Anime News Service - August 14-19 Anime News
8-19-99---- Weekend Late Nights
Are Primetime For Anime On TV
Increasingly, while the majortiy of Americans are snoring
away in the wee hours of the morning on Friday and Saturday Nights, a growing number are
finding reasons to stay up and watch Anime! Anime, Late Nights and Weekends are a winning
combination for Cable and Satelite channels and aparently viewers as well. *Encore's Pay-
Per-View Action channel shows Anime Weekly on Saturday Nights At Midnight ET/PT. They
have a large selection of Movies from ADV and Urban Vision and plan on building on they're
current library. If you want to see new high quality Japanese Animation in it's original form you
should definetly check it out if you're able to.
*Showtime has been showing uncut Anime like
Wrath Of The Ninja and Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (Actually (even though unrated)
this has been quite substantially edited from the Japanese version, original music was replaced
with KMFDM and Silverchair tunes for example and A Chun Li Shower scene was cut out, but as
far as being shown as it was released on video here it would pass.) and you don't even have to
wait till the wee hours of the morning or weekends for anime here (I saw saw Wrath Of The Ninja
on a few weeks ago in the afternoon.) so just check the schedule.
* Sci-Fi Channel shows a great (although
edited) selection of Anime Movies (Arimitage III, Galaxy Express 999 ) and OAV's (Iria, Lodoss
War) weekly, Late Saturday Sights/ Early Sunday Mornings at 3:00 AM ET. Ocasionally they
even do a special on Anime, look for these too.
*Cartoon Network: You can catch the
Toonami Midnight Run on Saturday nights at Midnight. It has DragonBall Z (twice), Sailor Moon
(twice), Robotech, Voltron, and Thundercats (half anime). Cartoon Network runs a repeat of it's
weekday Toonami Afternoon Lineup at nights, you can look for Dragon Ball around 1 AM ET.
Also you can usually find Speedracer On around 4 AM ET.
*TNT/TBS/HBO: Although it's
been awhile TNT and TBS from time to time run anime movies like Robot Carnival and Vampire
Hunter D in the wee hours of the morning, its rare but look for it. Then for half credit you can
always check out Spawn on HBO, new episodes air Friday Nights at Midnight ET. I say half
because Spawn is produced by Japanese Studio Madhouse (Vampire Hunter D, Vampire Hunter
D 2) and directed/ written by creator Todd Mcfarlane.
8-19-99---- Anime Sweepstakes &
Contests
Want to win Free Anime stuff? Check out these links (If you know of
additional contests, E-mail me the link at newtypex@prodigy.net and I'll post them.):
*Anime Nation: Is giving away some free anime stuff in they're new contest.
*RightStuf International: Win a $300 Japnese
Sword + Ninja Resurection videos.
* Pioneer: Win Nintendo 64
Console, DVD player, Home Theater System, Pokemon Stuff.
*Sega: (18+) Win a trip to New York City, invitation
to the Official Sega Dreamcast Launch party, invitation to the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards,
$500 Cash, A Limo to take you to these events, A Dreamcast and Dreamcast games. 8-
19-99---- Quick Links / Bytes
*Sidewalk Entertainment News Has a
story on Nikelodeon a cartoon, "Sponge Bob Sponge Pants" Surpassing Pokemon in Ratings for
viewers aged 2-11 on Saturday Mornings.
*C-NET's Game
Center Has gathered a pile of Pokemon links+info click the link & check it out.
*IGN has some new info on the upcoming
Resident Evil Movie. 8-19-99---- Anime DVD News
Greg Nyman writes in with word
that Urban Vision saying that DNA Sights 999.9 will not be coming out on DVD since they paid a
lot for the license, and it has not sold well at all. The Cockpit will be on DVD, but it may be
released a bit after the tape version. Gatchaman (the new version they have) will not be out on
DVD as the rights are very complicated. Final Fantasy has a very good chance of coming out on
DVD. Also Tekkaman will not be out on DVD as Saban has some rights to it. *Story from http://www.animeondvd.com/
8-19-99---- G-Savior
Update
Almost a year ago, we told you about G-Savior, Sunrise's live action/computer-graphics movie in
development. Not much was known about it except a couple scenes out of a New York space
habitat and invading Zaku forces. The rest of the effects sequences and composition were
unknown.
Well, we've seen more of it now, and it looks fine. The animators are using Lightwave to create
the space scenes and mobile suit battles, and those look pretty good. Imagine Voyager-level
space sequences with Gundams and Zakus blowing each other to pieces, and you've got a
pretty good idea of what it's going to look like. Watch for a TV premiere sometime in late 99 or
early 2000.
*Original Story, Images and A Streaming Video Clip (Real Media) Can Be Seen here: http://scifi.ign.com/news/2189.html
8-18-99---- Interview: Encore's Plans To Show Anime Features
Go inside Encore
Media, they're outlook on Anime as a popular entertainment product and they're plans to feature
Anime on they're Pay-Per-View Encore Action channel with Isaac Alexander. A very insightful
interview, go check it out: Here 8-18-99---- Satoshi
Kon Interview
Anime Online has conducted a wonderfully enlightning 4 page Interview with
Perfect Blue Director Satoshi Kon. You can read it at: http://animeonline.org/news/aon_perf
ectblue.shtml. 8-18-99---- Mononoke Hime's Showing At The San Diego Comic
Con
This weekend a lengthy and really interesting review of the Mononoke Hime was
written up by Adam Tierney. It details some changes made in the English Dub dialogue, but
maintains the film is visiually intact. The writeup also chronicles goings on with the Voice Actors
and the writer Neil Gaiman and other happenings at the Con. You can read it here at: Aint-It-Cool-News. 8-
18-99---- Yoshitaka Amano / Sandman Update
Yoshitaka Amano was on hand over the weekend at the Los Angeles Comic-con to speak about
his work on the upcoming graphic novel The Sandman: The Dream Hunters. Amano is known for
his work on SquareSoft's Final Fantasy I - VI games.
Coming in at 136 pages, The Sandman: The Dream Hunters will feature full-page paintings from
Amano. It will also contain an eight-page gatefold from the artist.
The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (suggested for mature readers) should arrive in comic-book
stores on October 27, at a suggested retail price of US$29.95. *Story from: Gamespot.Com
[Includes images]
8-18-99---- Pokemon Denounced As Satan's Work
Madcap minister Mark Juvera, full of holy vitriol and smouldering with the righteous fires of
heaven, burnt Pokémon trading cards and whacked a Pokémon action figure with a 30 inch
sword in front of 85 incensed children at the Grace Fellowship Church, Colorado recently.
Following the crazed assault on the Nintendo products, Juvera's 9 year-old son ripped the limbs
and head of a Pokémon doll. During the frenzied outburst, the massed pre-pubescent
congregation screamed, "Burn it, burn it" and, "Chop it up, chop it up". The pastor continually
affirmed to the children of the evil undercurrents associated with the franchise.
Nintendo's PR manager Beth Llewellyn was as mystified as the rest of the gaming world. "We've
only heard good things, very... positive things about Pokémon,'' she told the Denver Post
Southern Colorado Bureau. "We get volumes and volumes of letters from parents and kids about
how wonderful they think Pokémon is. They say, 'My kids are now reading because they want to
read all they can about Pokémon.' It's a universally positive experience.''
Mark Cowart, pastor of the 1,500-member, nondenominational church, said he was alerted to the
evil of Pokémon whilst driving with his children. According to the Colorado publication, he heard
them in the back seat of the car talking about "Abra'' and "Cadabra,'' and his "antenna went up''.
"It's got sugar coating on it, but underneath, it's poison,'' howled Cowart. He continued, saying
the sword was used in the demonstration because the Bible teaches that the "way you come
down against the powers of darkness is with the sword of the spirit. We don't do things just for
the sake of being sensational like the World Federation of Wrestling.''
*Story from: Fastest Gaming News Online
8-18-99---- Pokemon Jet
ANA (All Nippon Airways) is enjoying enormous sucess (and profits, with an increase in yeild of
over 2 billion yen since they're introduction) with it's addition of "Pokemon Jets" whose bodies,
engines, tail and wings are painted with characters from the super popular Nintendo video game,
Anime and Manga. Passengers on the jets are welcomed aboard by cabin attendants with
Pokemon aprons and sit in seats with Pokemon designs on the covers. ANA is so impressed with
the jets sucess that they plan to add 3 more "Pokemon Jets" to the current fleet of 3 in the
coming year. At least 1 "Poke-Jet" is now transiting to New York. The design for the most
recently comissoned Pokemon Jet was selected by Japanese elementary school students. Go
check out the
ANA Official Pokemon Jet Page
(Japanese).
8-17-99---- New Series *Rumors*
Rumors on a number of new anime TV series and
Movies are circulating, they include a possible new Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Series or Movie
(Sailor Moon is still very popular in Japan, and even more so worldwide). With the first series
wildly successful, a second Berserk TV series is almost certain to materialize. (And I can forsee
the first series being picked up stateside if it already has'nt been.) Also there's the rumored 4th
(or 5th if you count Lost Universe) Slayers TV series, this is pretty sure to come to fruition also, it
could likely happen in spring 2000, and may feature the regular Slayers TV cast with an addition
of Naga! 8-17-99---- JAF-CON 8
JAF-CON is one of the 3 biggest events in summer
(COMICKET, WONDER-FEST, JAF-CON) for Otaku. Held at Tokyo Bigsight, professional and novice Garage Kit
enthusiasts alike gathered in Tokyo July 20th for the convention which is sponsored by Hobby Japan. An excellent site with pictures and a review of
the event can be seen here: JAF-CON 8 REPORT
8-17-99---- Pokemon 2 To Meet Expectations
Pocket Monsters 2 Revelation Lugia, has been showing in Japanese theaters for exactly a
month. The film is likely to earn more than 3 billion yen ($ 26.3 million dollars) in its distribution
profit.
8-17-99---- Spriggan
Ever since the official announcement at A-kon word is getting
around that ADV has big plans for it's US theatrical release of Spriggan The Motion Picture
slated for Spring or Summer 2000 release. Supposedly the film will get a "mainstream" scale
(1000 theaters+) wide release here in the U.S. on the scale of Mononoke Hime or larger.
Originally released in Japan in September '98 Spriggan is based on the Spriggan Manga by
writer Hiroshi Takashige, and art by Ryoji Minagawa (released in the US and Europe as Striker).
Specifically the story of the Movie is based on the Spriggan manga volume: "Noah's Ark" which
was originally serialized for 7 years from 1989 to 1996. (with sells over 6 million copies)
The
director of the film is Mr. Kawasaki (He also directed Stink bomb, the second story in Memories.)
The chief editor is a very familiar name in the US: Katsuhiro Ohtomo director of Akira (Supervisor
of Perfect Blue, and also returned to the directors chair on his first film since Akira on Memories
final story: Cannon Fodder, his new project: Steam Boy is supposedly loosly based that story
and is currently in production.)
The story of the Spriggan movie centers on Yu Ominae, 17
years old and leader of the super secret strike force: Arkam. Spriggan is a code name assigned
to agents of Arkam. They're equiped with special battle armor called AM suits which grant the
wearer 30 times the power of a normal man due to "spirit reactive metal fibers" which reinforce
artificial muscles in the armor. The Arkam foundation's mission is to keep imense power locked
in remaining ruins left by a ancient super advanced civilization sealed away out of the reach of
the U.S. military, who is seeking to use and exlpoit such a great power for war purposes. Upon
Arkam's discovery of "Noah's Ark" (A weather controling monument left from this ancient
civilization.) on Mt. Ararat in Turkey, A US Cyborg Platoon led by a boy named McDougall is sent
out to attack the Arkam research team. The boy is an "Esper", a super psychic to the nth degree
(Mcdougall's character really reminds of one of the super psychic kids in Akira for some reason.),
A Giant Cyborg about the size of 2 or three regular men with a cybernetic limb for which he has a
Vulcan Cannon atachment and a little guy who jumps around and has razor sharp fishing lines
which he can cast out and slice things in half with. Though originally sent out by the US, the
Cyborg Army's plan is to betray the US and destroy mankind.
Yu faces ambush on almost every leg of his journey to Ararat, battles the Cyborg Army with help
from French Spriggan Gin and finally McDougall.
8-17-99---- Mononoke Hime Piercing The American Mainstream
Princess Mononoke,
still scheduled for a nationwide October 29th release is begining to appear In the mainstream
American news and entertainment media, with both favorable and not so favorable reviews.
The August '99 20/27 double issue of Entertainment Weekly issue No. 499/500, as part of its
1999 Fall Movie Preview, the magazine briefly and unfavourably mentions Princess Mononoke.
August 6th, Princess Mononoke made a brief appearence on Entertainment Tonight. The
hour-long weekend show featured the film on its "ET First" segment. The segment described the
film as "the first to break the $150,000 mark in Japan".
The ET review was fairly positive for
the most part, it's going to be interesting to see how Mononoke and it's impact on mainstream
American popculture plays in the press in the coming months, especailly considering the number
of times I've heard some people refer to this film's nationwide theatrical release as "The Event
That Could Make Anime Mainstream".
8-16-99---- Pokemon Comic #1 In America
Viz Comics' Pokemon series is the best-
selling comic in America. Totaling ongoing sales from comic stores, newsstands, and other
retailers, each issue of Pokemon sells more copies than any other U.S. comic published In June.
This is the first time that a manga, a black & white comic, and Viz, America's 5th largest comic
publisher, has been #1.
Viz's first Pokemon issue (Pokemon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu #1)in November '98 sold out
immediately. Viz has published 9 printings in thepast 9 months, selling a total of over 300,000
copies, with no end in sight. The first printings of The Electric Tale of Pikachu #1 are ranked by
Wizard magazine (June '99) as the most collectible comic in America. The next 10 issues have
continued this trend, with a total of over 2 million comics incirculation.
8-16-99---- Manga Forges Alliance With Sputnik7.com
Sputnik7.com, an
entertainment-based online destination supporting independent music, film and culture,
announced at the preview presentation of "Perfect Blue," the latest release from Manga
Entertainment, that they will be adding Anime films as part of its content strategy in September.
"People who enjoy anime will enjoy everything sputnik7.com has to offer, " said David Beal, CEO
of sputnik7.com. "Along with our indie music and film content, we're catering to the needs of a
very specific group -- an audience that respects and enjoys indie culture. As the site grows, we
will focusmore on this lifestyle to create the premier online community for like-minded people
with an independent spirit."
Marvin Gleicher, President and CEO for Manga Entertainment comments: "The Internet is the
ultimate tool to reach anime enthusiasts. The sheer interactive nature of sputnik7.com is a
perfect match for Manga fans. The site is an immediate outlet for us to offer our consumers
sneak peaks of upcoming Manga films, movie trailers, and clips from our DVD and home
videolibrary."
8-16-99---- Wonder Festival
The Tokyo Wonder Festival was held last weeek. It's a major garage kit convention and was held
at Tokyo Big Site near Tokyo Bay.
1300 groups and more than 30,000 people gathered to enjoy the festival which is held twice a
year in the spring and summer.
8-15-99---- New OAV's In Japan
*Masami Obari (Fatal Fury) has a new
Action/Fantasy OAV series on the way titled Dangizer 3.
*Satoru Akihori (Saber Marionettes)
has a new OAV series titled Chivas 1-2-3. 8-15-99---- Weekend Movie
Releases
Over the weekend in Japan the highly anticipated Shojo Kakumei Utena (La
Fillete Revolution Utena) Movie was released, from early reviews I've heard that it's really good
and definetly more mature in theme than the TV series. The same day Cyber Team In Akihabara
also appeared in theaters, and was also well received by fans.
8-15-99---- Ghibli Museum
A museum dedicated to Studio Ghibli is currently under construction in Tokyo's Inokashira Park.
The popular animator Hayao Miyazaki is a leading designer of the 4,000 square-meter, 3 billion
yen museum. Studio Ghibli once stood near this park in which Miyazaki reportedly often took a
walk. 
A number of Anime films are being produced
specifically for the museum including a short sequal to the 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari
no Totoro). The current issue of Animage reports that it is one of three such shorts being made
for exclusive show there when it opens in 2001. The film will be a follow-up of Totoro tentatively
entitled "Mei and the Kittenbus". The project is slated to be only 10 minutes long, however, it's
well known that other Miyazaki projects have started out like this and ended up feature length
animation films.
8-14-99---- Final Volume of Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS Team
The last episode of MS Gundam 08th Team OVA did not reveal the fate of the main characters
Shiro and Aina. This special
OVA was released July 25th from BANDAI VISUAL, with episodes
that attempt to tie up loose ends and follow upthe unclear ending.
Migel retires from the federation army when the war is over,
and goes onto a jouney with Kiki, to find out whether shiro is
alive or not. They get into a jungle and meet the villegers who
know Shiro.
The characters are designed by the illustrater, Toshihiro
Kawamoto, who is currently very popular for his character design
for "Cowboy Bebop." 8-14-99---- Final Fantasy Movie Trailer
Gamespot
News has trailer footage for the upcoming Final Fantasy movie available for download.
8-14-99---- Cardcaptor Sakura On It's Way To North America
TORONTO, Aug. 12 /CNW/ - NELVANA LIMITED
today announced the acquisition of North American TV distribution and
merchandise licensing rights to the 70-episode Japanese animation series,
Cardcaptor.
The series, produced by Kodansha, one of Japan's leading book and
multi-media publishers, is a high-quality half-hour adventure program targeted
at the U.S. $1.5 billion youth market of girls aged six to 11. The series is
now airing on Japan's public television network, NHK.
Under the terms of the agreement, Nelvana will serve as the North
American television and home video distributor and merchandise licensing agent
for the series. Nelvana will retain 100 percent of all broadcast license fees,
and will act as U.S. and Canadian merchandise licensing agent for the
property, retaining a full license fee and expenses. Financial terms of the
acquisition remain confidential.
The agreement is the latest example of Nelvana's ongoing strategy to
expand its global distribution partners, extend its demographic reach and
accelerate growth in the Company's merchandising business through the
acquisition of high-profile character brands with strong growth potential.
Michael Hirsh, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Nelvana Limited said:
``Cardcaptor has all the elements of a highly-visible and successful
merchandising brand. Nelvana believes the series promises to generate
substantial ancillary revenue from related game products. Like Pokemon,
Cardcaptor is filled with an unlimited cast of collectible card, toy and
magazine characters that appeal to children and pre-teens. We are optimistic
the series has strong potential to build our merchandising revenues and
profits.''
Each Cardcaptor episode follows the lead character, a precocious young
girl who discovers a powerful and ominous deck of 70 playing cards in her
dusty cellar. When she opens the deck, the cards are unleashed on the world.
With the help of Kero, the card master and able assistant who comes to life
from the deck, the young moppet is swept up in a flurry of action and
adventure as she gains extraordinary powers to capture each card.
Nelvana's acquisition of Cardcaptor is the Company's first foray into the
exciting world of ``Anime'' (Japanese for animation), which has generated such
well-received and profitable productions as Pokemon and Sailor Moon.
Nelvana is an integrated family entertainment company, focused on
building, acquiring and managing quality classic and contemporary character
brands for television and feature film production, distribution, merchandising
and publishing. Based in Toronto, the Company's production facilities are
among the largest in Canada. Sales offices are located in Los Angeles, London,
Paris, Tokyo and Shannon, Ireland. Nelvana's family of popular properties
includes such well-known characters as: Franklin, Little Bear, Babar, Rolie
Polie Olie, Rupert and Donkey Kong.
8-13-99---- Tokyo Special Effects Convention
From August 4th to the 9th, a talk show by the special effect
program producers was held at Tokyo Shinjuku Loft Plus One.
The theme of each discussion and the guests were the following.
4th: Theme - From Mirai Ninja to "Tao no Tsuki." And "Mikazuki?"
Guests - Director Keita Amemiya, actor Yukijiro Hotaru,
designer Katsuya Terada, etc.
* Keita Amemiya is famous for his creation, "Iria." His
next project is "Mikazuki," the robot special effect
piece. 2 billion yen was put into its production.
5th: Theme - Creators of "Gojira (Gozzila)" movies
Guests - Scriptor Ayumii Mimura, scriptor Hiroshi
Kashiwabara, etc.
* Influenced by the Hollywood's "Gozzila," Japanese Gojira
will be in the new episode. The talk was a report from
its production team.
6th: Theme - Our "Gamera" Is On Who's Side?
Guests - Director Noriaki Yuasa, Actor Chikara Hasimoto,
Designer Hideo Okamoto, etc.
* "Gamera" has been revived in the 90's and gaining a
great popularity. The discussion went deep into the
first "Gamera" in the 60's.
7th: Theme - Good Bye "Gaia"! Ultra Scriptors' Gathering
Guests - Scriptor Chiaki Konaka, Scriptor Keichi Hasegawa,
etc.
* The Talk by the scriptors of The latest "Ultra Man"
series, "Ultra Man Gaia"
8th: Theme - The successors of "Ultra" Special Effect
* As the generation becomes yonger in the special
effect industry, CG and SFX productions changes
8-13-99---- New Fall TV
Season
The upcoming Fall Japanese TV season is begining to take shape. Some new
shows to look out for are: Sorcerous Stabber Orphen Revenge Second Orphen TV
series starts in October.
Dai Gard Starts October 5th.
Lebiath Starts
October 6.
THE BIG O Starts October 13th.
Ima Sokoniiru Boku Starts
October 14th
TV Series Continuing:
EDENs BOwY
BETTER MAN
Starship Girl YAMAMOTO YOHKO
Gokudo Kun Manyuki
TURN A GUNDAM
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