Capcom's Dreamcast version of Gunbird 2 will include many new elements over the Arcade version. Morrigan (Vampire Hunter) will a playable character in the game, this game will have internet support, download of new features will be possible and players can post high scores to the internet ranking. A new Illustration Gallery Mode is also incorporated, new images will be unlocked upon reaching different high scores.
Sega of Japan's upcoming Dreamcast title, Shen Mue Chapter 1: Yokosuka, will feature 4 different dialog and text display modes, deactivation of speech is possible, as well as changing the text display to "Kid Mode", in which all the text will be displayed in Katakana and Hiragana instead of Kanji. Shen Mue is out in Japan Dec. 29th.
Koei announced plans for a new GameBoy Color RPG, MetaMode, scheduled for release in Japan in Feb. In the game, the hero will travel with a device called MetaMode, which enables him to transform into over 90 different forms, each with its own strengths and its own set of techniques (5 - 6 per form).
Nintendo of America will be bringing their voice recognition Pokemon title, Pikachu Genki Dechu, to North America under a new title in the coming year.
I've also been influenced by the films of John Ford, especially "My Darling Clementine." I was also influenced by several books: Erich Fromm's "Escape from Freedom", Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead", David Reisman's "The Lonely Crowd" and Fritz Pappenheim's "The Alienation of Modern Man."
Gundam Wing Premiere
Saturday, December 11
6:40, 9:15 (pm)
Japanese Animation Producer to Speak
Ken Iyadomi, one of the pioneers of bringing Japanese animation to the United States, will speak before a special sneak preview of Bandai Entertainment's new series of Gundam W (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing). Three new episodes of Gundam Wing will screen at 6:40pm and 9:15pm at the Rafael Film Center on Saturday, December 11.
Mr. Iyadomi has produced many of the most successful Japanese anime in the U.S. including Ghost in the Shell and Akira. He is executive vice president of Bandai Entertainment. Bandai Entertainment is premiering the Gundam Wing TV series here.
Also showing: Saber Marionette J Again (Dec 12, 21), Blue Submarine No. 6 (Dec 13), The Clamp School (Dec 16, 19), Cowboy Bebop (Dec 17), The Vision of Escaflowne (Dec 23), and several other anime titles.
Calendar Programs for The Rafael Film Center are available throughout the Bay Area. Admission tickets are available one hour before showtime at the Rafael box office. For showtimes and additional information call the Rafael Film Center at 415-454-1222. The Rafael Film Center is located at 1118 Fourth Street, Downtown San Rafael, California.
Visit their website for more info and directions: www.finc.org
Capcom of Japan has confirmed production of Dino Crisis 2 for PSX 2, scheduled for release in Japan next fall.
Sega of Japan has opened a new high speed network game server system called Dream Net which supports up to 5000 people playing Virtual ON Oratorio Tangram over the internet, running the game at a constant 60 fps. Cost for the network is 9 Yen per minute.
(Quote)
According to the President of Miramax [I saw him at a screening for "The
Talented Mr.Ripley"], the reason that Princess Mononoke isn't going
wide, is that the test release in the Minniapolis/St. Paul area flopped
big time. So don't blame him, blame Minnesota.
Banpresto will release Super Robot Taisen Alpha for PSX in Japan on Feb. 24th, listing for 6800 Yen. A Limited Edition of the game will release at the same day for 9800 yen, featuring character figures, stickers, labels, postcards, necklaces and so on.
Konami will release their long delayed dating simulation game, Want to See You: Your Smile in my Heart, for PSX in Feb., listing for 6800 Yen.
ADK / SNK will release their Neo Geo Pocket Color title, SNK Gals Fighters, in Japan on Jan. 27th, a fighting game featuring all the female fighters from various SNK fighting games.
I'm currently negotiating the site for Anime Expo 2001. However, since the 4th of July falls on a Weds in 2001, there are 4 options of dates we are looking at:
Fri-Mon June 29th-July 2nd
Sat-Tues June 30th-July 3rd
Thurs-Sun July 5th-July 8th
Fri-Mon July 6th-July 9th.
Are there any preferences or suggestions?
The release of Namie Amuro's new album has been pushed back from Dec. 15th to Jan. 19th.
The following does not neccesarily reflect the views of Anime News Service or the editor:
Written By CWMODELS.
Katoki Hajime: Gundam Sentinel & Beyond
Back in the fall of 1987, the magazine Model Graphix started running a monthly Gundam series in their pages. Titled Gundam Sentinels, it was a storyline that filled the gap between Double Zeta and Char's Counter Attack. Bandai at the time was probably looking for its next big hit after CCA, so as a cross promotion, they produced a line of plastic model kits for it. Superior Gundam was the "main" Mobile Suit (MS) in the series and had a very unusual look. It was very much like a cross between Zeta & Double Zeta with extremely exaggerated proportions. The series also featured photographs of Mobile Suit model kits in action. Unlike many other model shots that came before, It portrayed the sequences like satellite photos from space (blurry pictures with image lines across them). Fans at the time responded with different opinions, some liked it & some absolutely hated it. But regardless of that, the artwork and technical illustration done for it was extremely remarkable. It had details and descriptions beyond any Gundam series that came before. It reflected a very realistic perspective on the structure and usage of a MS in the world around it. Probably the most amazing artwork was the step-by-step transformation chart of Superior Gundam & Zeta Plus. It not only demonstrated the exterior configurations as the machines transformed, it also showed the interior frames as well. This was also the first time that Gundam was treated more like a space shuttle instead of a big robot. After the series ended, Model Graphix released it as a complete collection book with new materials added. It was a real massive book with a huge price tag at the time (I paid about $40.00 back in 1989 and I almost couldn't afford it because I was still in Junior High School). The book was put together beautifully, it was completely in color with large fold outs of illustrations & model kits. Out of the group of people that worked on the book, the name Katoki Hajime stood out the most simply because he took the credits of CO-creator, coordination, sci-fi establishment, special effects advisor, writer, mechanic designer, character designer and illustrator. This was a big surprise since Katoki Hajime was practically an unknown at the time, and (to my knowledge) never worked on any anime series before. His age was 28 at the release of the Gundam Sentinel book, and suddenly he gained a name for himself within the anime & modeling circle.
After Gundam Sentinel series, Katoki went onto providing redesigns of classic MS such as GM & Zaku in the Model Graphix two-part "Sentinel 0079". Some of these designs were used in Gundam anime series later on (Gundam 0083 & 08th MS Team), and became very popular model kits.
Katoki Hajime's next involvement with Gundam happened when Bandai was producing the High Grade model line. The release of the HG kits was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Gundam, and to show case Bandai's progress in model manufacturing technology. The model kits were absolutely stunning at the time with its color injection molding & upgrades in the joint pose-abilities. For the instruction booklets, Katoki was hired to do all the black & white illustrations in the story & explanation sections. The best piece of artwork he produced for every one of the booklets were the spread page illustration of the classic Gundams in his styling. This was the first time the fans saw what is referred to now as Ver.Ka (Version Katoki). His detailed artwork showed opening hatches, interior mechanics, and fine detailing. These illustrations were the real start of his fame, it was the first time many Gundam fans began to notice his name. Afterwards, he also produced a few illustrations for instruction booklets on some of the Gundam F-90 model series.
His next major project came when he joined the mecha design staffs of Gundam 0083 OVA (Original Video Animation) series. Because he was still a fresh face in the animation circle, he was not billed as the head mecha designer (that title went to Kawamori Shoji of Macross fame, who designed Gundam GP01 & Gundam GP02 in it). Still, Katoki handled a majority of the designs seen in the series. It ranged from Zaku II, Dom Troopen, GM, Powered GM, GM custom, GM Cannon 2, GM Quell, Xamel, GP03, all the cockpits of the MS, and even some backgrounds as well. This project was his biggest involvement besides Gundam Sentinel. Unfortunately, Bandai was giving more push on Gundam F-91 during that time period, and practically ignored 0083. Very few model kits were produced for this line and most of them were extremely poor in quality. But still, a majority of the MS designs featured in 0083 became a fan favorite with a lot of the Gundam fans, and some even hailing it as the best ever (I disagree with some though).
Eventually, Katoki Hajime's skills becomes a bit more wide spread throughout the anime circle. For the movie Patlabor 2, he was given the job of designing all the ground military vehicles seen in it. He worked on the tanks, jeeps, ATV, and personnel transports. Mostly were based on real vehicles with minor variations & changes. But if you ever seen the actual line art he produced, you'll know they were quite detailed.
He continued his involvement with Gundam after 0083 with Victory Gundam, G Gundam, Gundam W, and 08th MS Team. Among those series, he designed most of the cockpits & a lot of the background mechanics. Although he did not design as many Mobile Suits throughout most of them, he still managed to produce a few memorable ones. Victory Gundam, Victory 2 Gundam, Master Gundam, Devil Gundam, Nobel Gundam (the sailormoon one LOL), Tallgeese, Gouf custom, are just a few that came to mind instantly.
Now that Katoki Hajime has became a fan favorite Gundam designer, many model companies beside Bandai has started to produce Gundam kits with his styling involved. The "octagonal" block shape & space shuttle style booster treatment he gave when redesigning classic Mobile suits became his trademark look. The label Ver.Ka becomes a best seller with many resin kit producer, and dozens of Gundam kits that would appear in model kit conventions such as Wonder festival & JAF-CON would sport his design visual as well. During their 20th anniversary, the model company VOLKS even produced a 1/35 scale (over 3 foot tall) resin model kit of RX-78 Gundam Ver.Ka based exactly on the illustration katoki did inside the Bandai instruction booklet (The price of the kit was set at 98000 yen which is about $1,000).
Around the time period of the G Gundam series, Katoki Hajime's popularity reached a new height when SEGA hired him to design all the mechas/characters in their new 3D mechanoid fighting game. The result was the ultra popular SEGA arcade video game, Cyber Trooper Vitural-ON. This was the first time robot fighting game sported a great visual, fun game play, and easy controls. The game was a mega hit for SEGA in Japan, and shot the name katoki Hajime into the video game world. Soon afterwards, SEGA hired him again for the development of the second Vitural-On game. Debuted last year in Japan with new designs, characters, and game play, it continues to please both die hard game & mecha fans. (Katoki also designed the mechas R1, R2, and R3 for one of BanPresto Super Robot series on PlayStation between Vitural-On 1 & 2).
It was also around the time of the first Vitural-ON game that Katoki started his monthly run of Gundam Fix on Newtype magazine. This was a series of full color realistic looking Gundam artwork in photographic style. He once again showed his superb drafting skills and love for realism by combining paintings of Gundams and photo backgrounds in computer. His artwork now gave the fans a new view on Gundam. He portrayed what our world would be like if those giant mechas existed. He showed us Gundams being built in factories, standing in nature, walking on the ground, flying in the air, and cruising through space. The result were many stunning and surreal images. (The artwork was finally compiled in may 1999 into a complete collection hard cover book called Newtype Illustrated Collection: GUNDAM FIX)
In the OVA series Gundam W: Endless Waltz, Katoki Hajime was finally billed as head mecha designer. His major task involved redesigning the five Gundams seen in the Gundam Wing TV series. Instead of going for the realistic visuals on the designs, he went with more of a fantasy element. What resulted was some the most unconventional Gundam designs ever. Nataku had unlimited extending dragon arms, Deathscythe spawned a bat wing that closed like a cloak, Heavy Arms had unbelievable amount of fire power, Sandrock with its huge sickles, and Wing Gundam Zero simply grew wings. The designs may not have had any realism involved, but the styling was extremely beautiful. And the fact is, fans loved it. The Wing Gundam Zero Custom model kit was completely sold out for months. (During that summer I could not find the kit in Japan, Taiwan, & America, and I was actually there in all 3 places. I heard Hong Kong was sold out as well. The shop owner of Image Anime in NY told me that he sold over 150 Wing Zero Custom, and it being the best selling Bandai kit ever)
Now with his name as a money maker, Bandai finally decides to hire Katoki as the main designer for all of their Gundam model kit production guides. Beginning with Master Grade Zeta Gundam model, he produced the guides/blueprints for the complete visual & structures on how the model kit should look & function. Katoki was able to solve many of the problems with proportions & joints that would other wise make the kit seem impossible to produce. He is not only making a lot the current Bandai kits look good, his name is also helping to sell them as well.
Other notable works by Katoki Hajime include:
*Gundam movie 1 LD cover art. Featuring RX-78 sitting up from the transport vehicle (water color art)
*Gundam movies LD box set cover art. Featuring damaged Core Fighter drifting through space (Gundam Fix style art)
*Double Zeta Gundam LD box set cover art. Featuring ZZ Gundam (Gundam Fix style art)
*Double Zeta Gundam LD box set 2 cover art. Featuring Full Armor ZZ Gundam (Gundam Fix style art)
*Gundam 0083 CD single cover for Men of Destiny. Featuring Kou Uraki looking up at GP03 (water color art)
*PlayStation Zeta Gundam video game cover. Featuring Z Gundam flying through the air (Gundam Fix style art)
*Patlabor 2 promotional movie poster. Featuring JSDF tank parked in front of the famous Shinjuku government building (water color art)
*Patlabor 2 visual book: Methods. Featuring AV-98 unit 3 with Golden fish swimming in front of it (water color art)
**Katoki has also produced countless numbers of covers, posters, and pinups for the Newtype Magazine throughout the years.
**He is also credited on more Gundam series than any other Mecha designers. The only exception is Kunio Okawara, who designed the original RX-78.
**Katoki seems to have a long time working relation with Mika Akitaka (famous for mecha designs in 0083, Victory Gundam, MS Gundam girls, Galaxy Frauline Yuna, Nadesico). Akitaka was has contributed a few Gundam Sentinel girls in the Gundam Sentinel book, and was credited as sub mechanic designer. He also used RX-78 Ver. Ka on the cover of his MS girl collection book. And for the Galaxy Frauline OVA series, Katoki designed most of the space ships that appeared in it.
Since I'm writing most of the above information from memory, that's pretty much all I could think of at the moment. If there are any changes or imput that need to be added, please feel free to contribute.
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In my opinion, what make Katoki Hajiome a great mecha designer is his skills
for manipulating shapes. He has always been able to work the dimensions of
simple shapes to fit with one another nicely to create something unusual. I
am consistently surprised by the that perticular aspect of his designs. If
you noticed, his style has changed quite a bit from the time he designed
Superior Gundam to Wing Gundam. His mechas are now more blocky & hard edged
looking than some of his earlier work. His designs also took a turn from the
realistic to more of a fantasy element as well. (I always thought that was a
result of him working on the G Gundam and Vitural-On series)
What I truly enjoy the most is actually Katoki's illustration & painted artworks. The best part of his artworks are always the lighting & the choice of colors. I always thought his real talent as a painter is the way light & shadows fall on his subjects. He is also able to give the right contrast to make his Gundam paintings look realistic. The color schemes are generally a lot more vibrant & colorful than many other painters that worked on Gundam as well. Another good contribution is his use of perspectives. The perspective shots in his paintings (especially Gundam Fix) always come out beautifully.
So where will katoki Hajime's talents take us in the future? That's pretty hard to say. Beside his involvement with Bandai currently, he has been away from any Gundam series for a while now. I'm not sure whether he will return or move onto other projects. It is certain for me that we will probably see more of his involvement with Vitural-On 3 and other video game projects in the near future. Truth is, Katoki has been working with the Gundam production for over a decade now. Great during the time he first came aboard, but sometimes I do think that he has already done everything he can for the Gundam franchise. He is no longer the "fresh blood" injected into this series, and maybe someone new needs to come aboard in order to revive the Gundam name. I also do wish Katoki would work on other anime series instead Gundam for a while. So this way he can generate something different.
Even though I feel that Katoki Hajime has already passed his height of popularity currently, I am still pleased to see his work all the time. I hope he will continue to surprises & amaze me with his talents & skills in the years to come.
CWMODELS
cwmodels@aol.com
Los Angeles
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SNK has confirmed production on a new sequel of Samurai Spirits for arcade, the game will return to 2D format, release is slated for early next year.
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