Archive for 'Anime' Category

“K-ON!” live event in USJ Osaka

A special live performance event of a popular anime series “K-ON!” (http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/k-on/)was held at USJ  (Unversal Studios Japan http://www.usj.co.jp/e/)  in Osaka on this Nov.27th. The five popular voice actors,namely, Aki Toyosaki,Yoko Hikasa, Satomi Sato,Minako Kotobuki,and Ayana Taketatsu, playing the parts of the five main characters of the work appeared wearing the characters’ costumes on the open-air stage in front of the zealous audience of more than 5,000 most of whom were huge fans of the work or the actors.

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The first cosplay nationwide contest in Russia held

The first nationwide contest of cosplay of Japanese subculture in Russia was held  on Nov. 20-21 and a girl group of 23-year-old girl and 25-year-old girl won the grand prix.  This event was a program of  “J-FEST”, a promotion event of  various aspects of contemporary popculture of Japan, such as music, anime, fashion,and so forth hosted by the Japan Embassy in Russia.http://www.j-fest.org/

More than enrusiastic 800 people visited the J-FEST ,which was beyond the capacity of the venue in Moscow. At the cosplay event , 30 groups that had passed the preliminary contest out of 80 groups showed their Japanese popculture-related costumes. The winners were given tickets to take a travel to Japan, which made them quite happy and excited as they are interested in the anime and its related  cosplay culture’s “mecca” in Japan.

Doraemon Live-Action Ads stars Jean Reno and Satoshi Tsumabuki

Actor Jean Reno plays the robot cat Doraemon himself in the live-action commercial from Toyota Motor Corporation. The ad campaign depicts the characters of the classic children’s manga Doraemon in live-action, two decades after they grow up. The second ad, “Nobita’s Barbeque,” begins airing.

Jean Reno (Doraemon)

To play Doraemon with his handy four-dimensional pocket, Reno dons a white T-shirt, a blue suit, a blue cap, and a small bell around his neck.

Satoshi Tsumabuki (Nobita)

Since the first ad, actor Satoshi Tsumabuki (妻夫木聡）has been playing Nobita, the hapless owner of the manga’s title robot cat. Read the rest of this entry »

Rumor on live-action film adaptation of Akira manga

The Hollywood Reporter entertainment trade magazine reported about Warner Brothers’ live-action film adaptation of Akira manga.

It says Ezra Miller and Alden Ehrenreich are among the top contenders for the pivotal role of Tetsuo.

Ezra Miller

18-year-old Miller starred in the independent thriller We Need To Talk About Kevin and co-starred in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the 2012 film that Stephen Chbosky is directing from his own novel. He also appeared in recurring roles in the television series Californication and Royal Pains.

Alden Ehrenreich

21-year-old Ehrenreich starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s drama film Tetro in 2009. He also appeared in television guest roles in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Supernatural.

Tetsuo

The magazine describes Tetsuo as “a young man with telekinetic abilities who becomes a dangerous weapon.”

Akira manga

In 2002, talks that Warner Brothers had acquired rights to the create a live-action Akira film surfaced. Since then, a number of directors, producers and writers have been reported to be attached to the film.In 2009 Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon Levitt were the rumored stars in the film.

One Piece Anime Gets New 3D Event Anime Short in December

The Toei Animation announced it will release a new 3D anime short called “One Piece 3D Gekisō! Trap Coaster” at events starting December 1.

Poster of “One Piece 3D Gekisō! Trap Coaster”

The short will run about 12 minutes long and play at stereoscopic 3D theaters at Aichi Prefecture’s Lagunasia theme park, Nagasaki Prefecture’s Huis Ten Bosch theme park, Kanagawa Prefecture’s Yokohama Landmark Tower, and Hiroshima Prefecture’s NTT CRED Hall.

In March, Toei released the One Piece 3D: Mugiwara Chase anime short in a double-billing with Toriko 3D: Kaimaku Gourmet Adventure!! in theaters nationwide. The Lagunasia marine resort complex hosted a “One Piece Memorial Log in Lagunasia” attraction last year, and Huis Ten Bosch built a replica of the Thousand Sunny pirate ship from the anime and Eiichiro Oda’s original manga this year.

●Lagunasia theme park(Japanese website)
Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture
2011/12/1～2012/2/27
●Huis Ten Bosch theme park(Japanese website)
Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture
2011/12/10～
●Yokohama Landmark Tower(Japanese website)
Yokohama, Yokohama Prefecture
2011/12/9～2011/12/14
●NTT CRED Hall(Japanese website)
Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture
2011/12/23～2012/1/9

Disney streams trailer for Studio Ghibli’s Arrietty film

Disney began streaming a trailer for the North American-dubbed version of Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Studio Ghibli’s Arrietty film. The film, which will be titled “The Secret World of Arrietty”, will receive a theatrical run in North America starting on February 17.

The Secret World of Arrietty

The movie originally opened in Japanese theaters in July 2010 with supervision by Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki(宮崎駿）. The film also received a different English dub in the U.K. and ran in theaters there in August.

The Secret World of Arrietty

The film re-imagines Mary Norton’s 1952 novel The Borrowers by moving the story to a Tokyo suburb. The story revolves around Arrietty, a member of the “little people” who live under the floorboards of a regular human family’s home, and their struggle to remain hidden from the human “beans.”

Bridgit Mendler

Producer Frank Marshall revealed in January that Bridgit Mendler is voicing the title
character. Joining her in the cast are Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, David Henrie, and Carol Burnett.

EVANGELION STORE opening in Harajuku

“NEON GENESIS EVANGELION”, one of the most popular anime work series both in Japan and the world, is going to open its first “real ” or “physical” store of related items, “EVANGELION STORE” in Harajuku Tokyo on this Nov.23rd. http://www.evastore.jp/real/index.html

So far, that store chain has widely and successfully developed popular items and goods related to the anime work and prosperous as an online store chain. http://www.evastore.jp/pc/

The name of the new real store is “EVANGELION STORE TOKYO-01 ” , jointly operated by GroundWorks (http://gworks.biz/) and MOVIC (http://www.movic.jp/index.html), both of which operate the online store chain as well.

The location of the new store (1-8-23, Jingumae, Shibuya-ku,Tokyo) is in the quite popular and well-known area of  cosplay and subcultural fashions as well as a traditional Japanese culture where Meiji Shrine, one of the most popular Shinto shrines is located.  The area is popular the young and old or even foreign tourists with interesting harmonized atmosphere of  old and new aspects of Japanese culture.

This first real Evangelion Store is to be two-storied, whose first floor is featured with apparel an fashion sorts, and second floor is of  various kinds of Eva’s items expected to meet  requirements of  both ordinary fans and great lovers of the anime work series. The first floor also includes an event hall where various events of Eva series are to be hosted, such as some special events to promote the new anime movie “Evangelion new theatrical version:Q” which is planned to released in autumn 2012.

The management say they intend to enhance  more firsthand communications with fans and expect the fans to view and touch the items to feel the attractions more intensively. The store plans to host special presale events of related items  occasionally.

 

Chichibu City becomes holy site for “Anohi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai” anime fans

The city of Chichibu in Saitama has been attracting anime fans from throughout Japan since an animation series set there was broadcast on TV earlier this year.

©ANOHANA PROJECT

Young anime fans have flocked to the city since the airing from April to June of the animation “Anohi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (あの日見た花の名前を僕達はまだ知らない)” (We still don’t know the name of a flower we saw that day).

The animation, “Ano Hana” (That flower) for short, tells the story of a group of youngsters who reunite as friends several years after one dies in an accident during primary school.

©ANOHANA PROJECT

The tourism facility Hot Spot Chichibu-kan said it has been enjoying a 10-fold increase in visitors, thanks to Ano Hana fans.

Chichibu, known for its Buddhist temples for pilgrimage, previously attracted mainly middle-aged and elderly visitors.

Jorin Temple

But since Ano Hana, the make-up of those visitors has changed along with their reasons for making the pilgrimage to Chichibu.

Chichibu Shrine
Jorin Temple, one of the pilgrimage temples, appears as a scene in Ano Hana. It now has a shop selling wooden plaques and Japanese fans illustrated with characters from Ano Hana.

聖地巡礼マップ

In July, the Chichibu city government began distributing maps of spots where scenes in Ano Hana take place.

View Chichibu City in a larger map

Gundam AGE Anime’s TV CM

The official website for Sunrise’s Gundam AGE television anime series began streaming a 15-second television ad for the series.

Gundam AGE

Gundam AGE’s story will cover a century and three generations of Gundam pilots.

In the year A.G. 101 (Advanced Generation) ― several hundred years after human have migrated into space ― an Unknown Enemy (UE) suddenly attacks the space colony Angel and destroys it. This tragedy later became known as “The Day the Angel Fell From the Skies.”

In A.G. 108, the war with the UE comes to the home colony of seven-year-old Furitto Asuno. After losing his mother to the war, he is entrusted with the “AGE Device,” a memory unit which has been handed down from generation to generation in his family. The device contains blueprints for “Gundam,” an ancient mobile suit known as a savior. Furitto resolves to build the Gundam.

In the year A.G. 115, 14-year-old Furitto is at the Earth Federation base Arinsuton on the space colony Nora. For seven years, Furitto has continued developing with the base’s engineers, and at last the “Gundam” is complete. The Gundam is equipped with the AGE System, which allows the unit to automatically evolve. However, the UE has arrived at Nora, and Furitto must fight in the very Gundam he built himself.

Gundam AGE is set to premiere on October 9 in Japan.

Dragon Quest Ⅰ,Ⅱ,and Ⅲ are put in one game software of Wii to be released on Sep.15th

 ”Dragon Quest”, one of the most prevalent and popular video RPG series now is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and in one of the relevant momorial events, Nintendo will release “reprinted editions” of the first three games- Ⅰ，Ⅱ,and Ⅲ in one game software of  Nintendo Wii on this Sep.15th.   http://www.dragonquest.jp/25th/

 The original Dragon Quest Ⅰwas released as a Nintendo Famicon(FC) games in 1986 and Ⅱwas in 1987,and Ⅲwas in 1988. And Those three games were also released as reprinted editions of Nintendo SuperFamicon(SFC) game softwares in 1993 (ⅠandⅡ) and 1996 (Ⅲ).  Most of the game series’ works have been reprinted in several game machines even other than SFC, such as MSX, PlayStation and so forth.  

This newest “Wii edition” of  Ⅰ,Ⅱ, andⅢ in token of the 25th anniversary includes  both the three games of the original FC editon’s design and those of the SFC edition’s design.  The  original FC editons of Ⅰand Ⅱ 24-25 years ago did not have the saving system of the game data and they had so-called “the Spell of Rebirth/魔法の呪文”(password) to resume playing the game  after a switch-off.  However, a player can choose either the password system or the game data saving system with this Wii editon. And You could use even an old, old password 25 years ago, which will stimulate the nostalgic emotion full of  zeal of the huge fans who led their childhoods in those days and now are adults.  　

The Wii edition will also include reprinted edition of  a set of guidebooks that totally sum up to 130 pages , and only for the first pressing ones- a “Small Medal/ちいさなメダル”（a special small token coin）in its real scale. 

Dragon Quest X to be released in 2012

Game developer Square Enix Co. has announced it will release a new title in Dragon Quest series in 2012.

Dragon Quest is a series of internationally best-selling console role-playing video game titles created by Yuji Horii and his studio. The series is published by Square Enix, with localized versions of later installments for the Nintendo DS (NDS) being published by Nintendo outside of Japan.

“Dragon Quest X: Mezameshi Itsutsu no Shuzoku Online” (subtitle meaning “five awakened tribes”) is the first version of the series which allows users to play with others online, according to the company.

The game will be made for Nintendo’s home game console Wii, and its successor model Wii U, which will go on sale next year, while the price and exact release date for the software have yet to be announced.

The Dragon Quest series first hit the market in 1986 and its cumulative shipments have surpassed 58 million.

Lucky Star fans join festival at Washinomiya shrine

Fans of the comic and animated series “Lucky Star (らき☆すた)” took part in a festival Sunday in Kuki, Saitama Prefecture, which is home to the Washinomiya Shrine（鷲宮神社）, upon which a setting integral to the story of the series is based.

Washinomiya Shrine

Lucky Star is a Japanese four-panel comic strip manga by Kagami Yoshimizu. It’s story mainly portrays the lives of four girls attending a high school.

Lucky Star Manga

About 140 fans, some in costume, took turns carrying a portable shrine with Lucky Star characters painted on it as part of the shrine’s annual Haji Festival.

The number of visitors to the shrine began increasing after the Lucky Star comic series about an anime-loving high school girl was made into an animated TV series in 2007.

The Lucky Star portable shrine has been used in the festival since 2008.


Map of Washinomiya Shrine

View Washinomiya　Shrine in a larger map
 

Museum for Doraemon cartoonist opens in Kawasaki

A museum dedicated to the creator of the popular “Doraemon” cartoon series opened Saturday in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo, marking the fictional birthday of the titular cat-shaped robot.

The three-story Fujiko F. Fujio Museum features around 50,000 of his original drawings, of which about 130 are exhibited, along with a desk and other items the cartoonist used until his death in 1996, the facility’s operator said.

Many of the 500 people with tickets to be among the first intake of visitors entered the museum from 10 a.m. Tickets for a total of 2,000 first-day visitors sold out within two hours of their release.

Fujiko F. Fujio Museum

Opening Date: September 3rd, 2011, Saturday
Open Hours: 10:00-18:00
Holidays: Tuesdays and from December 30th through January 3rd
Each day, entrance time is divided into quarterly time-schedule.
(1)10:00 (2)12:00 (3)14:00 (4)16:00

View Fujiko F. Museum in a larger map

Location: 2-chome 8-1 Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki-city, Kanagawa Prefecture

Gundam plastic model world championships under way

Bandai Co. is holding through December its first international competition for making plastic models based on the ”Mobile Suit Gundam” animation series.

The winners of preliminary rounds in 13 countries and territories including Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and the United States are to advance to the final to be held in Hong Kong in December.

The Gunpla Builders World Cup event is divided into two divisions; an open class for contestants 15 years old and above, and a junior class for under-15s.

Gunpla refers to plastic models of any of the robots or battleships from the Gundam series, according to Bandai.

There are several entry conditions, including using Bandai’s genuine products and creating a work no larger than 50 centimeters square.

Submissions in Japan are being accepted from July 25 until Sept. 9.

‘Azuma Kyotarou’, a brand-new cartoonist born in Sanriku Town made a brilliant debut in the popular magazine

[From Ohfunato City-my stricken home town]

- East Japan Great Earthquake & Tsunami Disaster-

A good news for Tsunami stricken Sanriku Town

A cartoonist Azuma Kyotarou (21) has started serial comic strips in the September issue of Monthly Shonen Sirius published by Kodansha. His hometown is Okirai, Sanriku Town where had a serious damages at the tsunami on March 11. Local citizens in his hometown are glad to hear this good news. Mr. Azuma was graduated from Ohfunato Senior High School after finished study at Sakihama Elementary and Okirai Junior High.

He was first interested in drawing manga in his senior high school days, and spent over 6 hours a day for drawing on weekends and holidays in his senior high. A 2^nd grade student in Ohfunato Senior High strengthened his determination to become cartoonist and entered to JAM or Japan Animation & Manga Vocational College in Niigata Prefecture after graduation from senior high.

While attending to JAM, the young would be cartoonist entered a prize contest ‘a budding cartoonist of the year’ sponsored by the magazine ‘Monthly Shonen Sirius published by Kodansha and received the encouragement prize. He entered prize contests for budding cartoonists every time and could receive a quasi-winning work several times. The chief editor of the magazine recommended him to draw serial comics in February. Then, he left for the capital soon after the graduation from JAM.  He has started working for the serials from May, which will be issued in September.

The title of the comics is ‘Sacred Seven’ which is one of the popular animations has been shown on TV from July. The original author is Mr. Hajime Yatate.

Hajime Yatate (矢立 肇) is a pseudonym for the collective contributions of animation staff‘ from ‘Sunrise Co.’ one of the most popular animation production companies.  “Hajime Yatate” is considered named after a quote of Matsuo Bashou’s ‘Okuno Hosomichi.’是を矢立の初めとして、行く道なほ進まず (Kore wo yatate no hajime toshite, Ikumichi naho susumazu). This was the first time I used my travel writing implements, and I was still reluctant to venture farther. It is mainly used as a copyright holder.

‘I would like to arrange the story on my way without disturbing thought of the original story.’ A brand new cartoonist expressed.

He is now working on the second story which will be shown in the October issue. ‘I suppose that tsunami victims in my town faced to severe experiences. I would like to support them through my hard work on drawing cartoons.’ Mr. Azuma strengthened his determination.

In October, ‘Sacred Seven’ in his story will be published in book form.

＜Reference＞

http://www.tohkaishimpo.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/

View Sanriku Town in a larger map