Anime News Service - January 27-30 Anime News

1-30-05---- Annies Pass On Innocence

The Hollywood Reporter mentions that Pixar's The Incredibles won all the Annie awards for which it was nominated, which according to www.annieawards.com, leaves the second GITS film out of the race. No word yet on whether or not Yoko Kanno won for Best Music in a animated tv production. Thanks to Daniel for the links.

1-30-05---- UK Innocence OST Review

Music From The Movies based out of the UK reviews Kenji Kawai's GITS2: Innocence soundtrack which is getting a release there through K-O records.

1-30-05---- FUNimation Seeks Fan Support For Lupin

The next issue of FUNimation's Prime Animation Report, which will be out on February 1st, will ask the fans of Lupin to help in promoting the Lupin movies with ads, banners, posters, etc. The Prime Animation Report will also include a new Lupin online game called Lupin the 3rd: Target Practice. Visit the Prime Animation Report at newsletter.funimation.com.

1-30-05---- MSDF Disciplines 2 For Staging Brutal Airgun Survival Games

Investigation into an assault incident onboard the Japanese MSDF escort ship Tachikaze based at Yokosuka has led to 2 recieving a conviction with a suspension of sentence. The 2 reportedly staged survival games with junior officers involving airguns inside the operational control center (CIC) of the warship. Reportedly the senior officers were bullying the juniors, thus leading to the assault charge. It's being considered exceptional that the Self Defense Force would publish the findings on this incident at all. An officer that may have been involved commited suicide at the end of October although no connection was made by the investigation.

1-30-05---- New GAINAX Series Site Launch

www.gosyujinsama.com has officially launched as the web home to GAINAX's coming Korega watashi no Goshujin-sama TV series. Uploaded is a video preview in Windows Media and Real formats in the news section.

1-30-05---- Aquarion TV Date And Novel

The upcoming Shoji Kawamori collaboration TV series Aquarion will commence broadcast from Aprill 2005 according to new information posted to the official Japanese website. A text novelization of the story has been decided to run in "Monthly Dragon Magazine".

1-29-05---- Free Anime Broadcast Rights For Developing Countries

Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is discussing providing broadcasters in developing nations with animation content free of charge. Promotion of Japanese culture and the expansion of the anime market are the aims. This will be financed by a management expense grant donated to The Japan Foundation which is an independent administrative agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The fund will be used to buy the broadcasting right of the desired anime properties. Series to be considered would stretch about 20 episodes and 30 minutes in length. Works with an international appeal such as soccer anime would be prime candidates. Markets are being looked at in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Japan's animation exports accounts for about 60% of all animation viewed throughout the world and have become a powerful economic force in 1st world nations such as Europe and America.

1-29-05---- Upcoming Tezuka Lecture In Tokyo

The eldest son of the late animation master Osamu Tezuka will host a public public lecture at Yamaha Hall in Chuo Ward Ginza 7 at 2:00PM, March 12th. 520 people will be admitted free of charge. A visualist and movie director in his own right, Makoto Tezuka (43) picked up the work of his father by supervising the latest BlackJack TV series that began airing in October. Additionally, a special showing of the Takarazuka Osamu Tezuka Memorial original animation "Osam and Musashi" will occur.

1-29-05---- Magazine Editors Look Over Animation School Work

Niigata City's Animation Specialty School had 3 editors from Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Jump on hand on Friday to expertly critique the work of about 30 students. Furthermore, the critiqued illustrations of 21 students are to be published in the magazine. Common suugestions include changing the facial expressions on characters.

1-29-05---- Oshii Developing Kanazawa Museum Exhibit

A Kanazawa area museum is preparing to run it's "State of the anime production" exhibit that will showcase the process etc. of Japanese Animation production including Director Mamoru Oshii's work. Part of the exhibit centers around the making of Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence. Production I.G. is played a role on piecing this together at 21st Century Museum Of Kanazawa. It opens on the 29th. 300 related items of interest will go into the exhibition usch as set materials and the figures, original sketches, storyboards, etc... Screenings of related animation works and even video game demos will be on hand to view / interact with.

1-29-05---- Colorful Ice Sculpture Exhibit In Karuizawa

Nagano Prefecture Karuizawa-cho is currently hosting their anime themed "Karuizawa ice sculptural international exhibition 2005" where domestic and foreign creators are competing near the JR Karuizawa Station along the street. Carving of about 30 sculptures began the day before in -10 celsius conditions. After dark a rainbow of lights shows upon the exhibit which will run through the 30th.

1-29-05---- New Bebop CD: TANK! The Best

It might have slipped past some fans that back at the end of December a new Cowboy Bebop CD hit the market, "COWBOY BEBOP TANK THE BEST". Therein you can find three Yoko Kanno tracks done for the latest PS2 title. Kanno just recently composed the "Song of X'smap" Christmas tune for SMAP. The 1st Bebop TV soundtrack sold 250,000 units.

Full Track Listing:
1.TANK!
2.WHAT PLANET IS THIS.
3.COSMIC DARE
(PRETTY WITH PISTOL)
4.DIAMONDS
5.Don't Bother None (TV edit)
6. PIANO BLACK
7.MUSHROOM HUNTING
8.No Reply
9.BLUE
10.DEINSTEIN GROOVIN'
11.PEARLS
12.Gotta knock a little harder

Released Dec. 22nd 2004 - Sale Price: 2100 Yen

1-29-05---- 200 Characters In Namco VS Capcom

Famitsu reports as many as 200 characters total will appear in the new joint PS2 title Namco VS Capcom. Players move the character on the map and then when encountering an enemy, the screen changes to battle mode. Some part of the game's story will occur in The Tokyo district of Shibuya. The official website can be viewed here.

1-29-05---- Azumi 2 Media

The Movie Box linked to two WM clips of Azumi 2, which features Battle Royale actresses Chiaki Kuriyama and Ai Maeda, is directed by Shusuke Kaneko of Gamera fame, and which will be released in Japan in March.

1-29-05---- ZERO Over Berlin Author USA Tour

JOH SASAKI WEST COAST TOUR IN MARCH 2005! Joh Sasaki, author of Zero Over Berlin and Vertical’s resident military history aficionado comes stateside to talk about his work through the Japan Foundation’s new program to introduce Japanese authors. Tentatively, Sasaki’s scheduled appearances are as follows: 1. Seattle Kinokuniya March 12, Saturday 2:00pm. 525 S. Weller St., Seattle WA 98104, 206-587-2477 2. Mechanics Institute Library March 15, Tuesday 6:00pm. 57 Post St., San Francisco CA 94104, 415-393-0114 3. Los Angeles appearance TBA. Get ready to meet him by purchasing the book and checking out our reading guide! Source: Vertical-Inc. Thanks to Daniel for the link.

1-29-05---- Yamato Gaming Blitz

Bandai is about to make history with what could be the fastest trilogy ever in the history of games. Following up on the original PS2 Star Blazers game, which hit Japan in October of last year, and the sequel to that, which saw Japanese release just yesterday, Bandai has announced a third game in the series. Titled Uchuu Senkan Yamato: Nijyuu Ginga no Houkai in Japan, this third game continues the events depicted in part 2, Ankoku Seidan Teikoku no Gyakushu, using as its base the latter half of the Yamato Yo Towa Ni animation series. The game will keep the gameplay of its predecessor, combining real time simulation elements with action. This third entry will complete a trilogy and will probably be the last Star Blazers game for some time. Surprisingly, Bandai has revealed that development on the game is already complete, with a Japanese release set for April 7. Source: IGN

1-28-05---- Osaka's Skip Bunny Heads To Netherlands

The Character "Skip Bunny" created by Sanward Ltd. of Osaka will soon be commercialized in the Netherlands. 2 companies will maintain the license there: Bremtex and H+LCreation. Skip Bunny is a character series of five colorful rabbits that were created by Sanward in 2001. 13 companies related to apparel, miscellaneous goods etc... are being connected with the contract in Japan now. Japanese charcaters have been accepted little by little by children in the Netherlands because of the popularity of animation in Japan such as "Crayon Shin-chan" and "Pokemon" now though it has been said up to now that the character of Japan will not be accepted in Europe. Being commercialized in the Netherlands schedules the manufacturing sales to be done with the stationery for the apparels such as T-shirts and sweat shirts, bags and accessories for children throughout 2005. Sanward's Dogg Little Bob became a big hit in Shanghai in 1994.

1-28-05---- New Lupin Remix CD

Both the Lupin anime and associated theme is seen as classic in Japan. Several years ago Fantastic Plastic Machine's remix of the original TV series opening theme became a big hit. Now a new album will soon be released where artists Yuji Ono will once again remix the Takeshi Yamashita's 1971 original. The CD is due March 30th at 2625 Yen.

1-28-05---- Ichiro Awarded Nintendo Stock

Nintendo's Hiroshi Yamauchi has presented 5000 stock shares (worth about 58 million yen) to the Seattle Mariner's Ichiro on January 26. The gift congratulates his achievement of of 262 safe hits and the new most safe hit number record achieved last year. Mr. Yamauchi presented Ichiro the stocks upon his visit to Nintendo headquarters.

1-27-05---- Correction: Massive Pirate Anime DVD Bust In Hong Kong

On January 26th Hong Kong customs officers raided and shut down a group suspected of manufacturing and selling pirated DVD's. A cache of 240,000 DVD's was seized, valued at 6,000,000 HK dollars in Kowloon and Shatin. Arrests included 2 men and 2 women aged between 28 and 43 years. They are suspected to be the group's core members. After customs had executed a thorough investigation, the raid was authorized and occured at 4 PM on a Guantang goods warehouse, where 230,000 Japanese Animation DVD's were found, estimated to be worth 5,750,000 HK dollars. A later raid occured at a Shatin area location where a batch of suspected bootleg DVD's was scheduled to ship to America via aerial cargo transport. 10,000 Japanese Animation and Hong Kong Movie DVDs, valued at 250,000 HK dollars was seized. Hong Kong's Copyright Law states that any person found guilty of engaging in this sort of of piracy could face 4 years in prison and a 500,000 HK dollars fine. ANS could not confirm the name of the group.

1-27-05---- Yoshitaka Amano At Anizona

Anizona has announced Yoshitaka Amano as Guest Of Honor. Yoshitaka Amano; artist, graphic designer and mangaka will be making an appearance at AniZona 1 in 2005. His credits include character design and artwork for the Final Fantasy and Front Mission series of games, the manga turned anime phenomenon Vampire Hunter D, and art for Neil Gaiman's "Sandman: Dream Hunters" here in the U.S. He is also an accomplished artist with galleries currently in Switzerland and Germany. His artwork has also been exhibited in Los Angeles and New York. Mr. Amano hasn't made a U.S. anime convention appearance in several years. www.anizona.org

1-27-05---- Stratos 4 OAV DVD Release Details

The first DVD volume of Bandai Visual's OVA series Stratos Four Advance will hit the Japanese market on March 25. 6 volumes will make up the new series 1 being released every 2 months through Januray 2006. The limited edition special version will retail for 7,350 Yen and the regular version 6,090 Yen. A specially-made pressure suit apron with chest pad will be included in the limited edition DVD package. The story continues on from the former series and Merocua will perform the theme song. The official website for Stratos 4 can be accessed here.

1-27-05---- Japanese i-Tunes Finds

Livedoor Computers (Japanese) Shows how you can access the American i-Tunes Music Store from Japan and mentions it's rumored a Japanese version is soon to launch maybe by the end of the year. The overview is done with many pictures. Japanese content gets examined and it's discovered Hikaru Utada's latest domestic USA release can be downloaded. Other Japanese artists like Pizzicato Five and several anime related tunes (like the Anime Hits 2 Album).

1-27-05---- Synch Point To Rlease Aquarian Age The Movie

Synch-Point, the company that released the hit series FLCL, is proud to announce the upcoming release of Aquarian Age the Movie Limited Edition version and Standard Edition version. The Limited Edition includes: Limited Edition Trading Cards and Card Box, Aquarian Age - Juvenile Orion Graphic Novel volume 1 and Juvenile Orion key chain set of Kaname, Isshin and Naoya. The DVD bonus material contains an Aquarian Age trading card Tutorial, illustration gallery, and information booklet with character profiles, soundtrack notes, and epilogues. The Standard Edition will also include DVD bonus material and information booklet. Aquarian Age the Movie is based on the popular trading card game of the same name. Aquarian Age the Movie Soundtrack is also in the Limited Edition. It features the opening song gChange My Hearth by Yoko Takahashi (Neon Genesis Evangelion).

About Aquarian Age the Movie From MADHOUSE, the studio that brought you Metropolis, Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D, and X, with character designs by Haruhiko Mikimoto (Macross, Gundam), comes a tale of power and war where the fate of the world hangs on the brink.

Mayumi is the peaceful daughter of an E.G.O. leader. She has never been able to come to terms with her factionfs mission or her psychic abilities. Everything changes when a mysterious boy named Hokuto appears. He convinces a new generation of E.G.O., ARAYASHIKI, WIZ-DOM, and DARKLORE members that the world is in danger. The POLESTAR EMPIRE, led by the ambitious Emperor, seeks to conquer the universe by resurrecting dead warriors. Four young women will discover their own personal strengths to face the ultimate evil in the Aquarian Age, a chaotic period rife with war.

Limited Edition version ? Limited to 10,000 units. Pre-book date: February 28, 2005 Release date: March 22, 2005. SRP: $59.95 USD Standard Edition version, Pre-book date: March 14, 2005 Release date: April 19, 2005. SRP: $29.95 US

1-27-05---- Jump To Japan Exhibit Opens In Memphis

The "Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture through Popular Art" exhibition will open Saturday at The Children's Museum of Memphis. The display will introduce visitors to Japanese culture through hands-on activities based on animation, manga (comics), woodblock prints and traditional scrolls. "Jump to Japan" is included with museum admission. It is presented in English and Spanish. The museum at 2525 Central is open Tuesday-Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday noon-5 p.m. Admission is $7, $6 for children and seniors and free for museum members. For information, call 458-2678 or the information line at 320-3170. The Web site at cmom.com has coupons and information. Randy McKeel is public relations and marketing manager for The Children's Museum of Memphis.Source: Commercial Appeal

1-27-05---- 19th Digital Contents Grand Prix Winners

The DCAJ and The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced their winners for "The 19th Digital Contents Grand Prix" prize today in Tokyo. Winners in the Hit Contents Section include the Dragon Quest VIII which recieved the DCAj Chairman Prize, Yuji Horii was on hand to take the award. Taking the Excellent Prize was Mamaoru Oshii / Production I.G.'s Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa accpeted the award. Also taking the Excellent Prize is SHINCHOSHA's release of Densha Otoko.

1-27-05---- Shopro - Shueisha - Shogakukan - VIZ Tieup Latest

Analysis in the Japanese press regarding the just announced merger has revealed some interesting information. Although Americans have seen content coming out of Viz over the years from Shueisha and Shogakukan, in Japan, it shouldn't be forgotten that the 2 firms are actually rivals going into this new arrangement. Previously unreported in English also is news that investment into the new firm will occur in April (the same month given for the Bandai Visual USA operation start).

1-27-05---- Shochiku 2005 Movie Plans

The major Japanese film distributor Shochiku has announced it's lineup for fiscal year 2005 at the hotel in Tokyo on the 26th. A special screening of MAKOTO was carried out and 30 people related to project were on hand. 57 films are planned to be distributed throughout the year. Director Takeshi Kitano's professorship and the Tokyo University of Arts graduate school from this spring was clarified. It was revealed that his new film (details unpublished) due in the fall along with Director Sakamoto Junji's Boukoku No Ijisu will form 2 of the major pillars celebrating Shochiku's 110th anniversary. President Junichi Hasamoto mentioned he wanted to push large films including animation works with foreign market possibilities. Manga-wise, a live action film adaptation of Mizuki Shigeru's Gegege No Kitaro was announced for the first time for the coming year. The director will be Tsutsumi Yukihiko (Trick, Keizoku, Ikebukuro West Gate Park, 2LDK).

1-27-05---- Lifesize Gackt Figure Auction For Sumatra Quake Victims

A 1/1 scale replica figure of the popular recording artist Gackt will be auctioned to support the victims of the great Sumatra earthquake. The figure is made of silicon and stands 180 centimeters in height. The auction runs from the 26th to February 14th. For more information and images: www.clubdam.com/gackt

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