Biohazard (Resident Evil) CG Anime Film Announced
October 30, 2007
CAPCOM and Sony Pictures Entertainment of Japan have announced on October 29 a joint project to produce Biohazard: Degeneration, a fully computer-animated film in the Biohazard horror franchise (known as Resident Evil in North America and Europe). Sony Pictures Entertainment of America has already produced live-action films based on the franchise. The computer-animated movie will be an original story. The videogame franchise established the survival horror subgenre of games and have sold 33 million copies worldwide. Each of the three live-action films have earned over 100 million dollars in worldwide box office receipts.
Japan’s Defense Ministry to Explore ‘Realizing’ Gundam
October 30, 2007
The Technical Research and Development Institute in Japan’s Ministry of Defense has posted on its website the programGundam (Advanced Personal Equipment System).” The exhibit runs alongside another one for a “Miniature Robot (for Reconnaissance and Data Gathering).” No other information on either exhibit is provided on the symposium’s webpage. The Japanese government and its nominally non-military Self-Defense Force have often used tangentially related elements of popular culture to attract young people for recruitment and public relations. The Ministry of Defense created three manga bookletsPrince Pickles to explain its mission to its citizens, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has Detective Conanexplaining its mission. The Maritime Self-Defense Force has recruited new sailors with idol group and sentai imagery. for its Heisei 19 Research Paper Presentation: Defense Technology Symposium 2007 on October 29, and the November 7-8 symposium’s schedule includes a ground equipment exhibit titled: “Towards the Realization of for its mascot
The Japanese animation industry, particularly the animation company Sunrise, considers the 1979-1980 Mobile Suit Gundam television series to be the progenitor of the so-called “real robot” genre after the more fanciful “super robot” genre of the Sixties and Seventies. Sunrise has openly noted that Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino drew some inspiration from the humanoid powered suits of Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, although the mobile suit robots of Gundam are ten times the size of humans (18 meters, or the same size as the super robot pioneer Mazinger Z).
A spokesperson for Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture declared earlier this month, after six of its employees were reprimanded for editing the Japanese Wikipedia encyclopedia article on Gundam during work hours, that “the Ministry of Agriculture is not in charge of Gundam.”
Classic Shojo Manga Anmitsu-hime Gets Television Drama
October 30, 2007
Anmitsu-hime, Shosuke Kurakane’s classic shojo comedy manga series that first ran from 1949 to 1955, is being revived in a live-action television drama special that will air on Japan’s Fuji TV next January. Mao Inoue (live-action Hana Yori Dango’s film series, a 1983-84 live-action drama television series starring Kyoko Koizumi, a 1986-87 manga remake by Izumi Takemoto in Nakayoshi magazine, and a 1986-87 anime television series by Studio Pierrot. Tsukushi) will star as Anmitsu-hime, a headstrong princess who gets into mischief in a fanciful feudal land known as Amakara. The original manga had already spawned a 1954-60 live-action
Variety Interviews Tokyopop CEO, Covers Film Projects
October 29, 2007
Two articles from the international film industry newspaper Variety look at the past, present, and future of American manga publisher Tokyopop. The first of these articles by journalist Thomas McLean is an interview with Stuart Levy, Tokyopop’s founder and chief executive officer. Levy talks about the history of the company and describes the difficulties Tokyopop faced when it was first trying to introduce unflipped book-length manga into the American retail market. He then reaffirms that Tokyopop’s ultimate goal is to become a “worldwide brand” that produces entertainment content in its own right, rather than just licensing existing titles from other companies.
The second article, which is also written by McLean, examines several details of Tokyopop’s move beyond licensing and translation of manga. Although several Hollywood movie studios are potentially interested in developing live-action adaptations of some of Tokyopop’s licensed and original manga, successfully translating these works to film remains a major challenge. At least three films based on Tokyopop titles are currently in various stages of development in studios, but the company is also looking to independently produce shorts based on several of their properties such as I Luv Halloween, Van Von Hunter and Princess Ai.
Artist Takashi Murakami to Premiere Anime Short in LA
October 29, 2007
The Variety entertainment industry newspaper reports that Takashi Murakami, the pioneer of the anime-influenced “Superflat” style of modern art, will premiere his own anime short at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles on September 29. The 10-minute episode is the first one of the kaikai & kiki series, which features two of his iconic characters as drawn by his 100-person Kaikai Kiki studio in Tokyo. The episode is part of the museum’s “©Murakami” exhibition of the artist’s work, which also opens on October 29 and ends on February 11. Members of the museum can attend a free opening event on October 27, and Chief Curator Paul Schimmel will lead a free walkthrough for any visitor on November 8.
Variety and manga publisher Tokyopop are also presenting a “Animation Future Art” panel with Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, Tokyopop CEO Stu Levy, Bee Movie directors Steve Hickner and Simon J. Smith, and others on October 27.
Negative Happy Chain Saw Edge Premieres in Tokyo
October 29, 2007
The live-action film adaptation of the light novel Negative Happy Chain Saw Edge has made its world premiere at the 20th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) on Thursday. The original novel is the debut work of author Tatsuhiko Takimoto, who also created the light novel and manga series Welcome to the N.H.K.! (NHK ni Y?koso!). A preview and synopsis of the film have been posted on the TIFF website.
The original light novel (pictured on the right) was first published in 2001. The story received a special category award at the fifth Kadokawa Gakuen Awards and was recognized as Takimoto’s most popular work before the debut of N.H.K.. Actress Megumi Kan, who fights off a chainsaw-wielding villain in the film, showed up on the red carpet earlier this week brandishing some of the daggers she uses in the film. She was joined on the carpet by the director of the film, Takuji Kitamura. A manga adaptation of Chain Saw Edge is scheduled to begin serialization this December in the manga magazine Monthly Sh?nen Ace. The magazine also serialized the manga version of Welcome to the N.H.K.!
Tokyopop Plans Live-Action Remake of Ikki Tousen Manga (Updated)
October 26, 2007
The North American manga publisher Tokyopop introduced its plans for a live-action adaptation of Yuji Shiozaki’s Ikki Tousen fighting manga at its booth at the TIFFCOM film trade show in the Roppongi Hills in Tokyo on October 22. Tokyopop publishes the English version of this manga under the name Battle Vixens. The story is loosely based on the Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms and depicts provocatively dressed girls (and boys) from different high schools that fight each other. A second draft of the live-action project’s story treatment has been completed. Tokyopop’s synopsis of the proposed remake described it as an adolescent comedy set on American college campuses, with the possibility of casting an Asian female in the lead role.
The company’s TIFFCOM presentation also highlighted previously revealed plans for live-action adaptations of Kei Toume’s Lament of the Lamb and Misaho Kujiradou’s Princess Ai manga. The creative management firm William Morris Agency is representing Tokyopop in its negotiations to bring these proposals to reality.
Computer-Generated Idol Miku Hatsune Gets Own Manga
October 26, 2007
Miku Hatsune, the first popular Japanese idol singer whose “voice” is generated on-the-fly by computer software, will have her own manga drawn by her character designer Kei in Monthly Comic Rush magazine’s January 2008 issue (on sale November 26). The virtual idol was originally created by Crypton Future Media to launch its Vocaloid Character Voice Series for personal computers. Crypton’s software uses Yamaha Corporation’s Vocaloid 2 engine and samples from voice actress Saki Fujita (the voice of the character Momoha and a singer on “A Happy Life” in the Manabi Straight! anime) to create entirely new songs when ordinary computer users type lyrics and musical notes. Three demo songs are available on Hatsune’s official webpage. The Swedish software company PowerFX localized the Vocaloid software for its own English-language singer, Sweet Ann.
Previous virtual idols, such as Ky?ko Date, have featured computer-generated looks, but employed regular humans for the actual singing. Similarly, fictional virtual idols in anime, such as Eve Tokimatsuri of Megazone 23 and Sharon Apple of Macross Plus, had humans providing their voices in real life.
Twins Sent to Jail for Extorting from Akihabara Otaku
October 26, 2007
On Tuesday, the Tokyo District Court sentenced a young man and his twin sister to jail time and probation for extorting money from people on the streets of the “Electric Town” neighborhood of Akihabara. According to the verdict handed down by court judge Masahiko Hayashi, the twins “viewed the otaku in Akihabara as easy targets for extortion.” The twin brother, Chuo University junior Satoshi Isono, was sentenced to one year and six months of imprisonment with three years of probation. The sister, Yuka Isono, was sentenced to one year and two months of imprisonment and three years of probation.According to the ruling, the twins carried out their attacks in August when the sister would bump into people on the street and then (joined by her brother) would demand that the person she bumped into apologize. The brother would then demand payments as a method of apology. In total, the twins extorted 110,000 yen (about US$1,000) from two different people.
The plan was hatched by the sister, who is currently still under probation for a hit-and-run accident that occurred earlier this year. She suggested the plan to her brother, who was studying to pursue a career in law himself. In his final statement before the court, the brother asked the judge to go easy on his sister. The judge denied the request, citing her involvement with coming up with the idea in the first place.
Yahoo! Comics Japan Launches Free Net Manga for Women
October 25, 2007
The Yahoo! Comics Japan website has launched Flex Comix Flare, a free online manga “magazine” aimed at women, on October 18. The two inaugural titles are Kanashi no Homura: Yume Maboroshi no Gotoku, Eri Motomura’s historical epic set in Japan’s feudal era, and Nariyuki Mystery Club, Makoto Hasebe’s one-shot high school slapstick comedy. Sayonara Boku no Ry? (Farewell, My Dragon), Koh Karakemi’s story of a mountain village boy and his half-dragon, starts October 25, and Riegienda Monogatari (The Story of Riegienda), Naoko Moto’s fantasy of a magical tea shop — literally named “Magical” — in the town of Riegienda, starts on November 1. Motonomoto no Ana no Naka, Taka Amano’s Japanese-style fantasy about a boy’s encounter with a mysterious figure in a library, completes the lineup on November 8.
The magazine is a sister publication of Flex Comix Blood from the Japanese publisher Flex Comix, which signed a partnership with American publisher DC ComicsMicrosoft Windows version of Internet Explorer 5 or higher for browsing the manga. earlier this year. The Flex Comix Flare site requires a
