The “Shojo Manga! Girl Power!” traveling exhibition will be reverse-imported to four locales in Japan after visiting nine cities in North America. The exhibition showcases the history of shojo manga in Japan and the current state of the expanding field. It will carry much of the material assembled and curated by Dr. Masami Toku, Associate Professor of Art and Art History at California State University Chico, but it will also have additional works and a new title: “Shojo Manga Power!” During the North American tours, it carried displays of works from 23 creators, including Osami Tezuka, Hideko Mizuno, CLAMP, and Fumi Yoshinaga.
The exhibit will first go to the Kawasaki City Museum, near Tokyo, from February 16 to March 30, and then head to the Kyoto International Manga Museum in central Japan from July 19 to August 31. Kyoto Seika University established both the first faculty of manga in Japan and the Kyoto International Manga Museum in 2006. Keiko Takemiya, the manga creator of To Terra… and Andromeda Stories and a professor at Kyoto Seika University, and Tomoko Yamada, the curator of Kawasaki City Museum, both contributed to the North American version of the exhibition. Few, if any, previous manga exhibitions in Japan have covered shojo manga as a whole or examined the works from both native and international perspectives.
During the American 2005-2006 tour, the exhibition traveled to Chico, New Mexico, Chicago, and New York City. During the follow-up North American 2006-2007 tour, it traveled to Toronto, Ontario; Washington, D.C.; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Los Angeles, California; and Burnaby, British Columbia.
Kite Liberator, the science-fiction sequel to the 1998 OVA about a teenage assassin, will be released on DVD in Japan on March 21, and in North America only four days later on March 25. The project was originally slated for a late January Japanese release, but that date has been pushed back because of unspecified production issues. Media Blasters, the distributor that holds the North American license to the original Kite, co-produced Liberator and will be distributing the 57-minute film.
Only a few anime have ever premiered in both Japan and North America in the same week. ADV Films officially scheduled its North American DVD release of Akitaro Daichi’s Grrl Power (Makasete Iruka!) DVD two days before the Japanese release. Afro Samurai ran on America’s Spike T.V. four months before it ran on Japan’s WOWWOW channel (in a director’s cut edition).
SciencePortal.jp, a website run by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), has released a report estimating how much it would cost to build a 18-meter-tall (59-feet-tall), functioning “Morph-X” combat robot similar to those used in the anime franchise. The estimate assumes that the robot would only have the ability to walk, not fly, and that it would not be equipped with any weaponry. The Japanese government funds about 90% of JST’s budget, with the remaining coming from the agency’s own operational income.
As translated by the PinkTentacle.com website, the report assumes that the robot would use an IBM Blue Gene supercomputer, seven General Electric gas turbine engines (the same engines used in the US$52-million Apache attack helicopters), and 30 400-kilowatt motors (12 in the lower body, 2 in the torso, 14 in the arms, and 2 in the neck). Instead of the fictional Gundarium alloy used in the anime, it would be covered in an aluminum alloy. The report calculates the total cost of the Gundam at 79 billion, 521 million yen (about US$729,700,000). This compares to a price tag of US$187 million for one of the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 fighters, US$800 million for an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer (operated by the U.S. and Japanese navies), or US$2.2 billion for a single B-2 bomber.
The report further points out that a Gundam-sized robot would be 9.5 times taller than an average human, but take up 850 times more volume. Not only would it weigh 43.4 tons according to the fictional anime statistics, but it would apply 1.2 to 1.4 times that weight in ground pressure when it walks or runs. Unless it was shaped like a pyramid, it would sink into almost any ground that would normally support a human. Instead, JST puts forth a more viable multi-legged design called the Hallucigenia 01, and streams a demonstration video of this design.
CEO Craig Sherman of Gaia Interactive, the company that runs the anime-inspired Gaia Online virtual community, has confirmed that his company has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Time Warner. Since 2006, Gaia has received over US$20 million in capital across two rounds of funding, and Time Warner’s investment came during the second of these rounds.
Sherman did not disclose the specific terms of the deal, but the investment did not give Time Warner any say in how the company is managed. Recently, Sony made a similar investment in Gaia, while Warner Brothers has used the community to promote some of its films. Earlier in the year, anime distributor Funimation Entertainment also partnered with Gaia in a promotional campaign for the Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle television series. Gaia Interactive was founded by members of Studio XD, a group of artists who have separately and jointly contributed to the graphic novel adaptations of several Japanese anime and game franchises. The community is primarily aimed at an audience within the ages of 13 and 22. Gaia has 11 million reported members; it and Japan’s 2channel website have been listed as the largest bulletin board systems in the world.
Country: Japan Genre: Thriller Year released: 2006 Running time: 1 Hour 33 Minutes Director: Satoshi Kon Cast: Megumi Hayashibara / Toru Emori/ Katsunosuke Hori Review by: M. Douglas Date of review: 01/12/08
Director Satoshi Kon’s latest excursion into the realm of cinematic weirdness is entitled “Paprika” While dealing with a Satoshi Kon film, I always go into it with an open mind (as well as an being aware of the “eccentric” nature of his previous outings) and preparing myself what is to eventually come. “Paprika” is probably Satoshu’s most ambitiously and visually stunning film thus far.
“Paprika” follows a group of scientists who develop a device known as the “DC Mini”—a device used to delve into the mind of an individual—to provide psychotherapeutic treatment to patients in dire need. When the device unexpectedly goes missing and is apparently in the hand of a self-proclaimed “dream terrorist” the scientists seek the assistance of a young woman by the name of Paprika—somebody who can understand the dream realm better than anyone else—to find the culprit and recover the stolen DC Mini. This leads into a barrage of ventures into the sub-conscious to discover the true interpretation of dreams.
“Paprika” is an engaging and visually stimulating animated feature film that does not hold back in its deliverance. Right from the beginning, when we are introduced to our protagonists, we are brought forth into the bizarre atmosphere that encompasses “Paprika”. Director Satoshi Kon has never been one to back away from providing the viewer with a strange experience, but he also delivers an introspective look into the subject he is trying to portray. In the instance of “Paprika”, Satoshi bringing into the similarities between dreams and the internet—evaluating them both as a place where the subconscious lies undisturbed by outside entities. It’s this sort of interpretative analysis that gives “Paprika” its pivotal strength.
Overall, “Paprika” delivers an enthralling experience that is sure to please fans of Satoshi’s work. This is probably his most accomplished work thus far, and hopefully he will continue this trend. I highly recommend it.
Lyricist Yuniko Mori (Inuyasha’s “Come,” Tactics “Secret World” and “Mienai Chikara,” Zero No Tsukaima’s Honto no Kimochi” and “Suki? Kirai!? Suki!!!”) reveled in a December 6 blog entry that the opening theme song has been recorded for a previously unannounced anime called Crystal Blaze, which will premiere in Japan in April. According to Mori, the adult-oriented story is set in New York, which is also where the opening theme’s recording session took place. The vocalist “Rie-san” sang the jazzy song, which was composed by K?suke Makino (Zero no Tsukaima’s “Two Moons” and “Crescent no Inori,” Rocket Girls “Rise”) and arranged by Riki Aria (Zero no Tsukaima’s “I Say Yes” and “Suki? Kirai!? Suki!!!”). The session also included Happinet producer Tomoko Shibuya (music director for Full Metal Panic, Key the Metal Idol, Rocket Girls) and recording engineer Hisao Iemori.
A.D. Vision’s New Type USA magazine has been sending the following email message to subscribers who inquire about the status of their subscriptions, in the aftermath of the magazine’s reported ending:
Thank you for your email to Newtype USA
We will be launching a new magazine that will be on sale in mid-March. Titled PiQ, the magazine will cover anime, manga, video games and other aspects of pop culture of keen interests to you. All existing subscribers will have their remaining issues fulfilled at a two-to-one ratio, meaning you will get double the number of magazines delivered straight to your doorstep! We hope you stick with us and give the new magazine a shot. We’re sure you’ll love it!
If you’re not interested in receiving double the value for your remaining subscription, you can opt out at anytime.
Newtype USA Editor-in-Chief Gary Steinman has confirmed the contents of the email message, but has declined to comment further.
Representatives of A.D Vision (ADV) have contacted retail partners to inform them that the February issue of NewType USA will be the last. At this time, it is unclear if this refers to the official February issue, which is set to go on sale later this month, or the March issue, which would go on sale in February.
According to reports from those contacted by ADV, the company is planning to replace Newtype USA with another magazine. No information about the new magazine has been made public.
Newtype USA’s circulation is estimated to be similar to that of the competing Anime Insider publication, which is in the neighborhood of 50,000 to 75,000 copies per month. No North American anime magazine publishes audited circulation numbers.
After briefly being attached to Digital Manga, Newtype USA was launched by ADV with issue 0 at Anime Expo 2002. The first regular issue was the November 2002 issue. Including issue 0 and the February 2008 issue (on sale in January), 65 issues will have been printed — 66 if the final issue is the March issue (on sale in February).
Newtype USA was licensed by ADV from Kadokawa Shoten, the publisher of the original NewType magazine in Japan. NewType Japan has been in publication since 1985, with the March 1985 issue being the first. The original Newtype Magazine is named after the fictional Newtype evolution of humans in the Gundam anime franchise.
In addition to Newtype USA, there is also a Korean Newtype Magazine which has been published by Daiwon C&A Holdings since 1998.
A representative of Newtype USA was unavailable to comment in time for this article.
Jason DeAngelis, the founder and president of the Seven Seas Entertainment manga publisher, has confirmed with ANN that his new Tor/Seven Seas imprint has licensed two new titles: Mamziu Arisawa and Mari Matsuzawa’s Inukami! Manga series and Hiroshi Ishizaki’s Kuro Majo-san ga Touru!! novel series. The Inukami! manga is based on Arisawa’s light novel series about the adventures of a beautiful doglike entity named Y?ko and a boy named Keita who becomes Y?ko’s “tamer” — even though Keita’s family of tamers had forsaken him for apparently lacking the hereditary ability to attain an Inukami (”dog deity”) before. Matsuzawa has been serializing the manga in Mediaworks Monthly Dengeki Comic GAO! magazine since 2005, and MediaWorks has published four complied volumes so far. The original light novels were also adapted into a 2006 television anime series a 2007 theatrical anime sequel, and several music and audio drama CDs.
The Kuro Majo-san ga Touru!! (roughly translated, “”Here’s Comes the Black Witch!!”) novels began as a short story in the Omoshiroi Hanashi ga Yomitai! Sh?ry?-Hen (I Want to Read Interesting Stories! Blue Dragon Volume) anthology from Kodansha’s Aoitori Bunko imprint, but later branched out as a standalone series with seven volumes thus far. The story revolves around a fifth-grade Tokyo girl named Chiyoko “Choco” Kurotori and her three friends Megu, Mai, and Yuri. The girls want to know whether a cute boy in their class likes one of them, so Choco, who dabbles in magic and fortune-telling, tries to summon “Cupid-san.” However, she accidentally summons a real witch named Gubid-san, who declares that Choco is a witch herself — albeit a low-class one. The children’s novels have sold more than 900,000 copies in Japan so far, mainly to girls 8 to 12 years old.
The twin announcements were made in the Publishers Weekly trade magazine, which covered the launch of the Tor/Seven Seas imprint. In its article, the magazine interviewed Steve Kleckner Macmillan vice-president of merchandise and sales), DeAngelis, and Tom Doherty (Tor Books publisher). The three discussed the imprint’s plan to release 70 books in 2008 with Seven Seas’ manga expertise and Tor’s capital and distribution.
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