Anime News Service - March 21 - April 1 Anime News

4-1-01---- Toynami Announces Release Dates

Toynami has announced the release for their 12" Tenchi Figure Set (composed of Ayeka, Tenchi and Ryoko) has been pushed back to late May. The delay is said to be due to a last minute modification in the dolls.

Future Schedule:
Robotech Figurines/Keychains: Available
SNK VS Capcom Keychains: Available
Robotech Super Deformed Morphers: Available May
Tenchi 12" Dolls: Available May

4-1-01---- DOA 3 Clip

Mad Man's Café has uploaded a clip of about a 10% complete Dead or Alive 3 running on an Alpha version of X-Box.

4-1-01---- New Toriyama Project

Planet Namek is reporting on an ad in the April Monthly Jump apparently announcing DBZ creator Akira Toriyama's new manga series:

" Witness Akira Toriyama's New World! In the June issue...Akira Toriyama enters again! At last, his new drawn work will be released! This is Akira Toriyama's trump card! "

4-1-01---- Robotech DVD News

The Right Stuf lists the first two Robotech DVD's as being delayed from 5/22 to a 6/19 release. ADV's Robotech Macross Saga Box DVD Set is also slated for release on 6/19 including audio commentary track with Carl Macek, production sketches and international clip in French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese audio.

3-31-01---- Macross Restoration

AnimEigo has posted from their restoration of the original Macross TV series here.

3-31-01---- DVD News

Anime On DVD reports Manga will release Production I.G.'s 45 min. Computer aided anime film Blood: The Last Vampire on 7/31 for $24.95. Landlock is due on on 6/26, retailing at $29.95

AnimEigo's site mentions Urusei Yatsura Sets 2 & 3, Vampire Miyu, Baoh, and Oh My Goddess are being authored now.

Delayed to a 4/17 release is the Cartoon Network edited dub only versions of Blue Submarine No. 6 and Gundam Wing Endless Waltz (movie only). The Armored Trooper Votoms TV Series DVD's are now delayed to 5/29.

3-31-01---- Billboard Charts Update

From the latest Billboard Kids Video listings this week:

3. `Sailor Moon: The Legend Begins'
9. `Sailor Moon: Red Hearts'
10. ``Digimon: The Movie,'' FoxVideo.

3-31-01---- Guardians Updates

Guardians Of Order has announced it's latest supplement for the Big Eyes Small Mouth RPG, Cute & Fuzzy Cockfighting Seizure Monsters/ Cute & Fuzzy Seizure Monsters has been released weighing in at 112 pages and retailing at $15.95. The Centauri Knights supplement is out in mid April, retailing at $15.95. The Big Ears, Small Mouse BESM suppliment is due in late May. The El Hazard RPG is expected in late July retailing at $29.95. The Tenchi Universe supplement to the Tenchi Muyo RPG is due in early August, retailing at $19.95. The second Hong Kong Action Theatre! edition is slated for mid-July.

3-30-01---- Right Stuf To Carry Escaflowne Statues Exclusively

According to distributor The Right Stuf they have signed an exclusive deal with Bandai to exclusively distribute their Escaflowne Statue Collection. The painted cold-cast resin statues include12" Hitomi and 9" Escaflowne

3-30-01---- German Mononoke News

Nausicaa.net's mailing list was updated with a post containing news that the German dub of Mononoke Hime, "Prinzessin Mononoke", is being released to German theaters on April 19, 2001. Initial reviews are appearing in movie magazines there now. The Japanese version of the film subbed in German subtitles is being shown at festivals including the Japanese movie festival at the 3001 cinema in Hamburg (http://www.3001-kino.de) on April 16. The German voice of San is reportedly by the same voice actress of Sailor Mercury. A Buena Vista German spokesman reportedly has mentioned the release planned for the film is "small scale", and this could be due to Mononoke's unfortunately poor turnout outside of Japan. Quicktime trailers can be viewed here:6.3 MB Qicktime 3 and 7.6 Quicktime 4.

3-30-01---- Digital Manga Announces Synch-Point Production Division / FLCL / Tenshi Ni Narumon

Excerpted from the official Digital Manga

Official Press Release For Immediate Release: March 30, 2001

DIGITAL MANGA INC. announces SYNCH-POINT production division and the acquisition of I’M GONNA BE AN ANGEL and FLCL

Los Angeles, CA – DIGITAL MANGA INC., is proud to announce SYNCH-POINT (www.synch-point.com) a new production division, which will be producing English language versions of Japanese animation.

SYNCH-POINT is also proud to announce the acquisition of I’M GONNA BE AN ANGEL (TENSHI NI NARUMON) and FLCL for North American distribution.

With an original concept by HEAVEN PROJECT and produced by BANDAI VISUAL, STUDIO PIERROT, and TV TOKYO, I’M GONNA BE AN ANGEL is a 26-episode TV series that revolves around Noelle, a strange and innocent girl with a halo on her head. She meets and falls in love with Yuusuke, and moves her family of witches, vampires and demons into his house. But Yuusuke has a crush on Natsumi. When Noelle overhears Yuusuke referring to Natsumi as an angel, Noelle vows to become Yuusuke’s angel. But what does it really mean to become an angel? And why does Noelle already have a halo on her head?

FLCL is the wacky sci-fi OAV series from GAINAX (NEON GENESIS EVANGELION) and PRODUCTION I.G (BLOOD, JIN ROH). Naota has a problem. His older brother is out of the country. Now Naota seems to be seeing an awful lot of his brother’s girlfriend, Mamimi. And things get even harrier when Haruko whizzes in on her Vespa. She whacks Naota on the forehead with a bass guitar and now all kinds of things are growing from there. We haven’t even mentioned the aliens yet. What the heck is going on here? With outrageous characters, stunning visuals, and shocking gags, FLCL takes animation to a new level.

Founded in 1996, DIGITAL MANGA INC. is dedicated to bringing quality anime and manga experiences to both fans and the mainstream. DIGITAL MANGA localizes and produces titles in English that communicate across culture lines and commits itself to bridging communications between the US and Japan. DIGITAL MANGA devotes itself to strengthening ties with Japanese anime studios and product manufacturers with the goal of making Japanese anime more understood in the United States and other countries.

For more information contact:
Ardith Santiago
(310) 397-4713 ext. 111
pr@emanga.com

3-29-01---- Game Links

Thanks to Daniel for this news:

This is primarily Pre-TGS coverage. You can see a joint ad from Sega and Namco at Gamespot.

According to ZD Net , Koei will be producing games for X Box and is considering producing games for GBA and GameCube. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is in the works for the X Box. A Kessen III is being developed for PS2. Also, they plan to have sequels-to franchises such as Nobunaga's Ambition and Dynasty Warriors-on PS2.

Also, Koei is working on a skateboarding game-entitled Yanya Caballista. It's expected to be out in Japan around the third quarter of this year; and then it will head to the U.S. For more details on the game, go to this location.

You can also read about changes to the North American versions of Sony's Extermination and Dark Cloud at this link.

According to Gamespot , MS and NTT Communications have teamed up to provide broadband services-for the X Box-to Japan.

And Gamespot indicates that Namco is not yet interested in porting games to the X Box until they find out how well it does in the Japanese market.

Media of Gundam: Battle Online is available at Gamespot ; media of Sony's Phase Paradox is shown at this link.

You can find pictures of Sony's Poinie's Poin at Gamespot ,Popolocrois 3 at ZD Net and Sky Gunner at Gamespot.

And finally, information and photos of Koei's Gitaroo-man can be found at Gamespot ,while similar information for Bounty Hunter Sara is available at Gamespot.

And in movie news, you can read about who is writing the script-and who Dreamworks is trying to get as a director-for the remake of The Ring, at www.cinescape.com.

AICN linked an alternate QT trailer of the Final Fantasy movie which explains the basic premise of the film.

Also, Gamespot mentions a less-than-ecstatic review of Z.O.E.

3-29-01---- L.A. Convention News

Thanks to Daniel for this:

This is primarily for a local con in L.A. called the Comic Book and Science Convention. On April 22, they will be screening animation from 11-5. CPM will be presenting Shamanic Princess, Agent Aika Final Battle, and Angel Sanctuary. Columbia will be presenting a "making-of" for Final Fantasy, featuring 12 minutes of scenes from the film. Key-chains for the FF movie will be given out and guests from the movie might appear. Admission to the event is 5 dollars; and directions are available at http://www.comicbookscifi.com/.

3-29-01---- German News

A big thanks to Herald for this news from Germany:

"Dino Entertainment AG has announced to start a new business with Dynamic Planning Inc. A new joint venture agreement has been signed and a new company will be founded where both partners hold 50%. They will start with about 40 titles including more than 600 hours Anime (in TV-format).

Marketing Leader Volker Lauster (34) from Dino Comics will build up the company with Renate Rommel as assistant (product manager for Monster Rancher)."

Source: www.animecity.de

3-29-01---- Brazil Broadcast News

The cable channel Locomotion is showing Saber Marionete J to X, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Those Who Hunt Elves, Blue Seed, The Adventures of the mini goddesses, SuperMilk, G-Force, Red Baron and frequently they show Agent Aika, Akira, Blue Submarine, Burn Up Warrior, Ghost in the shell, Gun Smith Cats, Oh my Goddess, Nadesico the prince of darkness, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Virgin Fleet or Birdy the mighty. In april they will show Ninja Ressurrection and Compiler. Another cable channel, Fox Kids, is showing Patlabor, Monster Rancher, Dinozaurs, Digimon: 02, Flint: The time detective and Tonde Buurin.

Source: Anihabara

3-29-01---- Figure News

Fewture Models' new Grappler Baki figures of Baki Hanma (3280 yen ($30), Doppo Oroti, Kaoru Hanayama, and Yujirou Hanma can be viewed here.

Alpha's Anime / Game Gun replicas including black and silver varriants of the Trigun high caliber revolver (42500 yen- approximatley $400), the IrDA TAC Geobreeders 2 Gun ($870) and a pistol from Matsumoto's Cosmo Warrior Zero ($500) can be viewed here.

3-29-01---- DVD News

According to a post on the Anime On DVD forum by ADV's David Williams, Nadia Vol. #1 will street on 6/19/2001. The disc will contain four episodes on a dual layered format, contain textless openings and endings as well as the two ADV created trailers for the show. For those inquiring about the special omake that Gainax created for the laserdisc release, there's no word on that yet, though it's apparently still being discussed/worked on. For those not familiar with the omake, the show is owned by Toho with Gainax used in a work for hire style situation. When the show was released on laserdisc, Gainax created some new short pieces of omake (i.e. extras) for the episodes, which Gainax themselves presumably retain the rights to. Anime On DVD reports according to the latest update from TRSI, 08/07/2001 will be the arrival date for the El-Hazard OVA DVD Box Set. The set, retailing for 120$ will contain the original 7 OVA episodes and the sequel four OVA episodes. This of course occurs less than two weeks after acquiring my region 2 copy of the second OVA disc. So my main question is... will there be the Japanese DTS track? Or the Japanese DD 5.1 remix track? Or will it be just the original non-remixed 2.0 tracks?

Animeigo has updated it's website with some new Macross DVD preorder signups rgistering AT 11420.

3-29-01---- Boa Album Released

Anime Dream reports:

Finally, after what has seemed to be an endless wait, Bôa's domestic album has been released in the US. Twilight is in stores such as Media Play as of today(March 27th). Bôa has long been popular in japan and many fans have been awaiting a release in the US. Well, that day is here. So Go, Go now! Buy the Album! Twilight features 14 incredible songs for a running time of 58:38. Each one unique(which is pretty rare for albums now-a-days) and a true masterpiece. I have never heard a voice as powerful as Jasmine Rogers' voice. She is truly one of the most talented singers I have ever heard.

3-28-01---- Anime TV Update

Antonio of Anime TV writes into ANS with the following:

I am emailing you to let you know I have updated our website's news section to included some very cool news! MNN the public access network here in Manhattan has recently made it possible to Web cast all their channels. This means that starting Next Saturday, March 31, anyone can watch Anime TV as its simultaneously broad cast in Manhattan and web cast on www.MNN.org.

On the web site I have posted our air schedule, that way anyone interest in watching the show on the Internet will be able to know when the it will be web cast. The next episode that will air is going to finish up my report of Katsucon, I will be showing a lot of footage and one interview, along with the usual amount of anime clips.

If you go by the Anime TV site, also, you can watch an interview I did with David Kaye while I was at Katsucon. In the future I will try to do this with all the interviews I have done so look forward to seeing interviews with Rachel Lillis, Kunihiko Ikuhara, Yoshitoshi Abe, and many more! So Stay tuned!!

Antonio
AKA Akito
producer/host Anime TV

3-28-01---- Angel's Egg U.S. DVD Update

Regual ANS contributor Daniel writes in with news that upon writing into Anchor Bay Entertainment on the status update with their U.S. release of the Angel's Egg movie on DVD, he received the following response:

"We are still hoping to bring out ANGEL'S EGG in late 2002."

3-28-01---- Dairy Queen Digimon Promotion

From the Hollywod Reporter:

Dairy Queen in 'Digimon' tie-in "Digimon," the hit Fox Kids/Fox Family Channel cartoon that launched in fall 1999, will get its biggest U.S. fast food tie-in next year. Dairy Queen will promote "Digimon" with an estimated $2 million worth of ads on Fox Kids, Nickelodeon and other kids-targeted television networks, an in-store sweepstakes supported by Fox Kids.com, extensive in-store signage and 16 premium items. The program will launch in June 2002. DQ's expenditures on such things as commercial production, sweepstakes, online promotion and signage will boost its commitment to "Digimon" to nearly $4 million, according to a source familiar with the deal. The promotion is part of a new strategy by the 5,800-store Dairy Queen chain to concentrate its media dollars and tie-ins during the April-June frame, thereby maximizing their impact. DQ has spread its promotions throughout the year, placing it in head-to-head competition with much bigger quick-service restaurants and not highlighting DQ's dominant sales season, summer. (Marla Matzer Rose)

3-28-01---- 15,000 Fake DBZ Seized In Italy

Italian police said that: Today they had seized 15,000 fake plastic characters from the cult children's games Pokemon, Digimon and Dragonball. The models were found in a truck at Rome's Fiumicino airport after apparently being imported illegally from China. "The toys were totally unsafe and dangerous for children," a police spokesman said. "The Chinese exporters, with the collaboration of their Italian importers, had fixed 'Made in the European Union (news - web sites)' stickers on them." A 41-year-old Italian was arrested. Pokemon is a game in which children have to collect scores of different monsters. It started as a card game in Japan but has spawned a television cartoon series and a computer game. Digimon and Dragonball are similar games which followed in Pokemon's wake.

Source: DBZ Kingdom

3-28-01---- CN DBZ Scheduling Announcement

Cartoon Network has announced that starting Wednesday, May 2, at 5:00 PM (E/P) Toonami will begin airing the Garlic Jr. Saga. Toonami will also air the Garlic Jr. Saga during the mid-night run starting Thursday, May 03, at 12:00 AM (E/P). CN has also acknowledged that they will start airing the third set reruns for DBZ: Season 4 starting with the episode #103 - Frieza's Counterattack. Season 4 will start re-runs from Friday, May 18 5:00 PM (E/P). DBZ Season 4 will broadcast during the mid-night run starting Thusday, May 17 12:00 AM (E/P). Looks like Toonami Movies or In-flight movies, will be in the closing stages by mid-May.

I'll say this again, Toonami will broadcast Dragonball Z back to back for one full hour during the Mid-night Run, from 12:00 AM to 1:00 AM EST/PST. The Back to back DBZ episodes will end on March 31st.

Source: DBZ Kingdom

3-28-01---- Gaming Links

Thanks to Daniel for these:

According to Gamespot, Nintendo will only be able to deliver 500,000 GBA units to the U.S. on June 11. The reason was they needed to allocated units to other territories. They hope to ship 1 million by the end of June.

Gamespot describes a new quest for PSO.

3-28-01---- Akira News

Pioneer's rerelease of Akira has just received an "R" rating by the MPAA for brief nudity, the official site has been updated with video clips of various voice actors.

3-28-01---- Captain Tylor DVD Update

The Right Stuf's Shawn Kleckner has new details and info on a swap program for problem plagued Cptain Tylor DVD's here

3-28-01---- Metropolis Trailer Online

A Quicktime trailer of Katsuhiroo Otomo / Rintaro's Metropolis baseed on the manga by Osamu Tezuka can now be seen at the Official Website.

3-27-01---- Akira VHS Price Hike

The Right Stuf reports Pioneer Entertainment will increase the price of their Akira (SUB / DUB) from $14.98 to $19.98.

3-27-01---- Univision Moves

Univision's De Cabeza block has been transfered to 9:00 am, the Spanish-dubbed Tenchi Universe did air however, Red Baron and Lost Universe were not aired.

UMJAMS Anime News and Doblaje Latinoamericano report:

ETC...TV will premiere in April the series 'Yamazaki', 'Tenchi Muyo', 'Estan Arrestados' (You're under arrest), 'EL Jardín Secreto' (The Secret Garden), 'Sakura Card Captors', the 2nd season of Detective Conan, Ninja Boy Rantaro, and the 3th season of Pokémon. Yamazaki is the latin american premiere because the other ones were broadcasted before in different countries or channels. ETC...TV (http://www.etc.cl) is a 24 hours anime channel for kids in Chile and has the second place in rating under Cartoon Network (tv cable rating in Chile, in the category 'kids').

3-27-01---- Kodansha English Sites

Casual Otaku reports publisher Kodansha has launched an English website, Kodan Club, including some samples from manga, image gallery and prize giveaways.

3-27-01---- DVD News

The Right Stuf reports ADV is delaying the release of Blue Seed DVD 2 until sometime in June.

Anime On DVD reports ADV has announced that Bubblegum Crisis 2040 Vol. #6 has been given a street date of 6/5/2001. The disc contains five episodes, two of which were originally released as OVA's.

3-27-01---- Toonami Schedule Revamp

Starting April 2nd:

Mondays - Thursdays (all times Eastern/Pacific):

4:30 PM - Tenchi
5 PM - DBZ Hour
6 PM - The Big O
6:30 PM - Superman
Fridays
Mon - Thur
4:00pm Sailor Moon
4:30 PM - Tenchi
5 PM - In-Flight Movies

Source: CNX Toonami Revolution

3-27-01---- Cartoonist Info

Thanks to Jose for this info:

Here are the latest news regarding the next April's Cartoonist salon [NDA : in Toulon]. It's our greatest pleasure to announce, as the world-wide exclusivity at the upcoming Toulon salon , the presentation and distribution of the announcing intro-film of the anime series Saint Seiya (Hades), which was created in order to goad the production houses, animators who have participated in the previous seasons and TV channels, into financing this sequel, so awaited by fans. [NDA : The character design would be signed by Jerome Alquie, talented designator from Marseilles, big fun of Shingo Araki's and Leiji Matsumoto's style. Besides, he's an author of several Saint Seiya illustration art-books ! As Mr. Gilbert put it, this announcing intro-film's only objective is to motivate the producers and original animation stuff to retake the torch. Masami Kurumada, Shingo Araki and Michi Himeno were contacted and will, no doubt about that, be present at the November's Cartoonist in Paris. As for the announcing intro-film, it'll probably be consisted of fixed animated frames, with the music background from the CD Image Album Hades !]
The project of the after-Hades manga sequel, will be presented for itself, during the November's Salon in Paris. Apart from this, another exclusivity : Mr. Shingo Araki (Saint Seiya character designer and Saloon Cartoonist 95's honored guest) completed one unedited illustration, for shitajiki print. [NDA: Illustration, because of the copyright reasons, wasn't taken from the Saint Seiya] which will be edited in 300 copies only and sold for at least 100 francs each. And they'll be available only at the Cartoonist Salon stands and only 100 copies will be sold per day. Each client will be able to buy only one copy, so more fans could profit. Once the salon is over, this shitajiki will be neither available nor reedited. So it's about the collector's item.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------
There. Information is trustworthy, but obviously needs confirmation ! Seeing that Saint Seiya celebrates its 15th birthday this year, it's not that illogical that rumors started to boil again. Famous announcing intro-film Olivier Gilbert spoke about, will be shown in April, during the said Cartoonist Festival in Toulon. While waiting for Kurumada's, Araki's and Himeno's arrival to Paris in November (this also has to be confirmed !), lets hope that we'll find out a little more about this detonating project !
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

3-27-01---- Tekken Vinyl Statues On The Way

Figures.com reports High Dream corporation is gearing up to release it's 16" TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT vinyl figures, a Namco limited license. The first set will include Paul Phoenix, Heihachi Mishima, and Devil Kazuya. All three characters will be launch at the same time during fall 2001 in America and Asia markets. The European market is still undecided.

3-27-01---- Italian Broadcast News

Italia 1 start airing "Dr.Slump & Arale-chan" (1997 remake) and Pokemon (new episodes) Rai 2 every day air "Monster Rancher" MTV Italia air now "Trigun", "Tenku no Escaflowne" and "Master Mosquiton" (the OAV Series) every Tuesday at 21:00, from April it will air "Excel Saga" too.

Source: Anihabara

3-27-01---- More DiGi Charat Spring Special Details

Di Gi Charat "ohanami(Cherry-blossom viewing)" special will be aired on Apr.6. This special will be the longest program of Di Gi Charat series (4 episodes in 60 minutes).

Source:Anihabara

3-27-01---- Tylor DVD Issue

Anime On DVD is reporting:

Much like the crew of the ship in the show Irresponsible Captain Tylor, the DVD's are experiencing a problem. Or more specifically, just Volume #4 of the newly released show. On I believe episode 23, there appears to be a chapter missing, which you can tell by the episode having a shorter running time (lengths seem to vary wildly among posters with most saying 3-4 minutes while others claiming 10-11 minutes). Some folks indicate that the missing footage is there and it works on their players (mostly Sony owners). I've chatted briefly with the folks at TRSI and they are currently investigating where this happened. According to those who proofed the final check disc everything was in place, so it'll take a day or so to track it all down and figure it all out.

TRSI has indicated that they will be replacing the disc once they isolate where it happened (so it doesn't happen again). I don't believe copies that are out there now in retailers are going to be recalled for the box set or the individual disc 4 but rather go with the swap out problem. The main indication I received from TRSI is that fans will not be left out in the cold over this.

3-27-01---- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Awards

This weekend Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon captured 4 Academy Awards including best foreign-language film, art direction, cinematography and original score. The film was also selected as the top independent film of 2000 at Saturday's 16th annual Independent Spirit Awards. Director Ang Lee won best director, Zhang Ziyi won best supporting female.

3-27-01---- AX Guests

The following guests of honor have been named for this year's Anime Expo convention:

NOBORU ISHIGURO Reunion Guest of Honor from AX95, AX96
Anime Expo is pleased to announce the appearance of one of the "honored grandfathers" of Japanese animation and esteemed pillar of the anime industry, Mr. Noboru Ishiguro. Mr. Ishiguro has worked in the anime industry for a very long time and brings with him a well-known history of being Director of Spacecruiser Yamato (a.k.a. Starblazers), Legend of Galactic Heroes, Megazone 23, Macross TV series and Macross: Do You Remember Love? movie, and countless other popular anime titles.

HARUHIKO MIKIMOTO Reunion Guest of Honor from AX92, AX95
Anime Expo is pleased to announce the appearance of one of the most popular character designers of anime fandom, Mr. Haruhiko Mikimoto. Mr. Mikimoto is best known for his work as character designer for Macross TV series, Macross: Do You Remember Love? movie, Gunbuster, Megazone 23 (Eve), Macross II, Macross 7 concepts, Super Dimensional Century Orguss, Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, and numerous other popular titles.

3-27-01---- Akars Online

Akadot has posted the results of their 1st annual Akars awards, view them here.

3-26-01---- Blood DVD Release News

To commemorate the "Blood the Last Vampire" DVD release, Oshii Mamoru will be at the HMV Shibuya store for an panel on April 25 (Wed). Time: 6:00pm - 7:00pm. HMV Shibuya store 4th floor. They will show clips of Oshii Mamoru works, such as "Blood," "Jin-Roh," "Avalon," and "Angel's Egg."

The panel will be open to the first 100 customers who buy the "Blood" box set, "Blood" regular release DVD, "Angel's Egg" DVD, "Jin-Roh" box set, or "Avalon" making-of DVD.

All participants will receive an autographed item from Oshii Mamoru. For those who purchase either of the "Blood" DVDs will receive a "Blood" press release (not for sale). And five lucky winners will receive premium goods of the above titles.

3-26-01---- Fatwa Issued Against Pokemon In Saudi Arabia

Thanks to Mikhail Koulikov for this news:

The Higher Committee for Scientific Research and Islamic Law has issued a fatwa (religious edict with the power of law) banning Pokemon videogames and cards. The fatwa charges that the banned products "[have] possessed the minds of a large chunk of our students." It also states that Pokemon cards involve gambling, banned under Islamic law, and promote Zionism due to the Star of David allegedly appearing on some of the cards. A Nintendo spokesman has denied that any religious symbols appear on Pokemon cards and said that none of the cards were "designed with religious symbols in mind."

Source: CNN

3-26-01---- Bloor Cinema Upadtes

From the release:

AnimeXtreme Reminder/News and Show Info: Saturday March 31/April 7!

Dedicated to "keeping it real", AnimeXtreme now has 750 members! The Largest and most Electrifying Anime Club in Toronto ^^ The Club with the Biggest Screen and the Biggest Sound.

-----------------------------------------------------
Don't miss our next 2 shows, Saturday March 31 and Saturday April 7! Back to back weeks.

Saturday March 31, 2001
1:00 City Hunter TV 10, 11 (AP. 50 min)
2:00 Samurai Spirits II OVA 2 (AP. 30 min)
2:30 Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo OVA 1 (AP. 30 min)
3:00 Gundam Movie III: Meguriai Sora hen
Encounters in Space Movie (AP. 140 min)
5:30 Initial D TV 17, 18 (AP. 50 min)

Saturday April 7, 2001
1:00 City Hunter TV 12 (AP. 30 min)
1:30 Tenamonya Voyagers OVA 1, 2 (AP. 60 min)
2:30 Jojo's Bizzare Adventure Prequel OVA 1 (AP. 30 min)
3:00 Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo OVA 2 (AP. 30 min)
3:30 Gundam Movie: Char's Counterattack Movie (AP. 120 min)
5:30 Initial D TV 19, 20 (AP. 50 min)

Source: Anime Extreme

3-26-01---- New Daft Punk Video Online

According to ADAMagazine:

MTV Italia start airing the second music clip Leiji Matsumoto realised for french group "Daft Punk"

The clip "Aerodynamic" (from the song of same name) reprise the story from point it was interrupted in the fist video "One more time" at the beginnin of an alien attack. This time we see mens of "Machine Emperor" (the black ones) carry off the sylvidres (the blu singers)

Obviously this video has not a proper ending and we have to wait for the next one. At the end of all videos (we don't know how many videos there will be) we will have a true music film by Matsumoto with music by Daft Punk

You can watch "Aerodynamic" on the MTV Italia's website (http://www.mtv.it) in the following bandwitdh:

56k 128k 300k

3-26-01---- History Of Trunks Tops Video Sales

'History of Trunks' Ranked #15 in Video Sales. Washington Post is reporting that, Video Sales for week of ending March 4th 2001, Dragon Ball Z Movie: History of Trunks was ranked #15 in local sales for Blockbuster Video, week ended March 4, in the US. Other anime's making the top 20 were Digimon: The Movie was ranked #8 and Pokemon: 2000 was ranked #11. Check out other movies making the Top 20's right here.

Origin: DBZ Kingdom

3-25-01---- AIC Masaki Kajishima Interview Part III Online In English

AIC's third installment of their interview with Masaki Kajishima is online now.

3-25-01---- Figures News

Lot's of Figues news from the Tokyo Toy Fair can be seen at Figures.com:

Kaiyodo is showing off Trigun figures of Monev the Gail, Vash and Wolfwood Virtual On figures.

New Bandai Digimon 03 figures can be seen here.

Bandai has new of Gundam models from the High Grade Universal Century series: Gundam Evolution (RX-78, RX-78-2), MS-07S, MS-09F, MS-14F, RGM-79 and RX-78GP01Fb, Master Grade Kits of MS-07B-3, MS-18E and RX-78NT-1, MSN-00100 Hyaku-Shiki, MSZ-006, MSZ-010, RX-178 Gundam Mk II, RX-78GP01Fb, RX-78GP02-A, RX-78GP03S Gundam GP03S, RX-79 [G] Ez-8, and RX-93 V-Gundam, and several of SD Gundams - GGENERATION-F figures.

Alpha is showing black and silver versions of Vash's pistol from Trigun, and Gene Starwind's castor gun from Outlaw Star.

Also from Alpha are the new 12" GITS figures of Motoko which recently sold out in the US, the Fuchikoma mech with Bato, the Major Kusanagi "Gear Up" Statue, and figures of Motoko from "Man Machine Interface, which includes Motoko Armaki "Fire Wall", Motoko Armaki "Fire Wall".

Fewture is showcasing new models of Devil Man, Mazinger AD-1901, and Grappler Baki.

Alpha has new figures on the way from Dark Angel, view them here.

BBI has new King of Fighters 2000 figures on display.

Kaiyodo has new JIN-ROH figures on the way.

3-25-01---- Palisades New Site

Anime / Video game merchandise producer Palisades Marketing has a new website which can be viewed at www.palisadesmarketing.com.

3-25-01---- Tylor Soundtracks

The Right Stuf is reporting Animetrax will begin releasing special Irresponsible Captain Tylor Audio Collections on 5/10. The two CD compilations slated for production are Irresponsible Captain Tylor OVA OST and Irresponsible Captain Tylor TV Series 1: Sentehishyo.

3-24-01---- Cherry Blossoms Fall In Kanto Region

The Yokohama Local Meteorological Observatories announced today that cherry blossoms have officially flowered in Yokohama City on March 22nd.

3-24-01---- Gaming Links

Tanks to Daniel for this news:

According to Gamespot , the PS2 Silent Hill 2 will be in a playable version at TGS.

Gamespot mentions that Onimusha shipped one million copies to Japan, making it the first PS2 game in that category.

It also seems that Square will have a playable version of FFX at TGS. Other games are listed at Gamespot.

At Gamespot , it's indicated that Sony has reached its goal of shipping 10 million PS2's worldwide. Their goals are to have 1.5 million more units in April, and produce 2 million units/month by fall, with the final intention of shipping 20 million systems around the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002.

More pics of VF4 are available at Zd Net. Speculation is that Sega might release a version of the game for X Box.

You can read about which honors FFIX and Zelda: Majora's Mask received-at the 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards-at Gamespot.

And finally, details of Shen Mue II are available at Gamespot. In the game, Ryo will no longer get a daily allowance. He makes money arm wrestling, placing bets on two types of dice games, or playing a pachinko-like game. A North American release for the game is yet to be announced.

3-23-01---- Mamoru Oshii In Town - Avalon NYC Screening

Avalon / Ghost In The Shell director Oshii Mamoru is reportedly in the U.S. this week, appearing in L.A. several days ago and possibly in NYC as of Friday:

Thanks to C.B. of Fanboy Entertainment for this news:

Tonight (Thurs. 3-22) at 7:30 at the Village VII Cinema on 3rd Ave. and 11th St. in New York, Miramax had a private screening of Mamoru Oshii's film AVALON. The film was presented in Polish with English subtitles. The screening was by invitation only.

C.B. also relays crowd reaction to the film was reportedly awesome.

3-23-01---- Angelic Layer 1st TV Episode Voice Recording Complete

Based on the manga by famed Osaka-based female mangaka troup CLAMP, serialized in Kadokawa's Shonen Ace Magazine, the seiyuu voice recording for the 1st episode of the new anime TV series adaptation of Angelic Layer was completed this week in Japan. Reportedly the series makes heavy use of 3DCG effects within cobat scenes. Broadcast begins on Sunday, April 1st at 17:20 on TV Tokyo-affiliates, Original Strory by CLAMP, Directed by Hiroshi Nishikiori, Music by Tanaka Kohei. The Opening theme single "Be My Angel" goes on sale May 3rd from Avex Mode, Ending Theme "Starry Sky" is out May 23 from Avex Trax.

3-23-01---- Misc. Gaming / Asia Cinema Links

Thanks to Daniel for this news:

Gamespot has a preview of the final Japanese copy of ZOE. Of note is that it will come out in North America with a demo of MGS2.

According to Gamespot , Iomega is working on a zip drive for PS2.

And you can now read about impressions of GBA games-such as Chu Chu Rocket and Mario Advance-at Gamespot

I got this interesting mini-article from the March 22 edition of IMDB: "Will Fantasy Be A Wake-up Call To Actors?

Sony/Columbia's Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is likely to send a chilling message to actors that they, too, can be replaced by computers, the London Daily Mirror indicated today (Thursday). The $65-million movie, it noted, is the first to completely replace human actors with computer-generated ones. Japanese producer Jun Aida told the Mirror: "Recreating the natural human facial expressions was the most difficult aspect. ... No one has done this before, so we couldn't hire anyone to show us how. We had to put an extensive amount of effort into developing it." In its report about the film, which is scheduled to open in the U.S. on July 13, the Mirror quoted an unnamed Hollywood insider as saying that the advent of computer-generated actors has been "a worry for all those second-division stars who behave like spoilt brats and piss everyone off. A lot of directors are going to fall in love with these computer actors because they're cheap and reliable." "

According to Gamespot , Nintendo was able to sell 650,000 GBA units. Nintendo plans to ship 400,000 units to Japan by the end of March, and 24 million worldwide by March 2002.

Also, a review of the U.S. DDR is available at Gamespot

The first thing is definitely something you have to post soon, as the contest ends in 3 days.

Harry is giving away 10 tickets for the Akira premiere, as well as an after-party, at AICN . His rules are[And I apologize for any profanities that arose from his rant.] :

"First you have to be able to be at the AMC EMPIRE 25 on Thursday, March 29th, 2001.... a week from Today.

Second, you must write why you deserve to go by yourself without your friends to this premiere and why you will be behaved and cool and not a spaz.

Third, I am able to be bribed by amazingly stunning goodlooks and batting eyelashes. Send your begging writings, your photos, your warped violent anime fantasies and such to: Harry@AintItCool.Com Now!

I will decide in 3 days who the lucky babes and/or bastards are. The winning entries will be made available for your perusal when all is said and done, but the names of the sinners will be protected lest the authorities do their jobs."

Now on to the Asia AICN stuff.

HK: 1) "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" achieved a record-breaking 16 nominations in 15 categories..." The categories include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor(Chow Yun Fat), Best Actress(Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Zhiyi) Best Supporting Actor(Cheng Chen), Best Supporting Actress(Cheng Pei Pei), Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Fight Choreographer, Best Editing, Best Sound Effects, and Best Original Theme Song.

Anime: I don't remember these being posted. But I could be wrong.

1)"Mahou-yugi Padodo" anime

AIC, best known for Tenchi Muyo, and El Hazard has announced their first fully digital animation, "Mahou-yugi Padodo". Character design will be done by manga artist Kiyohiko Azuma (author of Azumanga) and the manga version by Yoshitaka Yoshino is currently serialized in AIC comic Love. It is expected to be a very cute anime series will many merchandising tie-ins in Japan.

2) From César De la luz:

Just to report that Patlabor the mobile police, finally was premiered last Monday 12th. Opening and closing credits and songs in Japanese (except introduction by a narrator), character names remained original, un-edited, good Spanish dubbing. As the soccer fans says "Es un golazo!!!"" (It's a goal!!). Fox Kids in Spanish comments in their FAQ section comment that will premiere in June new episodes of Digimon, but it seems to be the Digimon 02 series.

3) Star Ocean Anime

The consul RPG game Star Ocean is being made into an anime series. The series entitled Star Ocean EX, starting in April on TV Tokyo network.

4) Inu Yasha Movie Coming?

A report fro "Hono" of http://www.sessho-maru.com on alt.fan.r-takahashi claims that an Inu Yasha movie was announced for an early 2002 release.

I got this at AICN

3-23-01---- Manga Releases

From the official press announcements:

From the world famous creator of Astro Boy and Kimba The White Lion Manga Entertainment Presents Osamu Tezuka's

<<...>>

On <<...>> April 24, 2001

The first Feature Film by Tezuka Productions

Chicago, IL - (March 22, 2001) Manga Entertainment is proud to release "Black Jack" on DVD, the first animated feature film based on the acclaimed work of Japan's foremost comic book pioneer, Osamu Tezuka. DVD features include English 5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo audio tracks, as well as a Japanese Stereo audio track with optional English subtitles. The disc will also include Manga Video previews, a Manga DVD catalog, fan club information, Palm Pictures DVD Previews and Weblinks.

As the first Internationally acclaimed manga comic book and Japanese animation artist, Osamu Tezuka deserves his title as Japan's 'God of Comics.' Tezuka first serialized Astro Boy in newspapers and print in 1963. His beloved creation later became Japan's first animated TV series, and was the first works of Japanese animation to break international boundaries by appearing on North American Television. Now, 50 years later, another famous Tezuka creation appears in his first animated theatrical film Black Jack.

Black Jack triggered the comic paperback boom, which currently rules Japan's publishing world. The paperback versions of Black Jack are amazing bestsellers. Ten million copies are now in print and the aggregate number of copies published to date is over 35 million. The Black Jack phenomenon first achieved popularity among fans that read the strip as a magazine insert. Later, teenagers and female office clerks who were wild about psycho-thrillers joined the exploding ranks of avid readers.

Tezuka often draws on the theme of life and death, and in Black Jack, it is the central story. Dr. Black Jack, an unlicensed but extremely successful surgeon, is a lone wolf who makes use of his astounding skills, challenges the limits of medical science, and applies his talent against crime. During the Atlantis Olympics, a new breed of superhumans created by a corrupt scientist, break world records and excel in all disciplines. These genetically engineered superhumans later catch a catastrophic degenerative disease called the 'moira syndrome' and die rapidly.

With the mysterious plague spreading, Dr. Black Jack is called upon by Dr. J. Carole of Brane Pharmaceuticals to discover the cause of this deadly disease. He discovers that superhumans are the product of a new revolutionary drug with deadly side effects called 'Endorph A' which was originally created to be the wonder drug of superiority, but turned into an age advancing virus. Dr. Black Jack himself, contracts the disease and is plunged into a web of "X-Files" type conspiracy, he must race against time to find a cure before it's too late.

BLACKJACK Pre-Book Date: April 5, 2001 Running Time: 90 minutes SRP: $29.95 Selection #: MANGA4018-2 Barcode: 6-60200-4018-2-5

MANGA ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE MASAMUNE SHIROW'S URBAN CRIME FIGHTING MECHA MASTERPIECE

<<...>> ON <<...>> APRIL 24, 2001

Chicago, IL - (March 22, 2001) Based on the successful international comic book series by Masamune Shirow, Manga Entertainment presents a high-octane race against time where the future of a civilization hangs in the balance- Appleseed, on DVD April 24, 2001.

After the devastation of World War III, the scattered governments of the world have engineered a modern utopia - a refuge governed by artificially created half-human, half-robot Biodroids. Life in Olympus is carefully controlled and monitored - and some of their human populations have had enough. A dedicated band of terrorists plot to destroy Gaia, the central computer, and restore freedom to mankind. After a daring raid of a high security facility, they have the weapons and information they need to complete their mission - including the key to the end of Gaia. Will they be stopped before they ruin the dream of paradise?

Appleseed takes us into the explosive world of the Extra Special Weapons and Tactics squad of the Olympus police force, as they battle against those who would destroy their utopia.

Appleseed Street Date: April 24, 2001 Pre-Book Date: April 5, 2001 Running Time: 70 minutes SRP: $24.95 Selection #: MANGA4079-2 Barcode: 6-60200-4079-2-6

DVD features include: English 5.1 Surround and Stereo, Japanese Stereo, English Subtitles, Character Bios, Japanese Production Credits, Manga Video Previews, Fan Club Information, Manga DVD Catalog, Palm Pictures DVD Previews and Weblinks.

3-23-01---- Akira DVD Deluxe Addition Price Raised

The Right Stuf reports Pioneer Entertainment has informed them that they will be raising the price of the Akira DVD Deluxe Edition DVDs from $34.98 to $39.98. The 2 disc set is scheduled for release on 7/3/01 and will contain an entire disc packed full of Akria special features including the Making of Akira, a documentary on the creation of the soundtrack and much more!

3-22-01---- Guardians' Origin Nominations

From the release:

Guardians Of Order, Inc. proudly announced today that the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design has recognized the company's publishing and game design efforts in the year 2000 with seven Origins Award nominations. The number of nominations for Guardians Of Order surpasses those in previous years , and is second only to Wizards of the Coast's eleven nominations. The honoured products include:

Best Role-Playing Game
Big Eyes, Small Mouth Second Edition
Authors: David L. Pulver and Mark C. MacKinnon
Best Role-Playing Supplement
Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies
Authors: Jim Crocker and David L. Pulver

Best Role-Playing Adventure
"So, We Have ... an Obelisk?"
Author: Jesse Scoble

Best Graphic Presentation for a Role-Playing Game
Big Eyes, Small Mouth Second Edition
Art Director: Jeff Mackintosh

Best Graphic Presentation for a Role-Playing Game or Supplement
Tenchi Muyo! Role-Playing Game and Resource Book
Art Director: Jeff Mackintosh

Best Trading Card Game
Sailor Moon Collectible Card Game
Lead Designer: Mark C. MacKinnon for Dart Flipcards, Inc.

Best Graphic Presentation for a Card Game
Sailor Moon Collectible Card Game
Art Director: Jeff Mackintosh for Dart Flipcards, Inc.

For more information about the Origins Awards or the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design, a committee of the Game Manufacturers Association, visit the Academy website at here.

3-23-01---- Akira Theatrical Run Outside New York?

According to Anime On DVD fans wanting Akira to run theatrically at a city near them are encouraged to support the theatrical release in New York City on Friday March 30th at the AMC Empire 25 on 42nd Street in Times Square. Your support will directly influence the upcoming theatrical release plans beyond the New York opening.

AMC EMPIRE 25
234 W. 42ND STREET
TIMES SQUARE
NEW YORK, NY 10036
T 212 398 2597

3-22-01---- Initial D Third Stage Movie Pay Per View Premiere Set

After debuting in Japanese theaters January 10, Initial D Third Stage has been scheduled to make it's Pay Per View TV broadcast premiere in Japan on Sky PerfecTV on May 1. SkyPerfecTV's recently launched all animation network will also be broadcasting the Intial D and Intial D second stage TV series during the golden week (Sat. April 28 - May 5)

3-22-01---- Analog TV To Be Abolished In Japan

The Japanese government aims to totally abolish analog TV broadcasting and switch to digital broadcasting by 2011. This goal is clearly expressed in a proposed amendment to the Radio Law that is to be submitted to the upcoming session of the National Diet. This new amendment is expected to encourage TV stations to upgrade their equipment and consumers to purchase televisions capable of handling the new format. Total digitization is expected to free up some frequencies, which can be allocated to cellular phones which have shorter frequencies.

Source: Nihon Keizai Newspaper, February 8, 2001

Source: Neptune Media

3-22-01---- Movie Town Planned In Japan

Namuko, a leading Japanese game maker, is planning to build a movie town with Nikkatsu and local governments. This town will be centered near motion picture studios and training schools, and also include a movie museum and a movie theater. The general public will be able to enjoy studio tours. They are hoping to build a town that can complete with Hollywood in the future.

Source: Nihon Keizai Newspaper, February 17, 2001

Source: Neptune Media

3-22-01---- Broadband Video Optimization Experiments In Japan

On February 27, Keio University announced that it established a consortium with several companies including Matsushita Electric Industries and Sumitomo Corporation to digitize movies. The consortium will research movie transmission for households through broadband internet and filming with digital equipment. Next year, they plan to produce movies based on research results, and test distribution and transmission. Shochiku and Omega Projects have joined the consortium and more companies are expected to join.

Research topics include a method for a director to direct filming remotely through a computer, a system for viewers to read advertisements that appear in movies and better management of copyright issues.

Source: Nihon Keizai Newspaper, February 27, 2001

Source: Neptune Media

3-22-01---- Toonami Reactor Announced

From the release:

This is an official announcement to all Toonami fans from Cartoon Network! We are preparing to launch a fully functional animation website devoted totally to anime for a three month experiment ONLY! WE NEED YOUR HELP to prove to everyone it can be a success so that it will be brought back PERMANENTLY with more episodes and more features! The Toonami Reactor will go live Monday, March 26 at http://cartoonnetwork.com/TOONAMI/reactor/. A preview is available at this URL now.

Help us prove full animation and anime has a place on the web by making this three month experiment a hit! Post this announcement anywhere where people would be interested and tell all the fans to check it out starting Monday!
We welcome your feedback at ToonamiReactor@turner.com.

CartoonNetwork.com officially announces the construction of the Reactor. Enter the Reactor and prepare to experience Toonami in a whole new way. Created to provide an exceptional experience on your broadband (high-speed) connection, Toonami Reactor offers the best action animation on the Web. Inside the Reactor you'll discover exclusive games, character profiles and reviews. Watch your favorite shows. Answer mind-bending trivia questions. See your opinions transmitted alongside your favorite episodes. Who knows? Maybe you'll even battle Frieza for the future of Planet Namek. With Reactor you'll play four new games, uncover classified information from the editors of Animerica magazine, watch 40 episodes of Dragonball Z (the Frieza Saga) and 26 episodes of the anime masterpiece Star Blazers. And that's only the beginning. If you like what you see, tell us. You can help make Reactor a permanent addition to the Toonami universe. Reactor goes live for three months starting March 26, 2001. Reactor...Toonami to the core. Click here for a preview of the Reactor http://cartoonnetwork.com/TOONAMI/reactor/

3-22-01---- i-Mode To Open Services

An interesting article in today's Daily Yomiuri here on NTT DoCoMo's plans to open its i-mode Internet communication service network for cellular phones to other telecommunication operators by the spring of 2003.

3-22-01---- DVD News

Anime On DVD reports The Right Stuf now posts a 8/28 release date for Tylor, Irresponsible Captain OVA DVD Series Set 1-3. This will be another box set with three discs retailing for $89.95. Total running time is 360 minutes.

CLAMP's animated adaptation of RD Vega will be released on DVD by Central Park Media on 8/14 for $29.99

Nutech's 13 disc release of Armored Trooper Votoms has a new upped price from 19.95 to 29.95 subtitles will be hard subtitles, which means no turning them off as they will be burned into the print.

Diamond Comics Previews have been updated for April with June releases:

Ranma 1/2 TV Vol. #2
Akira (standard and SE)
Arc the Lad Vol. #2
Blue Seed Vol. #2
Crest of the Stars Vol. #3
Elf Princess Rane
Fencer of Minerva
Generator Gawl Vol. #4
Gundam MS 08 Vol. #1
Gundam Wing Vol. #8
Gundam Wing Vol. #9
Hades Project: Zeorymer Vol. #2 (and a box set for both)
Jungle De Ikou
Metal Fighter Miku
Nadia: Secret of Bluewater Vol. #1
Nightwalker Vol. #2
Neon Genesis Evangelion Vol. #8
Original Dirty Pair Vol. #1
Rurouni Kenshin Vol. #9
Sorcerer Hunters Vol. #2
Sailor Moon S TV Collection 3
Pure Love
Tales Trilogy Compilation

More details on Urban Vision's DVD release of Twilight of the Dark Master. It will feature footage of the Animation Director/Character Designer at work. Hisashi Abe, the Animation Director and Character Designer, created cover art exclusively for Urban Vision's DVD release of Twilight of the Dark Master. The video footage of his creation was shot this February at MADHOUSE and sent directly to Urban Visions afterwards.

Outlaw Star 'Gene Starwind' Interview Source: Anime News Network OutlawStar.Org has posted an excellent interview with Robert Buchholz, the English voice of Gene Starwind, about his experiences dubbing Outlaw Star and more. A very good and interesting look at the English Dubbing process.

3-21-01---- Misc. Gaming / Asia Cinema News

Thanks to Daniel for the following:

Euro-AICN (http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=8461 ) it's rumoured that Tsui Hark might be directing an Ultraman Movie.

You can see more media of Zelda: Oracle of Ages at this link and Zelda: Oracle of seasons at this link. Both games are expected to be released here (the U.S.) in May.

According to Gamespot, GBA will be in Europe on June 22.

Gamespot mentions that Sega has put Hideki Sato in the position of president.

You can find new pictures and details of PSO version 2 at this location.

And finally, a preview of the Japanese GBA unit can be found at Gamespot.

3-21-01---- New Animeigo Releases

From the press release:

AnimEigo New Release Bulletin April, May and June 2001 Release Please add the following titles to all listings, new release bulletins and purchasing systems.

Urusei Yatsura TV Series Volume 2 (Episodes 5-8) DVD Ataru runs away from home, and into the arms of Sakura, a Shinto sorceress. Alas, Sakura has her own agenda; The boys of Tomobiki High School suddenly become accident-prone when Sakura takes a job as School Nurse; Ataru tries to make a secret date with Shinobu and sneak around on Lum; A midnight mishap with mirrors unleashes an annoying devil, and Cherry's attempts at exorcism only multiply the problem; Ataru insulates himself from Lum's electric zaps, resulting in unexpected consequences; Lum starts playing around with alien voodoo dolls; Oyuki, Princess of Neptune, opens an interdimensional portal into Ataru's closet to dispose of excess snow; and when Ataru "flies the unfriendly skies," a midair mishap grounds the gang in the age of the Dinosaurs!

AV000-102 * Urusei Yatsura TV Series Volume 2 (Episodes 5-8) * DVD * 100 min $24.95 * Subtitled in English with Japanese Language * UPC 7-37187-00323-3 ISBN 1-56567-278-X * Prebook 4/13/01 * Street 4/24/01

Vampire Princess Miyu Volume 1 DVD (Unearthly Kyoto and Banquet of Marionettes) Vampire Princess Miyu. Is she friend or fiend? As the demonic forces of the Shinma strive to obtain a foothold upon the mortal plane, spiritualist Himiko seeks the truth. Join us now for two elegantly chilling journeys into the Occult - Japanese style! In "Unearthly Kyoto" Himiko travels to the ancient capital of Japan to exorcise a slumbering child, only to be confronted with a wave of vampire attacks. Here she meets the mysterious, childlike Miyu and her silent, enigmatic companion. Is Miyu behind the attacks? Or does she, too, seek the real culprit? And if so, why? In "A Banquet of Marionettes," Himiko is hired to investigate several mysterious disappearances at a school. At the site of each, a strange doll has been found. Here she again meets Miyu, now apparently a student. Miyu has designs on the body, and perhaps the soul, of the school hero, Kei. But so, it seems, does another...

AV201-070 * Vampire Princess Miyu Volume 1 (Unearthly Kyoto and Banquet of Marionettes) DVD * Dubbed in English * Subtitled in English with Japanese Language * 50 min * $24.95 UPC 7-37187-00361-5 * ISBN 1-56567-312-3 * Prebook 5/1/01 * Street 5/29/01

BAOH DVD BAOH MUST LIVE! A secret organization called "Doress" has funded the development of a genetically engineered parasite code-named "BAOH." Organisms infected by BAOH become living survival machines, virtually indestructible, able to mutate their body structure to meet any threat. Properly controlled, the BAOH parasite could all Doress to control the World. BAOH MUST DIE! Unfortunately, their first human guinea-pig, a young man named Hasizawa Ikuroo, has managed to escape, along with a young girl Sumire, who has a strange precognitive gift. Unless Doress operatives can find and destroy Ikuroo before the BAOH parasite fully manifests, their evil dream will become naught. But BAOH, comfortably hiding in Ikuroo's brain, won't make it easy.

AV200-062 * BAOH * DVD * Dubbed in English * Subtitled in English with Japanese Language * 50 min * $24.95 * UPC 7-37187-00338-7 * ISBN 1-56567-289-5 Prebook 5/1/01 * Street 5/29/01

Vampire Princess Miyu Volume 2 DVD (Fragile Armor and Frozen Time) When spiritualist Himiko continues her pursuit of Miyu, Princess of the Vampires, she does not have to look far. For Miyu comes to Himiko, and offers her a bargain -- the truth about herself, in return for Himiko's assistance in her battle against the demonic Shinma. Join us now for the conclusion of our journey into the Occult -- Japanese style! In "Fragile Armor," Himiko agrees to help Miyu defeat a ghastly armored monster. In return, Miyu tells the tale of how she met Larva, her silent companion. Later, Himiko learns of the tragic fate of a husband and wife. Meanwhile, a beautiful young man with a ghastly laugh circles and waits. Who is he? What is the secret of the Armor? And what of the Shinma? Can Himiko put the pieces of the puzzle together in time? In "Frozen Time," Himiko travels to Kamakura, a childhood home. There, she dreams of herself as a child, running in terror from a mysterious mansion. Now the mansion has a new tenant: Miyu. Miyu at last tells all -- of her discovery of her true nature after her first meeting with Larva, of the secret concealed by Miyu's parents, and of the night that Darkness and Shinma gathered together. And, finally, Himiko realizes what it is that has bound her destiny together with Miyu's...forever!

AV201-071 * Vampire Princess Miyu Volume 2 Fragile Armor and Frozen Time * DVD 55 min * $24.95 * Dubbed in English * Subtitled in English with Japanese Language UPC 7-37187-00362-2 * ISBN 1-56567-313-1 * Prebook 5/29/01 * Street 6/26/01

Urusei Yatsura TV Series Volume 3 DVD (Episodes 9-12) Princess Kurama is awoken by the kiss of her future husband...but her Prince Charming is Ataru; Making the best of things, Kurama decides to remake Ataru into a perfect husband, even if it kills him; Megane plots to discredit Ataru with Lum, and set him up for the Mother of All Zappings; In a hilarious parody of the world's first Novel, "The Tale of Genji," we go back to Heian period Japan, where pre-incarnations of everyone battle baby-nappers from the future, and time gets royally screwed up; Tsubame, Sakura's fiancee and aspiring black magician, matches wits with Cherry and turns a nightclub into "Disco Inferno"; and Kurama's dad agrees to teach Ataru, the secret of swordsmanship - if Ataru will teach him about babes!

AV000-103 * Urusei Yatsura TV Series Volume 3 (Episodes 9-12) * DVD * 100 min $24.95 * Subtitled in English with Japanese Language * UPC 7-37187-00324-0 ISBN 1-56567-279-8 * Prebook 5/29/01 * Street 6/26/01

3-21-01---- New ADV Releases

From the release:

ADV Films Announces DVD Releases Of Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040: Blood & Steel

ADV Films is proud to announce the upcoming DVD addition to one of the greatest anime series to come out of Japan, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040.

Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040: Blood & Steel DVD Tokyo becomes a killing field as a living wave of bio-organic metal sweeps through the city like the hands of a mad god! As Galatea's power continues to grow, the Knight Sabers must join with the remnants of the A.D. Police in a desperate battle to stop the boomer onslaught. But will even their combined forces be enough when the boomers outnumber the humans by a million to one? An all-new series of HARDsuits with spectacularly advanced capabilities may be mankind's only hope, but the new technology is untested and potentially lethal.

Watch the shelves this May, when ADV Films continues this exclusive anime series on DVD with Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040: Blood & Steel. This remarkable DVD includes the original Japanese version with English subtitles, plus the English and Spanish versions of the following episodes: "Moving Waves," "We Built This City," One of These Nights" and "Close to the Edge." Don't miss out as human flesh and liquid metal meld to form the ultimate fighting machine in this explosive collection of Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 on DVD.

The complete Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 series is now available on VHS, through the ADV Films product catalog.

ADV Films, the premiere label of A.D.Vision, Inc. formed in 1992, is North America's #1 distributor of top-of-the-line Japanese animation ("anime"), with titles such as Sailor Moon, Samurai X and Neon Genesis Evangelion. ADV Films, along with distributing top-quality, computer-animated titles such as ReBoot® and Shadowraiders(tm), and science fiction hits like Farscape(tm), also produces American and Japanese live-action programming for theatrical and broadcast release. Check out ADV Films on the web at www.advfilms.com .

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040: Blood & Steel Running Time: 125 minutes; Age Rating: 15+

Pre-Book Date: 04/17/01 Street Date: 5/15/01

Format SRP DVD (multilingual) $29.98

3-21-01---- Manga Partners With Pathe To Distribute DVD's In French

From the official release

MANGA ENTERTAINMENT INKS DISTRIBUTION DEAL WITH PATHÉ TO RELEASE FRENCH LANGUAGE DVDS AND VHS'

Chicago, IL - Further expanding Japanese animation into a worldwide market, Manga Entertainment announces today their video distribution deal with Parisian-based entertainment company Pathé. Pathé will dub Manga's Japanese animated DVD and VHS films into French and distribute them to French territories and French speaking countries worldwide including: France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Africa.

Manga President, Marvin Gleicher and Pathé Distribution Director of Development, Abel Nahmias made the deal. "Pathé is very excited to work with Manga Entertainment; their expertise in the Japanese market is very valuable to us," says Nahmias. "Marvin has been a great help and support to help us building new grounds for Japanese animation in our territory."

In addition to video distribution, Pathé manages a library of movie rights and produce films for their theatrical and television divisions. Pathé runs their own television network, distribute films to other stations, and operate over 280 movie theatres in Europe. Notably the most successful entertainment company in Europe for over 100 years, Pathé's commitment to the rival of the movie industry has rapidly expanded into digital pay-TV, holding them in an original position in the European audio/visual entertainment market.

"Pathé is the best run entertainment company in Europe and we are extremely pleased that Manga is in such great hands," stated Gleicher. "Abel Nahmais' and Pathé's understanding and enthusiasm of our genre' will propel Japanese animation to new levels."

Manga Entertainment is a Chicago, London and Tokyo-based film and home video company specializing in the international production, distribution and marketing of Japanese animation (anime), international animation, independent films, DVDs and home videos. Manga's Chicago office also oversees theatrical distribution, television licensing and merchandising, and is now the worldwide headquarters for international operations.

3-21-01---- Angel's Egg Japanese DVD Release

In Japan, Tokuma Shoten and Pioneer LDC are gearing up to unleash Mamoru Oshii's dark (or "comedic") opus, Angel's Egg, which features character designs by VHD / FF designs veteran, Yoshitaka Amano. The 71 minute disc will arrive in stores on 4/25, retailing at 5800 Yen. A new video telecine master has been created under the supervision of director, Oshii-sensei and exported onto this release. Featured are: a "16:9 SQUEEZE collection", promotional material including info on the making of the new telecine, original monaural voice collection, Amano still image gallery, jacket back folds out into pinup poster and a 4 page color booklet is also added.

3-21-01---- Figure News

Figures has details and an image on Kaiyodo's Fist of the North Star Shin figure, due in June. The figure will feature multiple points of articulation, the figure also includes a variant head and hands, as well asa removable cape.

3-21-01---- More Ayanami Birthday CD News

UMJAMS Anime News is reporting: The King Records site looking for the cover of the Birthday Of Rei Ayanami CD and found some more info. This site has a picture of the CD's cover, as well they have included a 56k and 28k demo of what you can expect on the new soundtrack. They have chosen one of the new remixes of the opening as the demo.

3-21-01---- Akira Contest

Pioneer's new Akira site is running a contest with a prize of tickets to the New York premiere of the film.

3-21-01---- Wizard Showcases Classic Anime

UMJAMS Anime News reports: According to this Wizard #116 hits on Wednesday, March 28. Included therein: All new, original, and specially commissioned art exclusive to Wizard from Alex Ross, Steve Skroce, Christian Gossett, Michael Turner, Joseph Michael Linsner and Dan Fraga. The Alex Ross work seem is a painting of "G-Force", and the Joseph Michael Linsner one is of Speed Racer". Given the two works, the theme seems to be classic anime.

3-21-01---- FUNimation Revelations

Anime Nation is running the following:

We've received some interesting but very tentative details on Funimation's plans for Dragonball, Blue Gender and Yu Yu Hakusho.

Beginning with the Dragonball Z "World Tournament saga," which premiers on home video in May, the DBZ home video releases will be simultaneously released on VHS and DVD. Episodes 14-19 of original Dragonball will hit home video sometime in June. August is set as the tentative release date for Dragonball Z movie 4, and movie 5 is currently scheduled for release in October.

Blue Gender will come to home video on VHS and DVD in late June, in an uncut version only. The Yu Yu Hakusho TV series will be debut on home video early this fall (September or October most likely) on VHS and DVD in TV edit and uncut versions.

We'd like to emphasize again that this is official, but tentative information and very subject to change.

3-21-01---- Fans Asked To Choose New Goku Voice

FUNimation is allowing fans to choose the new English voice of Goku in their upcoming productions of Dragonball Z.

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