Anime News Network is reporting that director Takuji Endo, who was the animation director (but not the overall director) of Patlabor: WXIII, and also worked on Record of Lodoss War, Captain Harlock: Endless Odyssey, and the X/1999 OVA has passed away, of unspecified causes.
Category Archives: Anime
Notes from Crunchyroll & Production IG’s panels
We’ve got a few more notes from day for of Anime Expo, this time from AnimeVice.com. Production IG (who did the Ghost in the Shell anime), announced that they are working on an anime series with Film Roman, based on Electronic Arts upcoming Dante’s Inferno game. This is the second EA game to have an animated tie-in – Dead Space had a motion comic and an animated film tying into the game as well.
Crunchyroll announced several new series that they’d be streaming, and a few they’d be similcasting, including the second season of Hayate The Combat Butler, Naruto Shippuden, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, and some others. Also, some of thse shows will becoming “catalog” titles, meaning once the show has completed they will still have episodes available for streaming on the site.
Licence notes from Anime Expo
Well, in addition to the 4th of July festivities going on across the US this weekend, we’ve also got another event going on in the US – Anime Expo in Southern California. While I was not able to attend this year, I was able to get some information from other sites about the new licences and so forth coming from the convention. All of this is courtasy of Anime News Network. Continue reading →
Weekend Review – Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Well, most of the anime I’ve reviewed fairly recently has been older stuff. However, I’ve now watched Gainax’s most recent mecha series, Gurren Lagann. So, does its drill pierce the heavens, or does it kick good taste to the curb and make the horrible possible? Continue reading →
Diamond Drops Additional Anime, Manga
Anime News Network is reporting that Diamond is dropping some additional anime and manga from their offerings. They’d previously dropped some additional titles back in March, notably the Ponyo On The Cliff by The Sea manga, adapted from the film of the same title by Hayao Miyazaki (which will be released in theaters later this summer.
In this wave they’re dropping (among other things) the 3rd and final DVD of Gurren Lagann, which is the point in the series where the series goes what can be concervatively described as bat-dren awesome. Continue reading →
Weekend Review – Patlabor The Movie 3: WXIII
We now come to the final installment (thus far) of the Patlabor Franchise – WXIII, set between the first two movies, in OVA continuity, but featuring little-to-no-members of the original cast, and with a new director for the franchise, and a new writer for the franchise, and a focus on the detective side of the equasion, rather then the giant-robot side. Does it still work, or not so much? Continue reading →
Blade of the Immortal anime licensed
Anime News Network is reporting that the Blade of the Immortal anime which aired this past season in Japan, has been licenced by Media Blasters. The series, which was produced by Bee Train (The .hack franchise, as well as in-between work on Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex) focuses on Manji, a ronin samurai cursed with immortality until he kills 1000 evil men to make up for the good men he killed. We have previously reviewed the first installment of the series, but I cannot for the life of me find the review.
Meda Blasters is planning to do a dub for the series, but they have yet to announce the studio to do the dub.
Central Park Media’s Licences Liquidating
Anime News Network is reporting that MYC & Associates, the trustee for Central Park Media’s assets now that they’ve filed for bankruptcy, has begun liquidating CPM’s licenses, and material related to those licences (DVD packaging design, and the subtitles).
More news on the results of the auction will be posted as it arrives.
Weekend Review – Patlabor The Movie 2
This weekend’s review, takes us out of the Patlabor TV continuity, and back to the OVA continuity, with a sequel to the first movie, set several years later, and also puts the franchise back in the hands of Oshii, who brought this movie out before Ghost In The Shell, but after the creation of his (in)famous Jin-Roh franchise, and his first live-action film, which was also in the Jin-Roh series. Can he bring the funny back, or will we start seeing some of the humor-less tone of his later works? Continue reading →
Possible English re-release of Ghost in the Shell, Akira Manga
Anime News Network is reporting that the first volume of the Akira and Ghost in the Shell manga are currently up for pre-order on Amazon.com. Making the fact that both of these manga are coming back into print slightly more notable is that the titles are not being published by Dark Horse Comics, their previous licensor, but by Kodansha Comics. Kodansha is the Japanese rightsholder for both of these titles, and published the original manga for both titles in Young Magazine.
Dark Horse is the licensor of several other Kodansha titles, including You’re Under Arrest, Oh! My Goddess, Gunsmith Cats, and Blade of the Immortal.