The special edition, double disc DVD will retail at 8,190 yen ($75 US) and include 30 minutes of supplemental material.

Live Action Updates - The "what is" and "what is not" and "what may be"

What is:

Speed Racer - According to an anonamous source on Cinescape the live action movie version of Speed Racer is apparently back on track. According to the article, the script will be handed in this week and Vince Vaughn is "locked in" to play Racer X. This movie dates years back when Johnny Depp was rumored to play the title role. God only knows if this version will get any legs or not.

Cromatori High School - According to Anime News Network:

Eiji Nonaka's Sakigake!! Cromartie High gag-manga is set to be adapted into a live-action movie. Cromartie High has just recently been adapted into an anime TV series.

The live action movie will be directed by Yuudai Yamaguchi and will star Takamasa Suga as the main character, Takashi Kamiyama. Other actors will include former professional boxer Mitsuki Koga and professional wrestler Yoshihiro Takayama as Shinjirou Hayashida and Takenouchi respectively. Hiroyuki Watanabe will play the part of Freddy.

We have no details on when the movie is set to be released in Japan.

What is not:

Watchmen - Yeah yeah. I know it is not anime or manga, but I mentioned this project in a previous entry so I feel obligated to provide an update. According to ICv2, the live action Watchmen movie is currently in "limbo" due to Paramount having concerns over the movie's $100 millon bugdet. I'd have to say that their concerns are probably justified since the complex and adult-oriented plot is probably not conducive to the kind of mass appeal the movie would need to generate any profits. And dumbing down the plot would only result in the story losing the elements that made it appealing in the first place (see Alan Moore's other good-comic-turned-crappy-movie examples: From Hell and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).

What may be:

Battle Angel Alita - According to multiple sources James Cameron looks like he may be putting his live action Battle Angel Alita on hold in favor of some vague new project code named "Project 880". Apparently the Battle Angel story is prooving difficult to adapt to a live action script, so he's putting the whole thing aside for easier fair. So much for the 2007 release.

All Kind of Howl's Moving Castle Crud

It opens here in Michigan tomorrow, so in preparation, here's a bunch of leftover crap that I never got around to posting before.

Newsweek on Miyazaki
In the June 12th issue of Newsweek, there is a rare English interview with Hayao Miyazaki about "Howl's Moving Castle" and its difference from Western storytelling conventions. Below the article is a favorable review of the same movie. [source: Anime News Network]

Trailers
From Yahoo! Movies
From ComingSoon.com

Reviews
From RottenTomatoes
Ebert surprisingly thinks the movie sucks, even though he's praised previous Miyazaki movies.

Old Anime News

Blood+ TV english website open

Production IG has opened its official website for the Blood+ TV series. Included is an introduction, synopsis and character designs. The TV series is based off of the Blood: the Last Vampire OVA and is scheduled to start airing in Japan in October.

Lady Snowblood from Dark Horse

I probably wouldn't have normally posted this kind of thing, but I thought this was pretty cool just from the Kill Bill angle. From Anime News Network:

Dark Horse will release Lady Snowblood Volume 1 on September 7. The Lady Snowblood manga, by Kazuo Koike and Kazuo Kamimura, was the inspiration for the Lady Snowblood live-action movie (Available from Animeigo), which inspired parts of Kill Bill.

New Awesome Trailers

KakuRenBo
Teaser trailer and pilot film

Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex 2nd Gig
High, Low

Eureka 7
High, Low

New Highlander Anime Trailer

From the official Highlander site:

After four films and two successful television series, you've never seen the HIGHLANDER like this.

MacLeod returns with a vengeance in an animated feature length epic!In the tradition of "Vampire Hunter D" and "Ninja Scroll," anime wizard Yoshiaki Kawajiri brings his unique visual bravura to the immortal "Highlander" franchise. For the first time, the MacLeod katana blade will find itself in the hands of a Japanese master.

For a little taste of this tale, watch the teaser:
Quicktime - Windows Media - Flash

Sin City movie Review

I was thinking about the Sin City movie a while ago and how a lot of people that I have talked to and a lot of reviews that I have read indicated that they generally enjoyed the "Hard Goodbye" and "That Yellow Bastard" storylines, but they did not really care for the "Big Fat Kill" part.

Even though I personally liked all parts of the movie, I couldn't help but think about the reasoning behind the favorable and unfavorable reactions that people had. After careful consideration (aka, my mind wandered over the subject for a relatively long time), my best guess was that it had something to do with the inner struggles of the stories' main characters.

To be more precise, Marv (from "Hard Goodbye") and Hardigan (from "That Yellow Bastard") were both characters who were driven from within but had to constantly struggle with thier own limitations. Marv had his limited intelligence and questionable sanity, and Hardigan had to work against his aging body and "bum ticker". Mix those inner struggles with the fact that they pretty much had the whole world working against them, and that they ultimately (spoiler) paid for those struggles with their lives (end spoiler), and it makes from some pretty compelling characters.

And then you have Dwight (from "Big Fat Kill"). He's young, he has all his mental faculties in order for the most part, and he had a whole possy of bad-ass beauties to fight for and to watch his back. He struggled, but most all of his enemies were easily identified, fought, and crushed and he had hardly a scratch as a result. Not nearly as compelling nor nearly as empathetic. At least, not if that is the limit of your exposure to old Dwight McCarthy.

The one thing that I tend to bring up to people who mention their distaste for "Big Fat Kill" is that it is actually the follow-up to another Sin City yarn called "A Dame to Kill For" (and my favorite volume in the collection). This is the story that shows you the inner deamons that Dwight had to overcome in order to become the cool, quick-to-action hero seen in the movie. In "Dame" you see Dwight as a recovering alchoholic. You see his repressed passion as he works odd jobs to live a lawful and socially acceptable life. You see him use his friends for his own gain instead of putting his life on the line for their sake. You see him unsure of his own convictions. And (spoiler) though he doesn't die, he does go through a transformation of his own by the end (end spoiler). Ultimately, you see a more compelling character. And I think that once you are associated with that side of the man, you will be able to appreciate his hero-complex as seen in "Big Fat Kill".

Thankfully, everyone will be able to see the compelling side of him when the Sin City movie sequal comes out next summer. It will be composed entirely of the "Dame to Kill For" story arc (as far as I've heard so far). Very cool.

WHAT I WANT: Burst Angels

I've been looking forward to this one ever since I saw an article about it in NewType magazine. Bakuratsu Tenshi (Burst Angels) is not exactly the kind of anime that I am usually interested in. The whole "girls with guns" genre is usually hit or miss with me. For instance, I was never really impressed with the Dirty Pair anime, although I did like the Adam Warren version of the comic. But I was kind of impressed with Noir, but I think I liked it because it focused more on atmosphere than on the usual fan service. Judging from this article and a trailer I recently saw, Burst Angels looks like something of a Cowboy Bebop meets Dirty Pair meets Fullmetal Panic. And the character designs are not just hot, they are also pretty cool-looking. So I'm betting it will be fun on all kinds of levels. Volume 1 is due out May 10.

Satoshi Kon on NPR and Cartoon Network

There is a story on NPR reviewing Satoshi Kon and his eerily awesome anime TV series, Paranoia Agent. You can now listen to the review online.

And if you don't want to get the Paranoia Agent DVD you can start watching it on Cartoon Network starting May 28 at midnight, right after Samurai Champloo. Sweet.

Finally, some news on Afro Samurai

From AnimeNation:

The November 2004 report that Afro Samurai would be developed as a TV series for American release has now been confirmed. Actor Samuel L. Jackson will provide the voice for the protagonist of the Gonzo animated series Afro Samurai. The five episode series will air on Spike TV next year.

Production I.G. News

Of course I have to bring up any news from my favorite animation studio, Production I.G. So, here you go. From AnimeNation:

Production I.G. has officially announced development of an anime motion picture adaptation of CLAMP's Tsubasa - RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE manga series. The XXXHolic ~ Manatsu no Yoru no Yume (XXXHolic: Dark Dream of Summer) motion picture will be released this August as a double feature with the Tsubasa Chronicle ~ Tori Kago no Kuni no Himegumi (Tsubasa Chronicle: Princess of the Country of the Bird Cage) motion picture. Both films will be animated by Production I.G.

More Ghibli from Disney

From Anime News Network:

Walt Disney is set to release Pom Poko and My Neighbors the Yamadas on August 16th.

The movies, both directed by Isao Takahata, will be the first Takahata directed Ghibli films released by Walt Disney in North America. Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies is availabel from Central Park Media, and some of his pre-Ghibli work, such as Panda Go Panda, is available from other companies.

Last April it was reported that My Neighbors the Yamadas, Only Yesterday, and Pom Poko were to be released in November of that year.

You can also see a casting list for the movies here.

DelRey sells Millionth Manga

Proving once again that Japanese comics are taking over the minds of American youths, Del Rey Books annouced that it has sold over 1 million copies of manga.

According to i-Newswire:

Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, announced today that it has surpassed a million copies of its manga in print in less than a year since the line’s debut. The March 28th release of Ken Akamatsu’s Negima, Volume 5 (#1 on the Bookscan graphic novel list for the week ending April 3) sent Del Rey over the million-copy mark.

Amusing Article on Otaku

The Japan Times has a somewhat-stupid-but-amusing-nonetheless article about the life of an otaku and the ones who love them. It focuses on a girl named Yoshika who is a mild otaku compared to her husband. The conclusion?

Yoshika says her decision to marry had much to do with the fact that in modern Japan, it's hard to find a man who's NOT an otaku in one way or another. "Otakuga iyada nante yuttara kekkon dekinai shi, otaku wa uwaki shinai kara ne (if one refused to marry an otaku, one can't get married and besides, otaku will never have affairs with other women)."

No Progress on Live Action Evangelion

Weta Workshop has updated its official site to label the live action Neon Genesis Evangelion project as "on hold". According to the site:

Weta has been designing a live-action adaptation of Neon Genesis: Evangelion. The film is on hold but it is Weta’s hope that it will enjoy getting to work on the film production of this amazing story in the near future.

As there have not been any significant Eva updates since the project was announced two years ago, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone. But as a very minor consolation, the site has also been updated with the design sketches from the movie -- most of which you have probably already seen, although I think there may be a few new ones scattered in there.

[Source: Trivialbeing.net]

New Howl's US Trailer and Ad Poster, Etc.

Disney has opened up the official Howl's Moving Castle website complete with an all new US trailer. You can also see the new promotional poster at Dark Horizons. Finally, the original Japanese trailers are still available at Online Ghibli.

In related news, Hayao Miyazaki has make the Time magazine list of the 100 most influential people in the area of Arts and Entertainment. The list includes names such as Michael Moore, Johnny Depp, Quentin Tarantino, and Clint Eastwood.

And in even more Ghibli news, Anime News Network has info on the next Studio Ghibli film.

According to Nanjing Morning Post, Studio Ghibli has decided that its next feature movie project will be an adaptation of chinese children's novel, "Wo Diu Shile wo de Xiao Nan Hai (I Lost my Little Boy)."

Despite being only 5000 words long, the recently published novel topped several Chinese best sellers lists when it was released. Writen by a Chinese author by the name of Yishu, I Lost my Little Boy tells the story of Mimi, a young boy suffering from heart disease.

According to the Nanjing Morning Post the movie will be released in 2006, however Studio Ghibli has yet to announce the project. The Nanjing Morning Post makes no mention of who will direct the movie.

Elmo Sheds a Tear

Although not an anime-related news item per se, I still think that this is pretty funny.

According the the Associated Press, the Sesame Street character Elmo is presented a bit differently in Japan.

"We're going for a deeper kind of character with a wider range of emotions," said Yasuo Kameyama, one of the local producers who works on the show with Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind "Sesame Street."

Japan's Elmo cries more easily than the U.S. version. The American Elmo wept only once during the entire "Sesame Street" history, when a goldfish died, but Elmo has already had one bout of tears in the Japanese production -- when a friend left without saying goodbye -- and more are planned.

The US version of Elmo that we all know and -- whatever -- was traditionally used as an aid for pre-school learning such as teaching the alphabet and the ability to count.

But since the reading rate for children in Japan is 100 percent, they don't really have the need to have their reading lessons assaulted by the fuzzy red terror. So he is meant to teach a different kind of lesson.

The social and emotional development of children is also a key part of the U.S. show, but the version in Japan is more about problem-solving and growing up. Much of the half-hour show is spent on a relatively complex story.

In one, Elmo stumbles during a track race and struggles with feelings of defeat but gets up to make it to the finish line. In another, he dreams about becoming a baseball player, a superhero and a dancer but in the end decides his true love is dance.

An overly emotional Elmo who loves to dance? Hmm...

FCLC Soundtrack 3

AnimeNation also says: Although the first two FLCL soundtrack CDs were released in October 2000 and July 2001 respectively, Gainax has announced that a third FLCL soundtrack CD will be released in Japan on June 8, 2005. The first two soundtracks (which kick all kinds of ass) have already been released in the US through Geneon. You can pick up CD 1 and CD 2 through Amazon.com. It looks like the third soundtrack is also available through Amazon.com as an import CD. I'm all over that one.

Johnny Woo and Appleseed 2

Let the doves fly! According to AnimeNation: Japan's Mainichi News has reported that Chinese director John Woo will produce the second Appleseed motion picture directed by Shinji Aramaki, who directed the first film. The 3D CG animation movie will be released in Japan in 2006 to coincide with a 26 episode Appleseed television series.

GTO Live Action TV Series review

So I've been working my way through the GTO Live action series. I've downloaded everything except the movie, which is just as well since the movie is going to be released in the US on July 26 anyway.

I've only actually watched the first 4 episodes (if you expect me to do an episode-by-episode review, keep dreaming) and so far I have to say that I am really impressed with how it is turning out. It's kept enough of the storylines to keep it familiar, and what they did change in terms of plot and characterizations was necessary in order to have a successful transfer over to live action.

Fuyutsuki is a good example of how a character's personality might have changed. In the the anime she was basically just a naive teacher who acted as Onizuka's love interest. But in this series she is still the love interest, but she isn't so much naive as much as repressed. It's like she acts nice and mature around everyone, but in reality she gets a kick out of playing video games and she secretly wants to tell off all the other teachers whenever they start bossing her around.

Speaking of characters, I have to say hats off to Takashi Sorimachi , who plays Onizuka. He does a good job of pulling off that brand of cool and honest personality that makes him likable despite the fact that he kind of a pervert.

Watching this series really helps you to realize the differences between Japanese and US shows in terms of what they can get away with. For instance, there is a scene where the Head Teacher gets so frustrated with his wife and daughter that he imagines that he tells them both to shut the hell up just before giving them a full-palm fact slap. My wife just happened to be in the room for that one and gave a loud gasp after that scene. And then there are all the parts where Onizuka is giving letcherous glances at the grade school girls and other scenes where he is watching porn uncensored. I can only imagine what kind of letters the PTA would be sending US stations if they aired that stuff.

Review: I definitely am enjoying this show and I can see why it was one of the most popular shows aired in Japan. It is not exactly the most believable show in the world because there is no way in hell that any teacher can get away with the kind of stuff that Onizuka gets away with, but it doesn't matter because that's not what makes this show great. The show's truth comes from showing Onizuka do and say the things that everyone in the real world only wishes they could.

The show is probably a lot more relevant for Japanese students since their curiculum and school life is more stressful and demanding than what is is here, but I think US viewers who can get over the "yeah right like that would ever happen" initial relaction can find a lot to relate to here.

BLOOD TV Series

According to AnimeNation:

Production IG has opened its official homepage for the BLOOD Night anime TV series based on the 2001 anime film Blood: The Last Vampire. The official site states that details on the series will be revealed April 10th. The series will premier on May 9th.

While I don't really like vampire stories in general, and didn't really care for the Blood: The Last Vampire movie in particular; I'll be interested to see how this TV series turns out. Hopefully it will give some background to the story that was never covered in the movie. And the fact that it is going to be produced by Production I.G. doesn't hurt either.

RANT-REVIEW: Steamboy

Quick Rant: If there is one thing in this world that I really am no good at it is the ability to explain why I do or do not enjoy something. It's like I watch a movie and I really enjoy it so I tell everyone I know that they should go see it, but then they'll ask me what I think is so great about it or why do I like it so much and for some reason I never know what to say. And it's especially irritating when someone is bad-mouthing a movie that I really like and I get so mad and I want to retort with all of the film's finer points, but I just can't because I can never seem to be able to nail down just what those finer points are. It's pretty frustrating.

So you'll have to excuse the fact that this review of Steamboy is so late relative to when I actually saw the movie (last Sunday) because I've pretty much been trying to figure out what I liked about it myself. I know that I did like it -- I loved it in fact -- it just took me a while to nail down the logic behind my opinions. It still may not make total sense, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

The Review: I mentioned in an earlier post that most all reviews of Steamboy -- both positive and negative -- say that it has awesome action and visuals, but that the plot is pretty basic. And I totally agree on both points.

The plot is very strait-forward: a young inventor, Ray, recieves a mysterious object called a "steamball" from his grandfather and is told that it holds the secret behind the powerful science of steam. Ray must ultimately decide on the best use of the new technology while simultaneously trying keep himself and the whole of London from getting blown up in one phenominal explosion after another. Something like that anyway.

It is also true that the art and action of the animation are spectacular -- but not I don't mean it in the same way as in other types of action movies (I, Robot comes to mind) where the effects are kind of cool and the action if fast, but it doesn't really seem to add anything special to the overall experience. In Steamboy the visuals add a sense of scale and imagination that forces your brain (or at least my brain) to push itself just to absorb the hugeness of it all.

If there is one thing that Katsushiro Otomo is good at it is the ability to represent enormous settings and objects and events in a way that gives the audience a really solid sense of the emense scale of it all. He achieves this through a combination of relativity and an obsessive devision to detail. (I know he uses other techniques, but I'm just going to focus on the one I'm most interested in.)

When Otomo wants to give the audience a sense of size, he does not just draw a really big object, he goes the extra mile to add a ton of miniscule details. That way the audience can see what the size of the huge object is relative to the small details. This not only makes the object seem huge, but because there is just so much detail, it also feels very solid. Even the explosions seem so solid and massive purely because you can actually see the reaction of every tiny fragment of whatever object, building, or fortress that has been blown up.

So while many reviewers say that they were bored by the simple storyline; I was happy with it because it was involving enough to be interesting, but not so complex as to distract you from absorbing the awesome scale and intricate details of the action and visuals.

Of course, I also loved the variety of cool steam-powered inventions that were popping onto the screen from every which direction and at this awkward point I will give a nod to them because they really were imaginitive. But without that attention to detail (where you can almost see exactly how each machine worked -- another benefit to Otomo's attention to detail), they would have not been nearly as impressive.

I guess it's all in what you tend to focus on when watching a movie. If someone doesn't give two craps about the visuals and just tends to casually watch the objects move across the screen, then they wouldn't be interested in the detail and my whole idea of "relative scale" would be wasted on them.

That's not to say that I think that impressive visuals can take the place of a good story, because there have been more than enough movies that have proven that idea to be false. But I think that the art and animation in Steamboy is just too big of a factor to be casually tossed aside as a minor aspect to the movie.

Steamboy 2?

According to Anime News Network:

The Steamboy 2 story will focus on main character Rei's further adventures, but there are also plans for an episode of heroin Scarlet becoming "Steamgirl" to be produced as a separate work.

Steamboy producer Watanabe Shigeru said in a speech on July 17th, "I talked with Otomo about what Rei does afterwards and the story of Scarlet becoming a "Steamgirl". We will try to realize this within 2 years. I would also like to see Miss Suzuki and Miss Konishi (voice actors) on board the coming project."

"I hope I will still be able to do a girls voice in two years" said Scarlett's voice actress, Konishi Manami, who is twenty-five.According to Natsume Maya it was stated that the sequel may be another movie, or it may be a TV anime.

According to the official Steamboy website, there will be a manga released in Weekly Young Magazine to commemorate the Steamboy theatrical release. The Manga will be released over three weeks, with this week's installment a 10-page story called "Steam Jiji-san" (Steam Grandfather).

Production I.G. News

A couple old-news items from my all-time favorite animation studio - Production I.G.:

• Animate.tv has revealed that Production IG and FLCL & Dead Leaves director Hiroyuki Imaishi are at work on an anime film titled "OVAL X OVER." The film is based on Japanese Indy car racing. Voice actor Mitsuo Iwata (666 in Dead Leaves, Itsuki in Initial D) will star. [Source: Animenation]
   
  
• Production IG is also involved in the animation involved in the new Musashi: Samurai Legend video game. A review of the game is available as well as a super cool-looking trailer.

Nausicaa in Theatres

According to Nausicaa.net:

The English dub of Nausicaa will receive a small-scale theatrical release this summer according to sources close to Disney. This will be the first opportunity for US viewers to see the film on the big screen outside of the occasional film festival.

Nausicaa is currently available on DVD from Disney.

GTO Live Action Movie

According to ICv2:

Media Blasters has announced it will release GTO the Movie, a live action 108-minute feature film, on DVD on July 26th. The film, featuring Japanese dialogue with English subtitles, will have a $29.95 MSRP. The plot follows Great Teacher Onizuka, an ex biker punk, who uses his street smarts and martial arts to teach high school.

GTO (or Great Teacher Onizuka was orignially a great manga by Tohru Fujisawa, and was later made into an awesome anime.

I was recently able to download the entire 12-episode live action TV series (I've only watched the first two episodes thus far), but was unable to obtain the live action movie. I guess now I know why (since usually once a title is licensed, most websites will stop making it available for download).

Speaking of which, I'm hoping to post my own review of the series in the near future, so make sure to look out for it.

Howl's Movie Castle Details

According to Anime News Service:

New information was released in Japan Thursday on the American release of Howl's Moving Castle. The film, directed by Hayao Miyazaki will debut in the U.S. on June 16th in 60 cities. All told, it's expected to appear on 700-800 screens. An initial release in 3 cities (Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco) will occur June 10th. The English voice cast includes: Christian Bale (Batman Begins) as Howl, Jean Simmons as Old Sophie (Young Sophie is undecided), Lauren Bacall as Witch of Waste, Billy Crystal as Calcifer and Blythe Danner as Madamm Salliman. Distribution will be handled by Walt Disney. This will be the 3rd Ghibli film to open in the USA following Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. Spirited Away grossed a 10 million 56 thousand dollar profit in America and the expectation for Howl's raises that figure by about 2 million 375 thousand dollars. Monsters Inc.'s Pete Doctor will direct the English dialogue.

TANK S.W.A.T. 01 Trailer

The official site for the previously mentioned TANK S.W.A.T. 01 now has a trailer available.

It doesn't look especially visually impressive in my personal opinion, but it's still worth checking out.

Steamboy Hodgepodge

Just to get you psyched for tomorrow's Steamboy premiere, here are a list some new info about the movie:

• New Video Clips and a Director Interview.
  
  
• A list of theatres is available on the official website.
  
  
• In a recent interview, actor Robin Williams comments on his anticipation for the movie. I'm not sure why I included this other than to prove to myself that I'm not the only one excited to see this.

Reviews

The reviews -- whether positive or negative -- all pretty much say the same thing:

• Too little character development. The characters' personalities are unoriginal and/or stereotypical.
• The characters' dialogue tends to be overly philosophical.
• The story is not as original or engaging as Otomo's previous directorial hit, Akira.

BUT...

• The animation was awsome.
• The mechanical designs were original and imaginative.
• The action sequences were top-notch.

All of these points are in every review, the only thing that determined whether or not a reviewer liked the film was what they tended to focus on: visuals or story. Check out the reviews to see what I mean:

• Negative Review
• Positive Review
• Summary of Reviews at RottenTomatoes.com
• LATimes article calling Otomo the "Kubrick of anime"

Here's another review that sums up reviewers' attitudes nicely. It basically says that Steamboy isn't as bad as reviewers tend to make it out to be. It's just that everyone expects it to be another Akira and it just isn't.

I'm not going to be able to see it until Sunday, *Sigh*. But for anyone in the Detroit area, it will be showing at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak.

Shirow's Tank Police Going CG

According to AnimeNation:

The May issue of Japan's Animage magazine includes a bonus DVD containing a promo clip for the full CG animated "TANK S.W.A.T. 01," created by Urda creator Romanov Higa and based on Masamune Shirow's Tank Police Dominion manga series. Japanese fan site Shirowledge hosts a full page ad for the animated clip.

According to Anime News Network:

TANK S.W.A.T. 01 is the first work from the Digital Tokiwa Village Project, a government initiative aimed at fostering independant CG animation. Digital Tokiwa brings promising creators together in Osaka, giving them the chance to collaborate. The artists creative independance is respected by the program, however it provides them with business guidance in areas of sales, financing and advertising. Although release details have not been announced, TANK S.W.A.T. 01 will receive its first official presentation on March 18th at the L-Osaka building in Osaka. [Source: Natsume Maya]

Masamune Shirow's (Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed, Orion, Black Magic) Dominion manga has been previously released as anime in in two different OAV series -- Dominion: Tank Police, and New Dominion: Tank Police. The original Dominion OAV is is not exactly my favorite anime, but it does hold a personal significance to me because it was the first anime series that I was (knowingly) exposed to. That was way back in... I don't know... something like 1994 maybe. It was airing on the Sci-Fi Channel on their annual week-long Japanese animation marathon. (The next year I think they started a "Saturday Anime" series where they would show a new anime movie every week. But I don't know what happened to the run after that.) I just happened upon it one day while channel surfing, and that pretty much started my unbridaled obsession with the medium. Ah, the nastalgia...

Anyway, I am guessing that this is going to end up being something similiar to the Appleseed movie in terms of visuals (cell shading and all), but I don't know for sure.

That Digital Tokiwa Village Project is interesting though. I wonder if they are trying to push CG animation as a way of competing with (or at least matching the success of) Studios like Pixar and Dreamworks. Considering how Japan's previous attempts at CG feature films (Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within, and Appleseed) seemed to be box-office flops -- especially in comparison to the traditional cell animated films like Howl's Moving Castle (though Miyazaki's films may be more of an acception than a rule) -- I kind of fail to see why that kind of push would be necessary. Maybe they're just trying to encourage the use of technology to enhance the medium, considering how animation is an influential Japanese cultural export.

Anyways, I'm glad to see that animators are getting more respect and support from their government. I'll be interested to see how the TANK S.W.A.T. 01 movie turns out.

Battle Angel Video Game?

According to a CVG article as well as an article on Gamespot.com, James Cameron is planning on developing a X-Box video game to coincide with a "major motion picture" release. He apparently doesn't specify what the movie or game project is, but seeing as how he is currently working on the Battle Angel Alita movie, it's not to far of a leap in logic to say that the video game is going to be based in the Alita universe as well. Says Cameron:

"In my next film, I can only tell you what we're planning on doing which is simultaneous developing a major motion picture and hopefully a major game title that co-exists in the same world, that share characters." He continued, "Going into that world will actually inform those watching the film and vice-versa. I don't want to say anything more than that because I don't want to give away some of the cool stuff that we're working on."

Also remember that Cameron was hoping to make a trilogy of movies assuming that the box office results from the first movie agreed with him. Maybe this video game thing is just another way to include more of the Battle Angel storyline. Microsoft did not help clarify the issue when the obvious was pointed out to them:

"I'm not going to argue with those observations, but the fact remains we have not made any announcements," was all a representative for the company would say.

Regardless, it looks like Cameron's getting serious about this story. More news to come, I'm sure...

[And just as an extra piece of useless trivia, there is actually already a Battle Angel video game out there called GUNM: Martian Memory, though I am not sure if that was ever release in the US so good luck trying to get your hands on it. ]

New Sin City Trailer

New trailer at Moviefone. Enjoy.

Initial D Movie Website

The official website for the live action Initial D movie is now open for business. I originally mentioned this project back in October, so if you haven't seen anything about it since then, here are few extra nuggets of information. The movie will be a Cantonese movie and is produced by Hong Kong studio Media Asia Group. The budget for the movie is $7.7 million US. The filming begun in October 2003 in China and also Japan. Three Toyota AE86 Sprinter Treuno's were specially made by Toyota for this project. [Source: Flora-Fleur.Net] I've read on a few sites that Jackie Chan was originally set to be the director, but it was not to be so they handed over the wheel (heh heh) to Tsui Hark. Then he dropped the job and was replaced by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. I also read somewhere that they wrecked 8 AE86's during filmmaking. Also: Toyota built three new AE86's for the movie! And they made the AE85 like the 86...With the headlights and such. (I'm assuming they are talking about Itsuki's 85.) The movie is scheduled to be released this summer. Other credits mentioned on the official site: Felix Chong (scriptwriter) Jay Chou (Takumi Fujiwara) Anthony Wong (Bunta Fujiwara) Edison Chen (Ryousuke Takahashi) Anne Suzuki (Natsuki Mogi) Shawn Yue (Takeshi Nakazato) Chapman To (Itsuki Takeuchi) Jordan Chan (Kyouichi Sudou) I'm not really knowledgable about Japanese or Chinese actors, though there are a few movies that I do recognize. For instance, Anne Suzuki was in The Returner and Snow Falling on Cedars (I actually never saw that movie, but I did read the book in highschool...if that counts).

Finally! Yukikaze Volume 2

According to Animenation the final installment of Sentou Yousei Yukikaze will be released in Japan this spring, so the final 2 DVDs should be scheduled for release soon in the US. The second volume will include episodes 3 and 4. The third volume will include episode 5 as well as the Mave-chan spin-off episode.

I loved the first volume and have been eagerly waiting for it to continue, but hadn't heard anything about it for a couple of years. I did see some info on the Mave-chan thing which totally confused me because I did not understand how they could have a spin-off of something that had not yet been completed.

Well, apparently the production of episodes 3-5 got delayed and Geneon had no idea until after the first DVD had already been released. So that explains the long wait. Hopefully getting all that extra time means that the final product will be that much more extraordinary.

Oshii: Miyazaki wants to destroy Japan

In a very interesting LA Times Article, Mamoru Oshii and Ghibli Studio's Toshio Suzuki discuss the dying creativity of modern anime creators. The most cynical of the pair is Oshii who says:

Animation studios are surviving, animators are getting better paid, but the quality of new works is not improving ... On the surface, it's thriving...But in reality, there's very little new happening.

What I really got a kick out of was how the animators tended to quip at one another. Take Suzuki's comments on Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Steamboy):

There is only one theme in all his films: the conflict between adults and children. It's an old Japanese theme: The child fights against society, fights against evil. Otomo's thinking is rather old.

But the best comment of all came from Oshii who apparently thinks Miyazaki is a closet homicidal sociopath:

I think inside his head Miyazaki wants to destroy Japan ... But even though he knows his generation has created a nasty society, he has this hope that children will make a better world. So he makes movies that families and the children can enjoy. And it won't change until he makes the movies he really wants to make: bloody works; lots of bloodshed ... Miyazaki is hiding. He has a passion to destroy Japan, but he's not making what he really wants to make.

The article finishes up with Suzuki's insightful take on the personalities behind the animation:

Unlike his dark anime visions, Oshii is cheerful and easygoing in person, while "Miyazaki's personality, on the other hand, is very pessimistic," says Suzuki. "Miyazaki has to put a brake on his thinking" when making a movie to get those happy endings.

Hmm...

Yukito Kishiro Interview Online

Anime News Service now has an online interview with my all-time favorite comic artist ever, Yukito Kishiro -- author of the manga Gunnm (Battle Angel Alita). In it Mr. Kishiro covers his thoughts on the live action adaption of his work (anxious) as well as the possibility of new Gunnm anime (slim to none).

That Nausicaa Commercial

Just to show that I'm not crazy, you can see the Nausicaa commercial for yourself (see previous post). According to Anime News Network, it's being shown on Cartoon Network, ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX as well. They didn't mention WB though so maybe I am crazy.

They also mention that if you buy all three DVDs -- Nausicaa, Porco Rosso, and The Cat Returns -- you will be able to get either Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, or Castle in the Sky for free with a mail-in order. Since I will most likely be splurging on all 3, I'll end up getting Kiki's (I already have the others).

Nausicaa Commercial Aired on WB

Yes, I watch Everwood. Now, if we can just all get over that fact for a moment I'd like to mention that during my weekly WB viewing of the show, I unexpectedly saw the word "Miyazaki" flash accross the screen. It was a commercial for the Disney release of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. I think it was the same trailer as is on their website though, so it might not be anything new. But I just thought that was pretty cool for some reason. It might have something to do with me being a geek.

On a related note, the Detroit Free Press today had a highly positive review of the Disney DVD release of the film. So there.

Live Action Gigantor Trailer

Hey, remember Gigantor? Me neither. The show originally aired in Japan in 1963 as Tetsujin 28-Go! and was later translated for US broadcast as Gigantor in the late '60s and early '70s; so it was a bit before my time. Although the series went through a few re-makes through the years, the first I think I ever heard of it was off a track from the Saturday Mornings CD where the show's theme song was performed by the band Helmet.

Anyway, if you are seasoned enough to get lost in the nastalgia of it all, then you might be interested in knowing that there is a live-action movie in the works. And now the full trailer is available for your viewing enjoyment.

Source: Ain't It Cool News

Steamboy "Director's Cut" in Theatres

[Edit: I changed the title to reflect the new information in this article. I forgot that I had mentioned the March 18 release date way back in November.]

According to Ain't It Cool News Steamboy is going to be released theatrically in the US on March 18th. According to the article there will be an extended "director's cut" version with Japanese language and English subtitles to be exclusively released in Landmark Cinemas, while the dub version will see a wider release.

Lucky for me there are two Landmark theaters right near me. Sweet.

I actually already knew it was coming March 18th (no, I'm not bragging) because when I was in Media Play the other day, they were giving away free Steamboy Preview DVDs which had the release date printed on the case cover.

The DVDs themselves contained the English and Japanese teaser trailers as well as an interview with Katsushiro Otomo on the making of the movie. The trailers were nothing that isn't already on the web, and to be honest, I have yet to actually watch the featurette so I can't tell you how interesting or informative it is. But if you are interested, stop by Media Play and pick it up. (I'm guessing Suncoast and Sam Goody would have it too.)

Death Note Banned in China

From Anime News Network:

Imitating events in the manga series Death Note, Chinese school students in the city of Shenyang have take to writing death notes. The students buy special stationary and follow instructions such as "Write the cause of death and the person's name backwards and the person will die in 40 seconds."

A middle school student told the Shenyang Night Report, "Many of my friends have Death Note. When they are tired of studding, they have fun by writing down the names of teachers the don't like."

Some Shenyang schools have banned the manga and related stationary, the newspaper called Death Note, "Poison, creating wicked hearts." Others, including one major Chinese newspaper, however feel that ban is an over-reaction and is inappropriate. Some have suggested that overreactions such as these are what stifle creativity in China.

Death Note is currently serialized in Shonen Jump.

I wonder if this will make it more or less likely for this title to be licensed for release in the US.

Live Action Kiki's Delivery Service

According to Ain't It Cool News, Disney has hired Jeff Stockwell to write a live action movie adaption of Eiko Kadano series of Witch's Express Mail children's novels. The novels were the basis for Miyazaki's acclaimed Kiki's Delivery Service movie.

My knee-jerk reaction to this is one of true horror. I can only imagine bad things happening from Disney getting it's hands on a classic story that basically preaches the benefits of hard work to children (much the same as Spirited Away did). I can't imagine a Disney movie staying true to that theme.

You'll have to excuse my constant paranoia over US film companies trying to make live action adaptions to Japanese anime -- especially since there really hasn't been much to base this fear on yet -- but at least if I get my expectations nice and low I'll be less likely to be disappointed, right?

God I hope this one doesn't suck.

I *HEART* Studio Bones

Animation studio great Studio Bones (RahXephon, Wolf's Rain, Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door) is coming out with a new anime series called Eureka 7 . And from the look of the trailer (which can be viewed on the MBS site) Bones may very well be on its way to taking over Production I.G. as my favorite anime production studio of all time.

Aren't you just totally impressed?

Time Warner to Produce Anime

According to Anime News Network:

Time Warner and Itochu Corp (C. Itoh & Co.) have announced that they will jointly produce new anime to be broadcast simultaneously on Cartoon Network in Japan and North America.

By April 2006, the joint venture is expected to be producing weekly episodes for three shows, at a budget of 20 million yen ($US 190,000) per episode, 20 to 50 percent higher than the current average budget for anime TV series. The added budget will be spent on higher-than-average quality animation using more animators and other staff than is typically used in anime.

I really really really don't like this idea at all -- at least not from a fan (as opposed to a business) perspective. Having a US company co-produce anime for simultaneous US and Japanese broadcast just seems like it would bastardize the whole idea of what makes anime desirable in the first place: the fact that it is foreign material imbued with Japanese standards, cultural themes, and artistic energy. I just worry that a US company would try to push the Japanese company into making it more accessible to American audiences (ie, dumb it down).

Not that there hasn't been animation made with this kind of international partnership before to mild success (see Big O 2 or Dead Leaves) but it's always just been done on a case-by-case basis (as far as I know).

But whatever. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes of it all.

Innocence Recall

Apparently Dreamworks finally got around to admitting that the DVD version of Ghost in the Shell: Innocence -- which was distributed with closed captioned subtitles only (which subbed the sound effects and all) was a mistake. So they now have a mail-in recall program for all those who bought the flawed version so they can get a "remastered" version with the proper subtitles.

The DVDs that have a "v4" marked on their spine are the remastered version.

Anime Downloading in Trouble?

CNET has published a very interesting article about the technically illegal act of distributing fansubbed anime online. For years fansubbing has been considered a necessary evil for fans who want to view anime titles that have not yet been licensed for distribution in the US. Japanese and US studios alike have turned a blind eye to the act presumably because fansubbing tends to build the word-of-mouth popularity for a particular title and as a result helps US companies determine which titles to license.

But recently, a Japanese anime studio called Media Factory (Gravion, RahXephon) has been sending messages to fansubbing sites demanding that they cease and desist the distribution of their titles regardless of whether or not those titles have been licensed for US distribution. So now the fear is the other companies will follow suite.

I don't really think companies are going to be giving up the benefites of a responsible fansubbing community, and I definitely don't see anime fans giving it up, so I doubt that there is anything fans need to really worry about (anymore than MP3 music downloaders need to worry that their source of MP3s will drying up). But the article at least does a good job of presenting both sides of the debate.

Casshern Sucks?

From AnimeNation:

The Japanese Fumihara Weekly Magazine has reported the results of the latest Kiichi Awards, the Japanese version of the American Golden Raspberry Award, for worst Japanese films of 2004.

The Kiichi Awards are determined by a panel of 20 movie reporter and film critic judges. Devilman, which has received universally bad reviews, was voted worst Japanese film of 2004.

Oddly, the live action Casshern movie, which has received numerous international positive critical reviews, was named second worst Japanese film of 2004. The award panelists called the film, "Nothing more than a promotional video for Hikaru Utada's videos." Casshern was directed by Utada's husband, Kazuaki Kiriya.

Pokemon Causes Cancer

According to Anime News Network:

Scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have
identified a new gene that, when aberrant, can cause cancer. They've named the
gene POKEMON or POK Erythroid Myeloid Ontogenic factor. Details about the
cancer-causing Pokemon gene can be read on the MSKCC website or in the
January 20th issue of Nature magazine.

The really funny thing is that in the whole article, the researchers never mention the Pokemon anime (at least not that I could see). I'm not sure if the researchers just don't know about the show and the name is just a coincidence (not likely) or if they are just trying to keep a professional tone.

Of course, now that people will be saying that Pokemon causes cancer, it makes that whole seizure-causing episode seem like not such a big deal.

Another Trailer for Howl's Moving Castle

The novelty here is that this one's in french! Muy bien! (or is that Spanish?) Anyway, to access the trailer you will need to go into the site and click on Film-Annonce. Then enjoy.

Paranoia and Champloo on Adult Swim

According GATV.tv, two hip, over-agressive weapons experts will be making their way to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block this summer. The first is the break-dancing samurai Mugen in Shinichiro Watanabe's hip-hop samurai series Samurai Champloo; the other is the bat-weilding roller-blader Shonen Bat in Satoshi Kon's psychological thriller Paranoia Agent. Both shows kick ass so watch them when they make their way to TV, or if you are the impatient type (like me) go out and buy the DVDs now.

Manga Tops Graphic Novel Sales

According to ICV2, manga has topped sales of all graphic novels in the first weeks of 2005. Ken Akamatsu's followup to the Love Hina series, Negima was the top selling novel. According to the article, Negima was labelled as a children's novel. The funny thing is that when I bought my copy of the initial Negima graphic novels as Media Play, it was shrink-wrapped with a parental advisory sticker on it.

Go figure.

Battle Angel Trilogy ???

From a Yahoo Movies article:

His next project will be shot with a new generation of the Cameron/Pace Reality System 3D camera. The film, "Battle Angel," is based on a series of Japanese graphic novels.

"It takes place in the 26th century, and it's the story of a young girl who has an organic human brain and an entirely synthetic body," he said. "She's a cyborg warrior, it turns out, although she doesn't know that initially, due to amnesia. It's a hero's journey, ultimately."

Cameron has conceived "Battle Angel" as the first of a three-part series. "If we're successful, we'll make the other films. If we're not, we won't."

Most science fiction, says the director, has wandered away from its roots ever since "Star Wars."

"As much as I love 'Star Wars,' and as much as it's really revolutionized the imaging business, it went off the rails in the sense that science fiction, historically, was a science fiction of ideas. It was thematic fiction. It stopped being that and became just pure eye candy and pure entertainment."

"And I miss that. With 'Battle Angel,' I'm going to flirt with that darker, dystopian message as much as I can, without making it an art film," he said.

Well if he doesn't make a movie that sucks, then it'll be successful. If it bombs, it sure won't going to be the fault of the original material. [Edit: Or maybe I'm just being too protective.]

Interview with the Miyazaki Interviewer

The New York Post has published an interview with Hayao Miyazaki. Unfortunately, the interview itself is not online, but as a consolation prize they do have a Q&A with the woman who interviewed Miyazaki. (I guess that would be considered a meta-interview.) The article is an interesting read, especially for those who may not be very familiar with the legendary animator.

On a related note, Box Office Mojo is reporting that Howl's Moving Castle is scheduled for release in June 2005.

Dark Horse Translates Original Vampire Hunter D Novel

According to AnimeNation:

Dark Horse Comics has announced plans to release an English translated version of Hideyuki Kikuchi's first Vampire Hunter D novel, originally published in Japan in 1983.

The 300 page novel will include its original 8 interior illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano and retail at $8.95 beginning May 4th.

Although I am not a huge fan of vampire stories in general, the original Vampire Hunter D anime -- while definitely not among my favorite anime -- was relatively enjoyable. I think the last time I saw it was way back when it had aired on the Sci-Fi channel (which was what? 1995?), so I probably never even saw the fully unedited version.

Although it visually pales in comparison to the more recent Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust; I think I still like story of the original better. Call me crazy.

Cameron Talks about Battle Angel Alita

Scifi.com has posted an interview with James Cameron about the live action Battle Angel Alita movie. In it he makes some interesting comments on the content of the movie. Apparently it will be a mish-mash of the first 3 volumes. He also mentions that he is aiming for release in 2007.

A Sincere Promise and (sheepishly) More Appleseed

Yeah, I know you are probably sick of hearing about the same titles over and over again (Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed, Ghibli, and Sin City) so I am going to say right now that I promise to expand my horizons in the future. My most ambitious hope is that I will start writing some anime DVD reviews which should work to provide more useful and varied information. I'll also try to find a wider range of sources other than Animenation, Anime News Network, ICV2, and Yahoo Movies. So having publicly announced as much, I will hopefully be that much more motivated to actually follow through with my promise.

Having said that, I am going to quickly say that some movie clips and photos as well as the trailer for the Appleseed movie are now available on Yahoo Movies.

Okay, I'm going to be more diverse starting...now.

FullMetal Alchemist Movie Trailer

I'm still trying to get into this series, but I for those who are as in love with FullMetal Alchemist as the rest of the world seems to be, here's a trailer for the upcoming movie.

Cities for Appleseed Movie

The Appleseed website now lists release theatres for cities in Illinois, Florida, Hawaii, California, and Pennsylvania. Where's Michigan, damn it?!

US Casshern Website Now Open

GoFish Pictures has opened the official website for the North American release of the live action Casshern movie. There isn't much there yet other an a link to a story synopsis and another link to the Japanese trailer. It says 2005 release, but hopefully they'll post a more specific release date and release cities soon.

BTW, the picture to the left is actually from the original anime (oooo, aaah).

New Sin City Trailer

Yahoo Movies is now hosting the official Sin City trailer. Looks like some things have changed since the previous trailer. Most notablely is the fact that some of the scenes have a bit of color added to them (notice the part where Nancy is dancing on stage). It's subtle and it does look pretty cool, so I'll look forward to seeing how the effect plays out in the movie as a whole.

Again, the release date is April 1, 2005. I'll be at the midnight showing for sure!

Disney Releases Trailers for Ghibli Films

From AnimeNation:

Buena Vista Home Video now hosts a streaming trailer for its upcoming American DVD release of Nausicaa, Porco Rosso, and The Cat Returns. The trailer includes spoken English dubbed dialogue from all three films, featuring celebrity voice actors including Patrick Stewart as Yupa in Nausicaa, Michael Keaton as Porco in Porco Rosso, and Cary Elwes as The Baron in Cat Returns. The trailer is available on all three product pages. [Source: Nausicaa.net]

On a side note, The Cat Returns is actually a sequel to Whisper of the Heart -- another Ghibli film which, so far as I know, has never been released in the US.

Search for Anime Video

Yahoo! has a new Video Search Function (beta) that looks for video on the web (duh). I'm not sure if you could find full-length anime episodes (you'd be better off with BitTorrent), but at least you can browse for some cool clips if you have nothing better to do.

More Appleseed?

According to AnimeNation:

Variety Magazine has announced that Los Angeles-based Axis Entertainment has contracted Japanese production company Micott & Basara, one of the main sponsors of the full digital animation Appleseed movie, to extend the Appleseed franchise. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the follow-ups may come in the form of a television series and one or more film sequels. Coming Soon reports a possible live-action feature. [Source: Jagged Team]

This is somewhat surprising considering the lukewarm reviews I've read thus far [review 1, review 2]. They basically say that the visuals were awesome, but the story was somewhat lacking. (Of course, that's not to say that I won't be one of the first ones in the theatre when the movie does eventually reach Michigan.) My guess is that the producers are going to try to capitalize on the popularity of the Ghost in the Shell movies and TV series (since Masamune Shirow was the author of the both original manga).

The Appleseed movie is scheduled for theatrical release in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Miami on February 14, 2005.