Anime News Service - January 20-23 Anime News

1-23-05---- Appleseed Clears $100,000

Box Office Mojo says Appleseed's theatrical release has reached and passed the $100,000 mark. ($108, 050, to be exact.) Thanks to Daniel for the news.

1-23-05---- Cameron Interviewed On Video

A videoclip of director James Cameron talking Battle Angel can be seen at IESB. Big Thanks to Daniel for sending this in.

1-23-05---- 10th AMD Award Winners Announced

AMD (Association Of Media In Digital) has announced it's annual prizes for work's that were released in 2004. The official ceremony will take place February 3rd. The Awards nominate the best digital work that advances the digital medium.
Grand Prix: Innocence - Director Mamoru Oshii and Production I.G. Section Prize: Best Visual Designer - CASSHERN, Best Music Composer - Innocence (Production I.G) Service Prize - Hello Kitty (Sanrio) Jury's Special Award - THE JUON/Noroura (oz),
Source: Mainichi Shimbun

1-23-05---- Ghibli Song Lyricist Profiled

Asahi's BE Saturday takes a look at the works and life of Kaku Wakako who's written lyrics have been featured as film themes in Hayao Miyazaki's films. Her credits include Spirited Away and the latest feature Howl's Moving Castle. She mentions her ideas usually come to her and are composed with an ink-pen and paper in coffee shops and family restaurants around midafternoon. She mentions she also uses a dedicated NEC word processor about 7 years old.

1-23-05---- Tenshi No Sono To Be Animated

A big announcement was made this wekeend in Japan that the autobiographical work Tenshi No Sono will be animated as a film. The story will center on the Kumo No Gakkou chapter of the story. Yoshio Kuroda (Dog Of Flanders) is the director on the new work for which production began last Feb. The premiere screening will occur at the Higashi Matsuyama community center on May 22nd. Source: Chunichi Shimbun

1-23-05---- JETRO Promotes J-Pop

Japan's trade promotional arm, JETRO has established it's first "Japan Pavilion" at the world's largest music trade fair: MIDEM. Kicking off on the 23rd in Cannes, France MIDEM is serve as a platform for which JETRO can showcase Japan's music to the world. The Japanese music market is the 2nd largest in the world after the United States, estimated at about 1.6 trillion Yen in 2001. However, there is a language barrier, and where imports represent 25.1 Billion Yen, exports represent only 2.9 Billion Yen. The thinking is now may be the right time to try and get Japanese music acknowledgement on the world scene due the incredible success of games and animation in recent years. 58 companies including Japanese recording labels and the public entertainment professionals, will participate in the "Japan Pavilion". Source: Asahi Shimbun

1-23-05---- 3D Pokemon Movie Premiere

Nagoya's Aichi Expo will see the debut of the coming "Pokemon 3D Adventure" film. The screening length is about ten minutes. The movie will run between March 18 - September 25 exclusively at "109 Cinemas Nagoya" adjacent to "Pokepark". Source: Yomiuri Shimbun

1-23-05---- Japanese Prime Minister Anime Comments

In his Friday policy speech before the 162nd Diet, Japanese Prime Minister Joichiro Koizumi spoke out Japan's international pop culture standing:

"The animated cartoon of Japan purveys dreams to children in all parts of the world. A rich country-making that makes the best use of the culture and the art as the business that uses contents of the movie and the animated cartoon, etc. is promoted, and sending an attractive Japanese brand is strengthened in the field of the fashion and food is advanced."

The transcript of the entire speech is available here in Japanese.

1-23-05---- Ah! My Goddess TV OST

TBS has released details of the 1st Ah! My Goddess TV series Original Soundtrack release which is due on February 25, 2005 at 3,000 Yen. Geneon Entertainment (Japan) will distribute the disc. OP and ED theme are included. 29 tracks will be featured on the CD.

1-22-05---- New Japanese Claymation Technique Could Cut Production Time In Half

A new VR claymation simplification process has been developed at Ishikawa Prefecture's industrial laboratory. In the past it took massive amounts of time and patience to film and shape clay for the purposes of animation. With this new innovation it's claimed production on such projects can be shortened by half. Their system is composed of a personal computer, a tactile input device and a three-dimensional camera. Shape data and photographic data is synthesized resulting in the artist being able to shape virtual clay within the computer via the tactile input. The shape under transformation can be automatically calculated, and reproduced to seem as if the clay in the real world had been manipulated.
Source: Hokkoku.co.jp

1-22-05---- Honed School Courses To Infuse Contents Business With New Talent

Making the front page of the Sankei Shimbun this weekend is a big piece on all the related "contents business" college course activity we've reported on in past weeks. The contents business as it will be refered to for the rest of this article, encompases Animation, Comics and Video Game production in Japan. With the spring time, several College will step these new courses into high gear to help develop the creators of the future in the field. Acorrding to the paper the total market for the contents business is estimated at about 10 trillion Yen. The Japanese government has even emphasized the necessity for this special training to help preserve these staple industries of the 21st century. Some of the faculty is being drawn from the A list of anime production.

The paper speaks to president Atsushi Igarashi (81) of the Takarazuka University of Art and Design (Hyogo Prefecture Takarazuka City). Their new class of 170 will teach movie production, manga, animation, games etc. The school's Production focused course will have a 150 person capacity. Both get under way from April. Reiji Matsumoto and Junichi Kawamura are being brought on board to teach from their experience. From the latest digital production methods to how one should gauge voice actors and staff for a particular project to management of the production schedule to funding, many areas of the business will be covered. According to Igarashi, the concept of a producer's education has not yet been established.

The Osaka University of Arts (Osaka Prefecture Kanan-cho) is bringing in manga artist Kazuo Koike to teach a specialty character design subject. Mangaka Go Nagai, Fujio Iwazaki and Machiko Satonaka will be brought into teach.

Nishinomiya City's University has also established an animation course in media and art subjects. Management skills of a project, production management, and PR/Advertisement are all to be taught. Liupin III creator Monkey Punch will preside as a teacher.

Running in the background of all these seperate efforts is the "E-Japan Priority Policy Program" that the Japanese government's IT strategy devision typed out in 2004. Not only telecommunications but also global competitiveness through the strengthening of the contents industry, effective use of the property, and personnel training in a related fields are encouraged. The number of people in the Japanese contents business is currently quoted at about 390,000 people according to the "Digital Contents Society". Movie directors Takeshi Kitano and Kiyoshi Kurosawa are going to be invited as professors at the Tokyo University of Arts.

1-22-05---- Bandai Visual USA Update

ANS contacted Bandai Entertainment's Jerry Chu in relation the BV USA story. Jerry mentioned that Bandai Ent is aware of Bandai USA and will be working with them in the future. Look for more information to surface soon. On a side note Jerry says he'll know if he will be packing his bags on Monday.

1-22-05---- Bandai Visual USA Established

Bandai Visual has established an overseas subsidiary in the U.S. state of California with plans to market Japanese Animation in the United States. The target audience of these works will be those in their mid teens-30's. Bandai Visual USA launches this month with a capital of about 100 million Yen. The company will seek out partnerships in California's film rich industry around Hollywood etc.. In addition it will market Japanese Animation DVD's. The marketing research gathered from the venture will be reflected in future animation productions.
Source: Nihon Keizai Shimbun

1-22-05---- Samurai Champloo - Paranoia Agent To Broadcast On Adult Swim

A posting to the Adult Swim Message board mentions Shinichiro Watanabe's Samurai Champloo TV series will begin airing summer along with Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent. Thanks to Basil of GATV for sending in this news.

1-22-05---- Mac PSP Interface

Some in Japan are already working on a Mac / PSP file transfer application.

1-22-05---- Japanese Camera Phone Use Compared With World

InfoTrends/CAP Ventures projects that worldwide camera phone shipments will grow from 178 million units in 2004 to over 860 million units in 2009. By 2009, camera phones are expected to account for 89% of all mobile phone handsets shipped. "Society is moving into an era of ubiquitous imaging that offers the ability to capture, store, send, print, and view an image anywhere,h commented Jeff Hayes, a Director at InfoTrends/CAP Ventures. gWe believe mobile imaging will have the kind of impact that e-mail had on document communications in the 1990s. We project that the total number of images captured on camera phones will reach 227 billion by 2009, exceeding the number of photos taken on digital still cameras and film cameras combined!h

Research for the study included interviews with 6,360 consumers across four major geographic regions, namely North America, Western Europe ( U.K., France, Germany, Spain), Japan, and China. Key findings from the study include:

12.5% of Japanese consumers with a camera phone indicate that it is their primary camera that they use most frequently, the highest percentage of any region.
Approximately half of the consumers that do not currently own a camera phone have considered purchasing one.
Consumers in North America and China are taking about 20 pictures per month with their camera phones, compared to only 5 per month in Japan.
Consumers are printing around 8% to 10% of their camera phone pictures, except in Japan where they are only printing 1% or 2%. Image sharing rates are about twice that of printing rates.
Source: Info Trends

1-22-05---- South Korean Style Popularity A Bubble?

With the hit status being attained by drama's such as Winter Sonata, the recent South Korean pop culture boom in Japan is going to be the subject of analysis in a new 100 minute MBC program. Comparisons to this recent trend being just a fad "bubble" have been tossed around. It's mentioned that in the 1980's a HK culture boom existed in Korea followed by a Japan boom in the 90's. A professor, Anglican Church representative, and culture contents business expert will debate the issue.
Source: Chosun Illbo (Japanese Edition)

1-22-05---- Kindaichi Shonen No Jikenbo Drama In South Korea

The dramatized live action adaptation of Satoh Fumiya and Kanari Yozaburo Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo manga is crossing the Korea Straight enroute to TV broadcast in South Korea. MBC will begin showing the series which stars Matsumoto Jun from the 24th on Tuesday nights. This drama produced in 2001 depicts a young man who carries on the work from his grandfather who was a great detective at solving murders. Arashi sang the popular theme song in this drama. TokyoPop releases the Kindaichi manga in America.
Source: Chosun Illbo Japanese Edition

1-22-05---- RC 747-400 For 10,000 Yen

CCP will soon market a 70 mm long radio control version of Boeing's 747-400 at the retail price of 9,429 Yen. You can view a supercool Windows Media video clip of the plane doing some diving manuevers and a really spectacular landing at the above link.

1-22-05---- 10 Years After Evangelion Feature

The March issue (on sale next week) of Ura Bubka magazine will look Evangelion 10 years post the start of the TV Series broadcast in Japan. The cover features a bandaged up Rei Ayanami playing a Sony PSP. 2 big articles will dominate the rag's contents. Takuma Kentarou looks at the Evangelion jiko (accident) in one feature piece. An in-depth examination of Gainax follows starting at the tax evasion scandal and bringing the reader up to the present time. Also in the March issue are a focus on the PSP VS DS battle, a WWE spread and Comike 67 report. The magazine will retail for 880 Yen.

1-22-05---- Shining Force Neo Video

The website for Sega's coming Shining Force Neo remake for PS2 has updated with a streaming video TV commercial spot featuring some of the games animation and in game graphics.

1-22-05---- Pretty Cure Movie Site Launches

Based on the TV Asahi anime series, a website was recently lauched for the coming film version: Pretty Cure - Max Heart. Real and Windows Media trailers are now available at www.precure-movie.com.

1-22-05---- Mamoru Oshii Lecture

Howling In The Night 2005 will mark the 4th event in a lecture series created by Mamoru Oshii. The topic will be "the war of reality". It will occur on Feb. 26 in Rappongi. Source: Newtype Japan

1-22-05---- Howl Japanese Newspaper Ads Archived

Studio Ghibli's official Howl's Moving Castle website has added images of several Japanese newspaper ad spots that have been taken out for the film.

1-22-05---- Angel Heart TV Voice Search

Hojo Tsukasa's website mentions animation production via Tomus Entertainment is getting underway for the Angel Heart TV series. The work will be based on the popular comic sequel (with 8 million in sales) from the City Hunter creator. A special open audtion call has been issued to fill the voice role of heroine, Kaori Makimura. According to the qualifications they are seeking a woman of any age or voice acting skill level. A form is avaliable on the site that must be completed and mailed in my Feb. 25th along with a sound check. The winner will be announced in March.

1-22-05---- AIR Movie TV CM

A new TV commercial video clip from the coming AIR movie has been uploaded to the official website.

1-22-05---- Samurai Champloo Episode 18 Free Streaming

To commemorate the start of the second season of Samurai Champloo on Fuji BS, JVCMUSIC is streaming the 18th episode which will air Saturday in Japan. If your computer is loaded with WINXP SP2 or with a popup blocker, please disable it to access the pop up menu.

1-22-05---- Toronto Star: "Canada Struggling To Understand The New Asia"

Canada is coming to terms with the modern interconnected culture of many Asian nation on a number of levels according to a new piece in the The Toronto Star. Popular culture gets a nod with a quote from the previously mentioned U.S. National Intelligence Council report for the director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. "a new, more Asian cultural identity is likely to be rapidly repackaged and distributed as incomes rise and communications networks spread. Korean pop singers are already the rage in Japan, Japanese anime have many fans in China, and Chinese kung-fu movies and Bollywood song-and-dance epics are viewed throughout Asia."

1-22-05---- Indian Firm Collaborates On Anime Style Work

The Mumbai-based company Animation Bridge studio will reportedly be producing animation film and series for French, Japanese and UK producers of animation entertainment products. The company has entered into co-production of a 26-episode action-oriented 2D series called Guardians of Luna with a Japanese producer. The series will air from August 2006 according to a company representative. Michael Reaves of Batman: The Animated Series fame is the story-editor for the series and the key animation is being done in Japan. gThe character design is being done by Osamu Tsuruyama, Sho Murase and John Nevarez,h Ghose said. It is a typical action adventure and is being done in the Japanese format of animation called Anime, he added. Guardians of Luna is a $6.5 million project. Source: Silicon India

1-22-05---- Anime Terror Site Investigated

The American Daily profile's a recent Yahoo hosted group suspected as a forum for terrorist related material. The site, HostingAnime.com is mentioned, which is mentioned as a "mysterious and elusive free Internet service provider that at one time was hosting as many as 15 to 20 al Qaeda affiliated and other well known terror sites". According to the Daily's investigation "Hosting Anime provided a trail of false contact information that ranged from a mail drop close to Los Angeles to false names and telephone numbers in Seattle. The only thing certain about Hosting Anime is that its operators leased computer space on equipment belonging to the Houston, TX Internet service provider, "Everyone's Internet.""

1-22-05---- Anime Network Article

The industry trade journal Cableworld reports on the fan support surrounding the Anime Network. It's mentioned that subtitled programming is going to be tried out in the future.

1-22-05---- ADV Films Prepares Kekko Kamen On DVD

Whatfs that in the sky ca bird c a plane? No, shefs NAKED! This is not your normal superhero story! Get ready for the hilarious animated sexcapades of Kekko Kamen as the wrapper comes off February 15, 2005. From acclaimed anime creator Go Nagai (Devil Lady, Cutey Honey), Kekko Kamen is an off-the-wall sexploitation comedy that is certain to raise a fewceyebrows! For fans of superhero action with a taste of twisted humor and politically incorrect behavior, get ready for this irreverent and unclothed romp!

Say hello to Kekko Kamen, the dynamic super heroine with a knack for solving crime and keeping the bad guys distracted. And what special power helps her with her crime-fighting crusade? Why, her killer body of course, and with Kekko, therefs NOTHING to hide! Shefs a well-endowed babe whofs not afraid to bare it all in the quest for Freedom, Justice and the Naked Truthc.literally. Kekko Kamen ($29.98 SRP) is a DVD-only release containing 4 episodes presented in English 2.0 and Japanese 2.0 with English subtitles. Extras include production sketches and ADV previews.

KEKKO KAMEN Running Time: 90 minutes Age Rating: TV MA (V, S, L) CAT: DKK/001 UPC: 702727114427 Pre-Book Date: 1/18/05 Street Date: 2/15/05 Format: DVD SRP: $29.98

1-22-05---- Toons Go Mobile

Anime World Magazine has a several page review of recent animation media offerings on movile phones. The article mentions Sorrent's development with ShoPro and Viz on the anime property Inuyasha, for which it has created wallpaper and an interactive game.

1-21-05---- Japanese Suicide Pacts

The BBC World Service has done an online audio segment that examines Japan's recent morbid increase in suicide pacts and websites. The piece will be up for 7 days in real audio format.

1-21-05---- Another Howl DVD Pirate Arrested

Chiba prefectural police (Funabashi station) arrested a man after suspecting his Howl's Moving Castle DVD's being sold were in fact pirated copies. 15 copies in the total were observed being sold on the 19th near the JR bridge station. The suspect is reportedly quoted as saying he bought the lot from "Chinese in Tokyo". The police station is currently attempting to trace the obtaining route. Pirated copies have appeared in large numbers around Osaka City in recent weeks and a roadside shop's staff were arrested by Hyogo prefectural police in Nishinomiya City. Source: Nikkan Sports

1-21-05---- Yamada's Latest Film In BIFF Competition

Director Yoji Yamada's film Kakushi Tsurugi Oni No Tsume has been approved to enter the competition section of the 55th Berlin International Film Festival in Feb. This will be the 2nd film of the director to screen there. Berlin along with Cannes and Venice makeup the world's 3 major film festivals. Director Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away took the event's "Golden Bear Award" best film prize in 2002. Source: Mainichi

1-21-05---- Doraemon Animation Renewal

As previously reported, the Doraemon TV anime is facing it's first voice cast changeout in 25 years from April, now details have emerged that other key areas of production are to receive a renewal as well. Perhaps most noticebly will be the character and setting designs which have debuted in "Doraemon And I" number 23 which came out in Japan on the 20th. The new character designs which can be seen above reflect slight but noticeable changes in the previous designs. Likewise, Dora-World mentions that the decision was made to renew the series for the current generation on the occasion of the 25th anniversary. The production staff and voice cast will be changed. However, the core character of Doraemon will not change. A new film is planned for the spring of 2006.

1-21-05---- Lodoss War Boom In Brazil

Based on the original novels by Ryu Mizuno, The Record Of Lodoss animation has taken off recently as a popular property in the South American nation of Brazil. The company Devir Livraria recently marketed it's DVD release of the original 1989 OVA series and since then Lodoss has been a popular topic in magazines, books, and television. The American Comics release, TRPG and other goods have been selling well there. Likewise the 97-98 Lodoss TV series has will soon go on sale and 23 novel editions will soon be sold. Pokemon was a huge hit in Brazil with young kids as was Saint Saya which has TV veiewers exceeding two million a week. Lodoss is helping to establish Anime as another part of Japanese culture.
Source: Sao Paulo Shimbun

1-21-05---- Habanero Growing Kit

Spicy foods aren't popular in Japan? Nikkei News reports on the sale of a kit from February that can grow the infamously hot red pepper known as the Habanero. Habaneros became popular in Japan recently via Tohato's snacks "Boukun Habanero". The kit retails at 399 Yen. When water and the fertilizer is combined with seeds about 100 peppers can be grown in 5 months. Tohato was connected with the licensing agreement, and the character of "Bouken Habanero"which is included on the package.

1-20-05---- Media Blasters To Release Sky High

Sky High Year: 0000 Rating: Genre: Action / Horror Director: Actors: Video: Audio: English dubbed[only?] Language: English subtitles Length: Color 132 minutes Features: DVD Retail Price: $29.95 Synopsis "Sky High, based on the manga by Tsutomu Takahashi (Alive), follows detective Kanzaki Kohei’s vengeful search for the killer who stole his wife’s heart after cutting it out on their wedding night. The deceased Mina finds herself in LIMBO outside the gates of Heaven and Hell where she is greeted by Izuko, a sworded female guardian who explains she must choose among one of three paths: she may enter and await reincarnation in Heaven, she may remain upon the earth as a wandering spirit, or she may haunt and torment her murderer, the price of which will be eternity in Hell. With twelve days to decide, she hovers over the now obsessed Kanzaki as he hunts desperately for Mina's killer, who uses living hearts in an attempt to resurrect the devil in a bid to revive his own lost beloved from her limbo between life and death.
Source: Media Blasters
The suggested street date is March 29.

1-20-05---- Takara Unveils Tera Robot

Takara announced that their new home robot "Tera" which includes functions such as crime prevention. Tera will go on sale in Japan in the spring of 2006. Including fingerprint identification and other sensors like cameras, Tera is self-propelled and about 27 centimeters in the diameter. It can answer verbal commands Three models are being developed which can measure health signs such as temperature, pulse and air cleanness. The price of the AV model will be about 200,000 Yen, and the other two types are expected to fall below 100,000 Yen. Source: Nikkei Business News

1-20-05---- Cosplaying Kewpie Craze

Hot in Japan in now is the phenomena of Costume Play Kewpie dolls. What's a Kewpie? They are a type of doll invented by poet/artist Rose Cecil O'Neill that became an absolute hit in America between 1912 and 1914. In fact, American women began plucking their eyebrows to mimic the style of the dolls. Specialty shops in Japan are now brimming over with dolls in all styles of dress from Ultraman to Spiderman to David Beckham Gegege no Kitaro to Lupin III. Source: Excite News (Japanese)

1-20-05---- Man Machine Interface Advances

Wired reports on technological advances that may make the man/machine relationships seen in anime and manga an everday reality. Hotwired Japan has the same article in Nihongo.

1-20-05---- 4Kids Announces New Titles At NATPE

4Kids will be announcing new anime properties NATPE (www.natpe.org) next week including Mew Mew Power and F-Zero.
Mew Mew Power (52x30) follows five teenage girls who possess the powers of endangered animals and who battle aliens bent on destroying mankind. "With so few quality series produced for girls, we believe that Mew Mew Power will strike a responsive chord with girls around the world," Lacey said. "This series combines many of the elements that appeal to girls, with the added element of heroic action that sets it apart from other girls programs."

F-Zero combines cel animation with CGI to tell the story of the Elite Mobile Task Force, a team of racers in 2201 who seek to keep the prize money out of evil hands. It is based on the Nintendo video game. "High speed auto racing is a universally popular sport that will surely appeal to broadcasters looking to reach boys," Lacey added. "F-Zero is specifically targeted to this viewing demo with its fast paced racing theme."

Source: Worldscreen

1-20-05---- Nintendo DS Compact Flash Adapter

Game Bank has images of Compact Flash media card adapter for the Nintendo DS. Named Supercard, the cartridge/card adapter is made by www.supercard.cn. The file names on the DS screen in the image match up to rom images of classic NES and GBA games.

1-20-05---- Sony Opens Up On UMD

SCEI has mentioned they may open up their propriatery UMD format to third party developers. UMD is used in the Sony PSP handheld. Each disc is 60mm in diameter and can store 1.8GB of Game, Movie, Music, or other data. Sony is hoping contents publishers, production companies and artists will all come on board and build the libray of media available to the PSP. Other companies are hoping to produce standalone UMD players for Music and Movies. The game machine that the other companies competes is prevented without opening to the public for playing game format, and being developed. Source: IT Media

1-20-05---- Count Of Monte Cristo Music

JVC Music has releasd details on the theme for the coming Count Of Monte Cristo TV series. The OP, "WE WERE LOVERS" and ED "You Won't see me coming" both by Jean Jacques Burnel both hit stores on 2.23, retailing atc 3,045 Yen.

1-20-05---- Doraemon 2005

Preparing for the new TV series and cast, Dora-World has been revamped.

1-20-05---- AIR Movie Updates

The website for the upcoming Osamu Dezaki directed AIR anime film has updated with news that IF DREAMS CAME TRUE by Linda Hennrick will be adopted as image theme.

1-20-05---- Upper Deck Announces Yu-Gi-Oh! Flaming Eternity

Celebrating the much-anticipated release of the newest Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME expansion set Flaming Eternity -- Upper Deck Entertainment (UDE), the official distributor of Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, invites Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG fans to take a sneak preview at the upcoming set on Saturday and Sunday, February 26 & 27. Celebrating the release in over sixty North American cities, the Flaming Eternity Sneak Preview events will allow Duelists a chance to get their hands on the new cards before they are available anywhere else. Duelists can also compete to win prizes, and receive an all new gCyber Harpie Ladyh simply by showing up. To find a Flaming Eternity Sneak Preview event near you, visit www.yugiohpreview.com.

Bringing a new look to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, Flaming Eternity offers an exciting new set of highly collectible cards with new game play options, and with monsters that can revive from the graveyard. These cards offer long-term rewards and allow carefully planned strategies in the game. Many of the monsters currently appear on the Yu-Gi-Oh! animated series, allowing Duelists to create decks and themes seen on television. With new Fusion Monster support cards, and the new devastating Fusion Monster, Flaming Eternity is a great way to kick off the fourth year of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG.

1-20-05---- Klock Worx Additions

Klock Worx has added content to it's newly launched website in the form of teaser listings for the coming animation works of Trinity Blood, SHUFFLE and Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid.

1-20-05---- A Tree Of Palme Alamo Exclusive Screening

Austin Exclusive! A TREE OF PALME FEB. 13, 15 & 16 ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEMA DOWNTOWN 409 Colorado St. Austin TX info & tickets: www.originalalamo.com

For trailers, press kits and image downloads, see: http://www.advfilms.com/catalogT/THEATRATreeofPalme.asp

"a dazzling allegorical science-fantasy tale" (FPS Magazine)

"It is a serious anime that can change not only your perception of anime, but also of the meaning of your life." (Victor Eisenberg, Big Apple Anime Fest) An animator whose credits include the anime essentials AKIRA, NAUSICAA, NEO-TOKYO and ROBOT CARNIVAL, Takashi Nakamura spent ten years developing PALME with a crew of 500 and a mix of 2Dcel and 3D animation. In this dark retelling of the 'Pinocchio' story, Palme is a puppet made out of a special wood called Kuroppo wood, and given life with a mystical sap that works as blood. Initially created to care for his makers ailing wife, Palme becomes despondent and eventually lifeless when she dies. One day a madwoman from the Underground City of Tamas shows up at the cottage and charges Palme with returning the sacred Egg of Toutoback to her homeland. Mistaking her for his dead mistress, he springs to life to carry out her wishes. He starts off on a perilous journey that sees him team up with a rag-tag group of orphans that he rescues from the slave-trade. He meets the abused waif Popo and falls in love with her, and is determined to become human to win her affection. But Palme is naive and too socially inexperienced to handle matters of the heart responsibly, and succumbs to anger and resentment over his inhuman condition. Worse still, he does not realize that the Egghe is carrying is a tool of mass destruction. The animation is top notch, with vintage character design and impressive landscapes that recall Mamoru (ANGEL'S EGG) Oshii's work. Alternately poignant and horrifying, Palme's existential crisis soon supplants his original mission, and he is willing to destroy himself and the underground city to become human. Ironically, this tendency toward destruction is his most human quality of all. (Kier-La Janisse)

1-20-05---- New Seikai No Senki Drama CD And Anime

Bestack has updated it's website with a listing that announces the Seikai no Senki III Drama CD series. Vol. I homecoming will release on April 22 for 2,625 Yen. Staff include Original Story by Hiroyuki Morioka, Screenplay by Tetsuko Takahashi, Music by Hisashi Hattori and Direction by Yo Kobayashi, Jacket Illustration by Akai Takami. The Cast includes familiar names: Ayako Kawasumi: Lafiel, Yuka Imai: Jinto Lin, Akio Ohtsuka: Samson, Chiharu Suzuka: Kaneesh, Kaneto Shiozawa: Dusanyu, Kaori Shimizu: Ekuryua, Kazuhiko Inoue: Nefee, Miho Yamada: Atosuryua Mitsuki Saiga: Sobaash, Rica Fukami: Spoor, Susumu Chiba: Kufadis. Vol. II is due in June. At the bottom of Bestack's listing comes a teaser that the next Sekai No Senki Animation is due to release this summer.

1-20-05---- Palme Review Almost

Nathaniel Messer of the Portland State University's Daily Vanguard writes about how he was supposed to review A Tree Of Palme but couldn't find anyone to let him in the theater on the screen date.

1-20-05---- Sky Blue Natiowide American Rollout

SKY BLUE is the landmark animated film from Korea, which had its North American Premiere as the Centerpiece Film of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival Premieres section. In the year 2140, mankind's reckless exploitation of the environment has sparked a planet-wide catastrophe that has shielded the sun from view and all but ended human civilization on earth. Only a small number of elites possessing power and technology have been able to thrive, building a magnificent, organic city named Ecoban.

The city grows by itself like a living plant, utilizing its Delos System to transform carbon compounds into useable energy. Jay is a 19-year-old female trooper of Ecoban who guards the city against the incursions of outsiders. On patrol in the Wasteland one day, Jay witnesses a gigantic industrial accident orchestrated by Ecoban's corrupt leaders. Upon seeing this act of cruelty, Jay1s loyalty is put to the test. When she encounters her childhood sweetheart Shua leading a rebellion against Ecoban, they join forces and risk their lives for the chance that the clouds may clear and the people of Earth might see the blue sky for the first time in their lives.

SKY BLUE took more than seven years to complete and employed hundreds of Korea1s leading animation artists and technicians. The result is a unique melding of elements and techniques- live action miniatures and atmospheric elements, immersive 3D CGI backgrounds, and traditional 2D character animations - layered dozens of times in each frame of film. SKY BLUE achieves a technical vision never before realized and is seen widely as a technical hallmark of a maturing Korean animation industry set to compete with the world1s other leading animation nations. Maxmedia / Endgame will release SKY BLUE in New York in February, 2005 and Nationally through February and March.

1-20-05---- Animax School Program Success In India

Indian Television reports Animax's school contact programme has recieved responses from nearly 500 schools across the country. Animax brand ambassador Irfan Pathan recently visited six schools in 3 cities. Through the contact programme, the channel reached out to approximately 4,00,000 children. gIrfan was a great draw for the contest and the students were really excited at the prospect of meeting him. Both the schools and kids are very eager to meet this Indiafs greatest cricket sensation,h said AXN & Animax assistant vice president sales and marketing Rohit Bhandari. The winning schools were selected based on the highest number of entries generated from each school. Nearly, 7,664 entries were received from New Cambridge High School, Bangalore, which is also the school with highest responses in the country.

1-20-05---- Daft Punk - 5 Years After Discovery

OngakuDB talks about French pop group Daft Punk's first album release in Japan in 5 years. Their former work Discovery was big news there after it was announced Director Reiji Matsumoto would be involved on creating visualizations to accompany the music. The new album Human After All is due to the streets there on March 16th from Virgin/Toshiba EMI.

1-20-05---- Miyazaki Themes Popular As Ambulance Music

The Inagi fire station recently adopted the practice of playing music in it's ambulances after consulting with patients. More than 60 percent of those asked said music helped soften pain and uneasiness. Beyond that, background music helps diffuse the sounds of the blaring siren and electrocardiogram. Via the CD player in the ambulance, tunes such as Bach, The Beatles and Schubertcare regular requests. With children the themes of Hayao Miyazaki's films and Miki Imai have been popular. The person in charge of this emergency dept. plans to install sound equipment in other ambulances in the coming year. Asahi News (Japanese)

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