Thanks to Helen at Nemesis Records for informing us their label featuring artist, Kristine Sa was chosen for a special honor in the current issue of Newtype Magazine:
Newtype USA Magazine March 2003! Did you pick your copy yet?
We are proud to announce that we are chosen as one of Newtype USA’s featured links! You will find Nemesis Records on page 162 in the March 2003 issue of Newtype USA (I've included the feature below).
Please feel free to stop by and give us a shout hello!
NEMESIS RECORDS (www.nemesisrecords.com) was originally formed to records and produce music to exhibit Asian pop culture both in the US and Asia, and they are quickly becoming the ultimate bridge between Eastern and Western music cultures. This ultra trendy site, which features fly Asian artists, allows you to shop online for tunes and swank gear. After your credit card is exhausted, discuss Anime music, movies, and related media with other devoted fans on Nemesis Speak - otherwise known as the forum page. Join the Nemesis team by uploading your picture, URL or email address. This site also has happening links categorized by genre such as Anime, Party/Nightlife and so much more! Through music and media, Nemesis aims to introduce a thriving underground scene into mainstream consciousness. Music culture is about to change completely - welcome to the revolution.
You can of course scoop that issue up at Akadot Retail here
With a release scheduled for fall 2003, Dark Horse and Digital Manga will present Berserk as three volumes in a non-westernized format. Each volume will read from right to left and original Japanese sound effects will remain intact.
Further details expounding on last weeks initial public offerings are expected soon.
Ninja Scroll: The TV Series is on the way!
Spanning 13 episodes and written by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, the TV series
continues where Kawajiri's award-winning masterpiece left off! Currently in
production, the series will begin airing on WOWOW in Japan in April.
The series will make its home video debut first in the US this fall, with
the release in Japan following in winter.
You can find the schedule of interviews at this link. Interviews are scheduled to be posted on the 15th of each month. Our next AF interview is with John O'Donnell at Central Park Media.
For those of you who are interested, our January interview was with Terrance Walker of Studio ArtFX. You can read the interview with him and voice actor Mike Lightner at www.dvdvisionjapan.com/terry.html .
3-11-03---- New Manga Entertainment Releases
From www.manga.com via Daniel:
March 25, 2003 Fist of the North Star: Volume 1 [DVD] SRP=$24.95 Fist of the North Star: Volume 2 [DVD] SRP=$24.95
April 29, 2003 Rayearth [DVD] SRP=$24.95 Street Fighter II V: The Collection [DVD] SRP=$89.95
May 27, 2003 Read or Die [DVD] SRP=$29.95
June 29, 2003 Virus: Volume 3 [DVD] SRP=$24.95 Ninja Scroll - 10th Anniversary [DVD] SRP=$34.95
July 29, 2003 Kaidohmaru [DVD] SRP=$24.95 Fist of the North Star: Volume 3[DVD] SRP=$24.95 Fist of the North Star: Volume 4[DVD] SRP=$24.95
August 26, 2003 New Dominion Tank Police: Collection [DVD] SRP=$24.95 Dark Myth [DVD] SRP=$19.95
"Capcom has announced Onimusha 3 in a press conference in Japan. The 3rd installment of the hit survival action adventure game. This time there are two main characters: Jacque Bran and Akechi Samanosuke from Onimusha 1. The battlefield of Onimusha 3 is Paris in 2004, the city is suddenly attacked by Genma, in the blink of time, Paris becomes a nightmare city of the Genma demons, slaughtering people and soldiers one by one. Jacque Bran becomes the new Onimusha (demon warrior) to battle against the Genma demons, and he will encounter Akechi Samanosuke, who awaken once again to battle against the undying demon Oda Nobunaga.
Onimusha 3 features a dual hero system, which brings a deeper story, two different kinds of action. Jacque Bran will use guns as weapon, while Akechi Samanosuke will use swords as weapon. This is also the first time the series uses full 3D polygon backgrounds. Once again, the scenario and stories are created by Flagship. Akechi Samanosuke is played by the popular actor Takeshi Kaneshiro; and Jacque Bran, the latest Onimusha (demon warrior) is played by the French actor Jean Reno. Onimusha 3 is produced by Keiji Inafune; CG movie is produced by Mikitaka Kurasawa (Parasite Eve, Biohazard 0), directed by Takashi Yamazaki (Juvenile, Returner); and action director is the action star Donnie Yen (Iron Monkey, Blade 2)."
Onimusha Buraiden: The Magic Box "In addition to the announcement of Onimusha 3, Capcom has also revealed a new four players battle action game for PlayStation 2 called Onimusha Buraiden, which you can play solo or with your friends. In this game you can play the main characters, sub- characters and even Genma characters from the series, include Akechi Samanosuke, Kaede, Yagyu Jubei, and Oyu. "We pursued the true essence of a multi-player action game by using quick slices an ddices as well as flashy effects."
Thanks to Daniel for the link.
Tokyo Mint has announced that the fourth statue in its Love Hina line will be the Naru Narusegawa in Pink Statue, which is being pre-solicited in March for shipment in August. The Naru Narusegawa character is one of the most popular in the Love Hina series, and was the character featured in Tokyo Mint’s first, sold-out statue—the Naru Narusegawa Bikini Statue. This Naru statue features the character in a whimsical pose, in a pink top and teal skirt. The edition size for Naru in Pink will be only 600 pieces, the same edition as the Naru Bikini Statue. Each statue displays beautifully on a wooden base, and comes carefully packaged in an attractive color box (Japanese packaging with Tokyo Mint edition labeling). MSRP will be $129.
Pop Japan Travel is now offering more exclusive features that no other tour can offer.
Surprise Dinner Guest from the Anime Industry!
But that's not all yet! Pop Japan Travel is now featuring a new once-in-a-lifetime experience only offered through our spring 2003 tour. At the welcome dinner and ceremony scheduled for April 15, 2003, participants will not only have a chance meet and mingle with other participants and the Pop Japan Travel staff, but with a special surprise guest from the Anime industry! That's right, you'll be "wine-ing and dine-ing" with a surprise guest direct from the Japanese animation industry!
So who will the surprise guest be? Will it be an anime director? Anime character designer? Manga publisher? Voice actress? Music composer? Japanese idol? This secret is highly guarded by the staff from Digital Manga, Inc. (even H.I.S. doesn't know yet!). Only a select few know and vowed not to reveal the person's true identity! The only way to find out is on the ultimate Pop Japan Travel Tour! This is a one time deal, so don't miss out on the spring tour!
Click the icon to the left to goto the site and be sure to mention Anime News Service when inquiring or signing up!
Interview: TOMOYUKI FURUMAYA The director of the excellent, but much overlooked, BAD COMPANY (MABUDACHI) talks to Midnight Eye in an exclusive interview. Find out why it took him seven years to get around to making his second film. http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/tomoyuki_furumaya.shtml
Movie of the week: AN ACTOR'S REVENGE Kon Ichikawa's visual feast has finally received DVD treatment, making this the perfect time for a re-appraisal of what to many is one of the masterworks of Japanese cinema. http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/anactrev.shtml
Review: CONCENT Based on Randy Taguchi's novel, Shun Nakahara paints a portrait of female sexuality. But can he avoid the usual trappings? http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/concent.shtml
ANS learned Friday that the wait for fans wishing to enjoy Miura's graphic masterpiece in English will soon be over. As part of a special partnership between Digital Manga Publishing and Dark Horse Comics, Berserk will soon be hitting the street nationwide. Stay tuned in the next few days to ANS and Akadot.com for further details and an official announcement.
For exact details and more information, please visit: http://www.animationhq.net/v2/features/events.htm
Steve and John Conte have stepped outside of Crown Jewels for a new project: The Contes.
Their brand new "Bleed Together" CD is a mix of rock and roll, bossa nova, power pop, old school soul, dark lounge and Americana that shines a new light the brothers talents. In addition to their usual strengths, bassist John plays guitar, banjo and sings lead on a few songs while guitarist/singer Steve stretches out on keyboards, mandolin, six and four string bass, and handles some editing/sampling chores.
- Rounding out the record are some of the best musicians in the biz...
The lineup includes drummers Charley Drayton (Keith Richards, B-52s, diVinyls, Shelby Lynn), Nir Z (John Mayer, Genesis, Alana Davis), Aaron Comess (Spin Doctors, Joan Osborne) and Rich Pagano (Patti Smith, Ian Hunter). Multi-instrumentalist Mark Stewart (Paul Simon, Steve Reich) plays crazy, homemade instruments like the Chaladoo and the Uboingy, while The Uptown Horns (Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker ) alto flautist Danny Wilensky (James Brown, David Bowie, Steve Winwood) and violinist Antoine Silverman (Sheryl Crow) are the icing on the cake. The CD also features other members of the Conte family; mother Rosemary, an accomplished jazz singer adds scat vocals; while John's newborn son Leonardo makes his recording debut with his in-utero heartbeat.
Bleed Together was mixed at the world famous Hit Factory in NYC by veteran engineer/mixer Niko Bolas (Neil Young, Fiona Apple, Don Henley,etc.) The sessions were produced by Andrew Hollander with the Conte brothers and engineered by Robert L. Smith.
Source: http://www.crownjewelsnyc.com/
Hot in the Japanese conspiracy subculture presently is a new book detailing possible evidence of a secret subway network and city beneath the metropolis of Tokyo. A domestic Media Blackout has confronted journalist Shun Akiba's latest work, "Teito Tokyo Kakusareta Chikamono Himitsu" ("Imperial City Tokyo: Secret of a Hidden Underground Network"), despite having the book enter the fifth printing since it was first published in late 2002 by Yosensha. Akiba, who, during the 1991 Gulf War represented one of only two foreign journalists in Baghdad, says he has uncovered evidence of hundreds of kilometers of Tokyo tunnels whose purpose is unknown and whose very existence is denied. The Japan Times published an article on the controversy on March 1st. Quoting Akiba from the piece: "Tokyo is said to have 12 subways and 250 km of tunneling. I'd say that last figure is closer to 2,000 km."
BLACK ROSE MANSION (KURO BARA NO YAKATA) 1969, Vitagraph Films/American Cinematheque Presents, 90 min. Dir. Kinji Fukasaku. Famous drag-star/singer Akihiro Maruyama, fresh from success in Fukasaku's baroquely psychedelic BLACK LIZARD, returns in this feverishly perverse, campy follow up -- never before screened in the U.S.! Wealthy Eitaro Ozawa installs songbird "Black Rose" (Maruyama) in his elegant private men's club to bolster business -- but he gets more than he bargains for when she attracts scores of homicidal past lovers, and not only he but his ne'er-do-well son (Masakazu Tamura) end up falling for the femme fatale.
THE HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS, 2001, Shochiku, 113 min. A mind-bending change of pace for ultra-prolific, enfant terrible director Takashi Miike (AUDITION, DEAD OR ALIVE), HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS is a cheerfully grotesque, anything goes musical comedy about a quaint family-run inn in the Japanese mountains, where all the guests seem to die in bizarre fashion! Miike throws some hilariously surreal claymation animation into the mix, along with a delusional secret agent who thinks he's an illegitimate relation of the British Royal Family ("Diana! If only I was there!"), a well-endowed sumo wrestler and his underage girlfriend, and a whole host of karaoke-style musical numbers inspired by 1970's Japanese TV shows. With Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, Tetsura Tanba.
CITY OF LOST SOULS 2000, Daiei, 105 min. If you thought Takashi Miike couldn't top the ultra-violent thrills in DEAD OR ALIVE, think again. CITY OF LOST SOULS is a lyrical live action manga that explores dimensions of hitherto uncharted underworld violence as well as portraying a beautiful, unsentimental love story. Half-caste Japanese-Brazilian Mario (Teah) rescues his Chinese girlfriend Kei (Michele Reis) from being deported, then sabotages a coke deal, two incidents that spark a Chinese mafia vs. Japanese yakuza war and a frantic police manhunt. A stunning, brutally phantasmagorical fairy tale.
DVD (English, Japanese, Japanese with English Subtitles) Catalog#: RSDVD2031 Suggested Rating: 13+ ISBN: 1-57032-055-1 UPC#: 7-42617-2031-2-1 SRP: $24.95
Created and Produced by Satoru Akahori (MAZE TV / MASTER OF MOSQUITON / SABER MARIONETTE J / SORCERER HUNTERS TV) with Director Hiroshi Negi (BURN UP W / TENCHI MUYO MOVIE 1: TENCHI IN LOVE / TENCHI MUYO UNIVERSE TV), and Original Character Designs by Takehiko Ito (OUTLAW STAR)!
T-t-t-treasure?? Who cares about saving the world when there's treasure to be found! When Wan and his voracious appetite hook up with bossy little Mei-Mer and playboy Bud Mint, they won't let anything stand in their way (including each other) to find all that glitters!
Kidnapped by their mortal enemies, the Humans, our compatriots just happen to stumble upon the Humans' secret password - Dr. Password that is. In exchange for freeing his granddaughter Yuni, Password hands the greedy little gang the key to the greatest treasure the world has ever known! Of course they have no idea what it is or where it is, but they're not about to let the Humans get their grubby hands on it first! Now if they can only manage not to kill each other before they can find it...
Contains episodes 1-3.
Bonus DVD content includes: Outtakes, Character Bios, Translator Notes, Animated Art Gallery, Original Opening for Episode 1&2, Original Opening for Episode 3, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo for English and Japanese Dialogue, and English Subtitles, "Soft" Subtitles for On-screen Text, Right Stuf Trailers, and Scene Access
These news were carried by Website of Toru Furuya which performed the voice of Amuro (Gundam).
http://www.luvnet.com/peoples/pegasus/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sayla Mass (Gundam) died of cancer! Yoh Inoue died.(voice actor)
Yoh Inoue known for the role(voice) of Sayla Mass of "Mobile Suit Gundam" died of cancer. She was hospitalized in the end of 2001 for cancer, and was under medical treatment. She died at 9:29 a.m. on February 28. Her masterpiece is "Mobile Suit Gundam" and "Uruaei Yatsura."
Cinescape also says Resident Evil and the Ring are among the Saturn nominees for Best Horror Film. Spirited Away is nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film. Naomi Watts and Milla Jovovich are among the Saturn nominees for Best Actress for The Ring and RE respectively. Hayao Miyazaki, Cindy Davis Hewitt & Donald H. Hewitt are nominated for Best Writing for Spirited Away. Jo Hisaishi is nominated for Best Music for Spirited Away. Finally, Rick Baker, Jean A. Black & Bill Sturgeon are nominated for Best Make Up on The Ring.
Thanks to Daniel for the links.
He says that behind the popularity of Japanese pop culture in Asia lies the fact that, thanks to economic development, living standards in other Asian countries have now risen to levels similar to those in Japan.
Lifestyles and consumer culture in other Asian countries have also become much like those in Japan. And people in countries like China and South Korea seem to feel an ethnic and cultural affinity with the Japanese.
But none of this means that these people necessarily like or respect Japan, notes Ishizuka. Young people may not care at all where pop culture comes from, and hopes that pop culture will have a favorable impact on regional integration may prove overblown. One audience member at the journalists' meeting stated, "The closer you look, the more the idea of 'Asian values' appears to be a mirage."
While Ishizuka accepts that something positive may come from this new synthesis of pop culture in Asia as it undergoes globalization, he emphasizes the need to look at things more thoroughly in order to better discern trends. Source: Kyodo News
All Stories, Graphics And Material © Anime News Service Unless Otherwise Cited
Questions,Comments,News Submissions