Category — Anime

I’ve uploaded photos from Anime North here

Anime News Network mentions here that Studio Ghibli’s next film will be based on Ursula K. Leguin’s Earthsea novels. It’s called “Gedo Senki (Record of the Gedo War) – Tales from Earthsea”. It’s directed by Goro Miyazaki, Hayao Miyazaki’s son. Here’s the poster, but also check out Ghibli’s homepage for a different version.

The new FPS Magazine is up and it has my review of Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Second Gig Volume One in it.

The latest issue of FPS is available here. I’ve got a review of Paranoia Agent Vol. 3 in it. Oddly enough, I think I like the bio I wrote more then the actual review.

Speaking of anime, the english website for Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle has the trailer.

The website for the anime OVA Dead Leaves will be streaming the entire OVA for free tomorrow. This was made by the creators for FLCL, so prepare you brain for breakage!

There a really funny and interesting interview with Jhonen Vasquez, creater of Invader Zim, here.

I love telling stories, but I don’t like knowing I have to fight to the edge of insanity to convince someone that a little bit of the bizarre is really worth it. The best example is Iggins flying away from the crashed elevator at the end of Gameslave 2. We could not just end the episode and have it implied that Iggins died in the crash because that would be bad, and killing children is bad, and bad things… are bad.

…

In the Gameslave 2 case, we were told that Iggins had to be alive. So I decided that Iggins would fly out of the rubble like Superman. This actually resulted in lengthy discussions, meetings, and conference calls with higher-ups from the network, all because Iggins flies at the end. I mean, the kid is SO not dead, so very healthy that he now has the ability to FLY!! How much better can you get than that? They thought we were making fun of them. That’s when I blew my head off in frustration and became a crime-fighting ghost.

Why someone though that letting the guy who created a comic called Johnny the Homicidal Maniac make a saturday morning cartoon show I will never know. But I do thank them for it.

A quick Witch Hunter Robin review:

Witch Hunter Robin is about a young woman named Robin who joins the japanese branch of an organization called STN. STN hunts down witches; a witch being a person who have supernatural powers and uses them for evil. Robin is a craft user herself, she’s pyrokinetic, as are some of her co-workers at STN-J, but only people labled as witches by STN are hunted down. Unlike the rest of the STN, STN-J doesn’t kill the witches they hunt, instead their carted off to The Factory. No one seems to know what happens to them next.

The show is a bit like a gothic anime version of The X-Files, at least at first. The initial episodes are self contained witch-of-the-week stories. We’re introduced to the rest of the hunters on the team and see how they deal with various witches and their powers.

These episodes are the weakest in the series. At there worst you’ll realise who the witch is, or what’s really going on, in the first ten minutes and then spend the rest of episodes waiting for the characters to figure it out. Even then, the characters and premise are interesting enough to keep you watching. After about ten episodes though an ongoing plot kicks in and the show really takes off. I just wish that the plot had started a bit earlier in the show.

There’s no panty shots and no one turns in to a panda, so if you’re looking for that kind of anime you’ll be disapointed. I haven’t seen the final 4 episodes yet, so it could end badly, but I’d recommend checking it out on YTV when it starts airing in September.

Anime News Network reports that YTV will start showing Witch Hunter Robin on Sept. 10th at 10:30PM

AnimatedBliss.com – DAILY NEWS » Hayao Miyazaki: DVD Wave II

FROM HAYAO MIYAZAKI, THE ACADEMY AWARD WINNING FILMMAKER OF “SPIRITED AWAY”

MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO

NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND

PORCO ROSSO

THREE ANIMATED MASTERPIECES ON 2-DISC DVD FOR THE FIRST TIME ON AUGUST 31

Brand New, Star Talent English Language Tracks And Bonus Materials Included On Each DVD Title

BURBANK, Calif., March 22, 2004 -Walt Disney Home Entertainment and Studio Ghibli proudly present three animated masterpieces from Hayao Miyazaki, the genius filmmaker of “Spirited Away”, the Academy Award winner for the Best Animated Feature Film of 2002. MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND and PORCO ROSSO will each be available for the first time on a 2-disc DVD on August 31. These remarkable films each include a brand-new, stellar English language voice cast and on DVD also feature the original Japanese language track; complete storyboards; featurettes that go behind the microphone and more, presented in a pristine digital picture for the best possible viewing experience. With a unique blend of entertaining storytelling, imagination, compelling characters and stunning artistry, each of these magical and mystical worlds will enchant and delight audiences of all ages.

Cartoon blamed for youth’s fatal beating on mom

In opening statements at the trial of Hiroyuki Tsuchida, 22, prosecutors claimed that watching the science-fiction cartoon “Neon Genesis Evangelion” had made Tsuchida believe a phrase in it that said, “The ultimate conclusion of (human) evolution is ruin.”

They said the youth fatally smashed his mother in the head with a baseball bat at about 2 p.m. on June 25, thinking that if he killed family members he would not hesitate when murdering others.

I’ve read that Fans sent death threats to the Director after watching the last two episodes of the TV show. And the Japanese tagline for the “End Of Eva” movie was “Wouldn’t it be nice, if everyone would just…die?”. Wooooooo creepy…