Anime News Service - July 8 Anime News

7-8-04

- Chicago's Daily Herald has an article on Godzilla fans who gonna gather outside the city for G-Fest 11.
- "BOYS OVER FLOWERS" VOLUMES ONE AND TWO
2-5 p.m., Ann Arbor District Library, Malletts Creek Branch, 3090 E. Eisenhower Parkway. Part of the library's anime festival, this is the tale of Tsukushi Makino, an average teenager struggling to survive bullies, class work and romance at an elite high school. Free. Information: (734) 327-4200. mlive.com
- Nameko Team mentions the DVD-based visual novels Tea Society of a Witch (Majo no Ochakai) and Hourglass of Summer (Natsuiro no Sunadokei) are now available for preorder on Hirameki's retail site AkibaOtaku. Both are scheduled for release on August 6. The English versions of the titles were demonstrated at Hirameki's booth at Anime Expo '04, and example packaging for both games was on display. Tea Society of a Witch's packaging consisted of a double-DVD-size slipcase, with room for the game's case and an included artbook. http://www.akibaotaku.com
- iafrica.com mentions label Givenchy used a cartoon film in it's line promotion that was of manga influence to explain how a London tailor found himself in a Paris couture house.
- The Japanese publisher From Software has acquired the worldwide copyright and trademark for Tecmo's Tenchu Series (previously held by Activision). From looks to branch the franchise out into other forms of media, such as anime or movies, in the future. Yahoo
- Brian Ruh's Latest Pop Matters Column on the business of anime bootlegs
- NPR Audio Segments On Anime DVD titles: Day To Day Audio Link 1 - Link 2
- Planet Game Cube: KONAMI HOSTS YU-GI-OH! U.S. FINALS AND WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2004 TOURNAMENTS

7-8-04---- Tokyopop Manga Announcements - AX2004

Anime Expo, Anaheim, CA (July 4, 2004) As part of its resolution to continue providing the world's best entertainment, TOKYOPOP Inc. is pleased to give manga fans an amazing start to the New Year. The country's leading publisher of graphic novels has put its manga where its mouth is with the publication of Peach Fuzz by Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges, a Grand Prize entry from the company's Rising Stars of Manga competition. Readers will also delight in DearS, an out-of-this-world fan-favorite that inspired the popular anime series. Rounding out the January revelry are Hyper Police, Lagoon Engine, Master School Olympus and Soul to Seoul, all guaranteed to usher in the new year with a bang. Read on...

Peach Fuzz (Comedy, Volume 1 Release: 1/11/05) An adorable, whimsical narrative by Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges, Peach Fuzz tells the story of an unusual odd couple: Amanda, an enthusiastic but lonely young girl, and Peach, a prissy ferret with a royalty complex! The heartfelt tale is based on the creators' winning entry in TOKYOPOP's second Rising Stars of Manga competition.

DearS (Comedy/Romance, Volume 1 Release: 1/11/05) Beautiful aliens, known as "DearS", are an everyday part of society. High school student Takeya comes to the rescue of Ren, a particularly gorgeous member of the DearS...and thus begins manga-ka Peach Pit's boy-meets-alien-girl story in the tradition of Chobits and Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden.

Hyper Police (Comedy, Volume 1 Release: 1/11/05) In the future, demons and monsters have replaced humans! Creator Mee (Kotetsu no Daiboken-"Kotetsu's Great Adventures") tells the story of Natsuki, a powerful but clumsy cat-girl who works as a bounty hunter. Her job is to track down wanted monsters...and bring them back dead or alive!

Lagoon Engine (Fantasy, Volume 1 Release: 1/11/05) From Yukiru Sugizaki, the best-selling creator of D.N.Angel, comes a supernatural yarn about Yen and Jin, two brothers who are successors to the family craft of defeating evil spirits. Battling ghosts is a game of guessing your opponent's "name." Both Yen and Jin have secret names only they know...and must keep private or risk death!

Master School Olympus (Fantasy/Action, Volume 1 Release: 1/11/05) Son Hee-Joon (Yureka) delivers an action-packed manga with Master School Olympus. Sang is a fearlessly spunky young girl in search of the Demon School Hades, where only monsters can attend. Intrigue and hijinks unfold as Sang finds a way to become a monster-and begins a fantastic adventure in a devilish domain!

Soul to Seoul (Drama, Volume 1 Release: 1/11/05) Ji-Eun Kim presents a hard-hitting, passionate story about Kai, an American student who is half-Korean and half-Caucasian. Kai feels out of place because of his mixed heritage. When his arrogant and obnoxious cousin from Korea comes to study in America, Kai has to sort out his feelings about his family...and himself.

7-8-04---- Bandai Cracks Down On DVD Piracy

Cypress, CA (July 7, 2004) —Bandai Entertainment announced today that it has served lawsuits against several retailers for engaging in the duplication, importation, distribution, and/or sale of unauthorized merchandise infringing upon copyrighted and trademarked properties at this year’s Anime Expo convention in Anaheim, California. Defendants in Bandai’s lawsuit include:

Otaku Entertainment, Inc., dba MANGA HOUSE EJ International, Inc., dba ABCTOY4ME.COM and ANIMECIRCLE.COM Anime Combo MTWC Group, Inc., dba Kawaii Anime and Kawaii-Anime.com John Lo, Inc., dba House of Anime and Houseofanime.com

“The increased proliferation of counterfeit merchandise and DVD piracy of Japanese animated properties has gone on for too long”, states Ken Iyadomi, Executive Vice President of Bandai Entertainment. “The time has come to take a stand against the flood of cheap knockoffs and blatant bootlegs. The vendors who sell pirated merchandise, CDs, and DVDs are causing huge economic losses for legitimate businesses and must be stopped.”

With the full cooperation of all those who participate in the creation and distribution of these products in Japan and elsewhere - Bandai Entertainment aims to aggressively protect its intellectual property rights and licenses through these actions and hopes that these lawsuits will send a clear message to other retailers and distributors that distributing counterfeit or bootleg DVDs and merchandise will not be tolerated. Consumers and retailers are urged to contact Bandai Entertainment at support@bandai-ent.com to report other distributors suspected of selling counterfeit DVDs and merchandise.

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