Anime News Network has an article reporting that Japan will begin “automatically search for videos that were submitted without authorization and demand that site administrators delete the unauthorized materials.”

They will apparently only monitor a few bigger anime titles at first, but I expect that if this initiative bears fruit we could see it expand. There is also ambition to extend their reach to China, one of the worst piracy offenders. But as we all know, legal battles can be laborious at best in the Middle Kingdom. Read the rest of this entry »

Amazingly popular anime Naruto has been in filler mode for over a year now. For those who don’t know, filler episodes are made-up stories by the anime production company (although there can be some short fillers made by the manga-ka themselves) to allow the manga storyline some buffer before animating it. This has been controversial in the past, because the quality of the filler storyline is quite often very poor. In the case of the Rurouni Kenshin filler, the popularity of the show decreased to the point where it was cancelled and the animating of the next arc never went ahead.

This Naruto filler has been painful for me. It’s generally a single episode story, maybe extending to three episode long arcs, and are usually very stupid, ie: the punchline is that Naruto farts at the wrong time.

So it’s a huge relief to hear that the filler will end this coming spring! The next arc in the manga will have Naruto two and a half years older – now aged 15! The characters have been redesigned to show their new ages and it’s looking very awesome. This new Naruto will be called “Naruto: Shippuuden” (Naruto: The Hurricane Chronicles) and accompanying it will be yet another animated movie, later this year. Yay!

Seeing how no one’s commented on my last post yet, figured I’d move right along to other topics in the meantime, such as the brand-new Death Note anime that will be premiering today in Japan. The anime is pretty highly anticipated because the manga has been a top seller nearly since its incarnation in 2004 (12 tankubons are available in Japan, and 8 in North America to date), and boasts some recognized names in voice acting, with Yamaguchi Kappei playing L and Miyano Mamoru as Light. The anime is being produced by Madhouse and broadcast on NTV.

I won’t say too much since this is a title I’ll likely review over the next few weeks, but I figured a quick blurb about it would tip off or remind anyone wanting to catch the premiere. As of yet, no English adaptation is planned, but since the manga is available in North America, I wouldn’t count one out just yet.

NTV ‘S Death Note Site

Madhouse’s Death Note Site

Just hours after my last post, Viz issued a press release stating that they had indeed acquired the license to the popular Bleach anime. Seeing how they distribute the manga currently, most of us were probably just waiting for it to happen. It seems as though it will see an English television release, though the details have not yet been set in stone.

Links:
Bleach review

There is a rumour abound that Bleach, the popular anime adaption of Kubo Tite’s manga series, has been licensed by Viz for distribution in North America. At this time it has not been confirmed, so I’m posting this to let people know that…of course, seeing how well it’s doing in Japan and the manga has been faring over here so far, it may be that they are waiting for convention season to get started before they break the news. Let’s hope for the best!

Big news! Last weekend at MegaCon, FUNimation announced that they have obtained the rights to the Fullmetal Alchemist feature film, Conqueror of Shamballa. This was expected, of course (we were told at Ohayocon that FUNi was working to secure the license), but this is the first concrete news. It’s not known yet when it’ll be seeing a North America-wide release, so stay tuned!

Source: Anime News Network

More on Fullmetal Alchemist!

Every once in a while I try to review something so obscure and youthful that it is impossible to obtain in its original Japanese with English subtitles (oops). Today that show will be Duel Masters.

This anime (the manga runs in the monthy CoroCoro Comic magazine) is about a boy named Shobu Kirifuda who plays a game called “Duel Masters” (in the early manga, he plays Magic: The Gathering). In Shobu’s world, the players can bring the monsters to life using a fictional martial art called “kaijudo” (actually a marketing term created to sell the game in America). Shobu aims to become a “Kaijudo master” like his father, Shori Kirifuda. Shobu fights opponents from the evil temple run by the mysterious Master in Season One. In the American created Season Two, Shobu battles the evil organization P.L.O.O.P. and their plans to use monsters from the Civilization Realms to take over Earth. The Japanese version has a separate second season entitled Duel Masters Charge, which is based on more of the manga and features characters that do not appear in the American second season, including a character named “Great Baketsuman”. It is unknown when or if the Japanese 2nd season will air in America. If the Japanese second season were to be broadcast in America, it would have to be changed to accommodate the American 2nd season – it is also unknown why a separate 2nd season was created for America in the first place.

To contibute links for this page – I couldn’t find any other than the site for the Rockman.EXE/Duel Masters double feature movie – please comment!

Source: Wikipedia

Sorry for the slow stretch! As promised, there’s more info on the new Fullmetal Alchemist OAV set, thanks to Anime News Network. Titled the “Premium Collection,” it will contain the movie that has been featured at Universal Studios Japan (the Hagaren-themed ride, I am told, is the first anime – well, non-Universal animation – attraction to be featured there, by the way) as well as three new, short OAVs. It will retail for 3990 yen and releases on March 29th.

Source: Jbooks

I’m here in Columbus now and this weekend’s Ohayocon report will be forthcoming!

In the meantime, I have a tidbit of news that is not yet confirmed, but I heard during the Q&A at the Fullmetal Alchemist new dub episodes premiere yesterday evening. It’s rumoured that 4 OAVs have been announced for later this year! I’ll report more on it when we have details and confirmation, so stay tuned and I’ll see you all when I get back home!

Cowboy Bebop (カウボーイビバップ, but most often written in English, even in Japan) is an anime series directed by Shinichiro Watanabe that initially ran starting in 1998. The show was quite popular there and has also been widely popular in the United States, often credited with significantly broadening the popularity of anime in North America. Bandai licensed Cowboy Bebop in the United States. Two manga series were created based on the TV show, one titled Cowboy Bebop by Hajime Yatate and Yutaka Nanten and a second entitled Cowboy Bebop Shooting Star by Cain Kuga; TOKYOPOP publishes both the first and second series in English. Both were published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten.

In the year 2071, the crew of the ship, Bebop, travel around the solar system, trying to catch “bounty-heads.” In the slang of the era, “cowboys” are bounty hunters, hence the name of the series. Each member of the Bebop crew contribute their own unique abilities to help catch bounty heads. Most episodes revolve around a bounty; however the real focus of the show concerns the pasts of each character, which unravel and connect as the series progresses.

The main plot line focuses on Spike Spiegel, whose syndicate past begins to catch up with him three years after he left. The secondary plot deals with Faye Valentine, a woman whose past is a mystery to even herself. She too, must deal with her past, as well as her debt-ridden present.

The show was widely respected for its multiple layers and deep characters, combined with a very free-flowing feel to the story itself (heavily influenced by American culture, especially the jazz movements of the 1940s, hence “bebop”) and a large number of well-choreographed action sequences (from space battles to hand-to-hand combat).

Links:

CowboyBebop.org
The-Bebop
The Jazz Messengers
Somewhere Down the Crazy River

Source: Wikipedia