After a good night’s sleep, day two of Anime North officially began. The registration lines began to form fairly early but paled in comparison to the line for the dealer’s room which stretched on hundreds of people down the sunny parking lot. A pleasant change from yesterday, a portion of the parking/line-up area had now been sectioned off from traffic meaning that cars were no longer able to drive inbetween groups of con-goers. Yay for minimizing the risk of getting run over!
And so – day two! (watch out, it’s a long one)
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Day one of Anime North has been survived! Mostly anyway. I will admit to unfortunately being careless to my two hours of sleep, limited food sources and sorching-in-the-sun heat that rendered me incompasetated by the evening. But a long nap followed by a hopefully full night’s sleep (pending the airplanes taking a halt on the constant very-close-over-head flying) and all shall be right as rain and ready for day two!
But how was day one you ask?
(Photos will be included in a future post as current server problems aren’t allowing me to upload them – sorry!)
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Hinako Takanaga’s Tyrant Who Falls In Love boys’ love series has been officially scheduled for an anime adaptation! The news was released in the May edition of Japan’s Gush magazine (where the series currently runs). There are no further details yet on the company producing or the release date. (via AnimeNewsNetwork)
But really, the news itself is impressive enough in itself isn’t it? Seems there’s been a good streak of boys’ love series being adapted into animes in Japan lately and the popularity of Tyrant is sure to have this news serve as music to many a fans’ ear. It’ll be entertaining in itself seeing Hinako Takanaga’s art brought to the screen for the first time as well and will allow her fans to ponder what other series would look like animated (a one-shot OVA of The Devil’s Secret anyone?).
The Tyrant Who Falls In Love follows the trials of Tetsuhiro Morinaga whose fallen hopelessly in love with his senpai – unfortunately this ponytailed, steely-eyed man who has won Morinaga’s affection also happens to be homophobic and bearer of a wicked temper. The series is currently up to five completed volumes in Japan and was originally a spin-off of one of Hinako Takanga’s older works, Challengers.
Though the real question in light of this news is… will we see this anime get licensed for English release so we can actually buy/watch it? With the way license-trends for boys’ love material have been in recent years, eyes should likely be looking in RightStuf/Nozomi Entertainment’s direction as they prepare for their upcoming release of the anime adaptation of Junjo Romantica.
News of the series’ adaptation also comes at a great time for Digital Manga who announced at YaoiCon 2009 their acquisition of the manga for English release. The first volume is due out September 2010 and pre-orders are currently available via Amazon.
News that was a little lost in the fray this past week in the mangaverse, Media Blasters has recently laid off a number of its employees. According to a post on AnimeNewsNetwork, the lay-offs include at least 13 employees across all departments of the company. With a staff of about 50 before the lay-offs, that equates to about a quarter of their workers.
Media Blasters is a company that releases anime and manga licensed from Japan. This includes their imprint, Kitty Media, which releases an assortment of mature-only anime and manga, including a number of popular boys’ love titles such as Ayano Yamane’s Crimson Spell. Some of Media Blaster’s most popular anime releases include Princess Princess, Loveless, Kite and Girls High.
The company’s president believes this move will not cause any delays in their book releases but some readers have already noticed a change to release dates. There are two books due out from Media Blasters at the end of this month: You Higashino’s Drawn To Him and Naoka Kasuga’s Because of Love.
It’s too bad to see this happen to a company who releases so many niche titles and has been around for as long as Media Blasters has. Reasons cited are predomiantly the decrease in orders from large vendors. This could include recent declines in the American market of buyers such as Borders and the semi-recent changes to Diamond Distributer’s policies.
Personally I’ve always found Media Blaster titles to be some of the most difficult to get a hold of, and more so the most hard to find accurate information on. Many of the books quickly go out of print and suffer from inconsistant release date information from different sources. Unfortunately this issue is made worse by Media Blasters’ websites which are rarely updated and utilize a very glitchy 30%-of-the-time-functioning Flash interface. While conventions often prove the best source to acquire their products, in my experience the booths aren’t manned by any employees of the company itself. Not to mention that license acquisitions are nearly always outed by discoveries via online sites such as Amazon with no official announcements to confirm until order information for the books appear in Diamond Previews.
While my sympathy goes to the employees who were laid-off, I would like to see some future attempts by Media Blasters to better outreach to their consumers. Something as simple as a functioning website with current information about their titles would make a huge difference in not only informing current buyers but also influencing new ones.
In a press release this week, Canadian television station Super Channel announced that they’ll be played the anime series of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. The first episode of the 74 episode series will play on March 15 at 10pm and continue playing each Monday evening at the same time. The episodes will be available on both Super Channel’s standard channel and in high definition. (Source: AnimeNewsNetwork)
Super Channel is a specialty channel available through most digital cable services across the country. Along with the pay-to-view channel, they also provide a subscription feature that allows viewers to watch episodes and movies previously played on the channel at their leisure. This also isn’t the first time Super Channel has added anime to its line-up. It currently has Descendants of Darkness and Gurren Lagann on its programming schedule.
After last week’s disheartening news regarding YTV’s removal of Bleach and Naruto, it’s great to see that Canadian TV still has room for anime on its digital-waves. Though I haven’t seen the Monster anime myself, I have read the manga and it was fantastic so I look forward to the opportunity to watch the series on a weekly basis on Super Channel.
Click here for full promotional poster
A little plugging for my hometown event – as a part of our Animinitime convention in Halifax, Nova Scotia, we’re excited to announce that we’re now selling tickets for a special midnight showing of Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ On Heavens’ Door.
The movie will be played on the big screen at downtown’s Parklane Theatres on the evening of April 24. The showing falls between the two events planned for that weekend – one is a picnic the day before while the convention itself follows the day after. Each ticket is on sale for $5 (taxes included). You can currently buy tickets for the movie event at Strange Adventures and upcoming Anime@Large (a local anime club) events.
According to YTV’s website, Canadians will no longer have episodes – new or old – of Naruto and Bleach to look forward to on cable TV. Both anime series have been removed not only from the channel’s daily schedule but also entirely from their show database. (Source: AnimeNewsNetwork)
Their website section AnimeMaster, where information and blog-style posts were shared from their resident of the same name has also been removed. Both these changes came without advance warning from the station.
YTV has seen a distinct drop in the amount of animated shows it plays in recent years, in favour of playing a line-up of predomiantly live-action comedies and dramas aimed at a younger teen audience. Anime on the station has been in decline for some time and its shaky future on the channel had the final nail in the coffin for most fans when their evening Bionix line-up was moved from its primetime slot on Friday to Saturday mid 2009.
YTV’s OnDemand service, a special feature available on digital cable stations, has also removed episodes of Naruto and Pokemon while limiting the available episodes of Nickelodeon’s Avatar the Last Airbender.
Canadian television in general is a far cry for anime from what it was only five years ago when there were over 15 different anime series playing on television at a time. This included the beginning of YTV’s Bionix line-up which at the time played weekly episodes of many newly English broadcasting series including Inu-Yasha, Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Witch Hunter Robin, Gundam Seed and Bleach. At one point the station was even in talks over an anime-only channel, which though approved at the time, was never launched.
Anime currently still playing on YTV is Dinosaur King, Pokemon and the more recently added Pretty Cure. Teletoon, another Canadian station, currently plays episodes of Bakugan and Domo-kun and Friends. Some digital cable users in Canada also have access to the subscription-based AnimeNetwork service which allows subscribers to watch weekly updated lists of anime series at their leisure.
Gardena, CA (January 14, 2010) – Pop Japan Travel, the premier tour company for pop culture-themed tours to Japan, is pleased to announce a new tour designed with the anime fan in mind: a trip to Japan for the 2010 Tokyo International Anime Fair!
The tour will allow North American anime fans and otaku to experience the largest anime industry event in Japan, giving them a first look at new anime projects and series scheduled for the Spring and Summer TV season in Japan. The tour will also include visits to hubs of otaku culture like Akihabara and Nakano Broadway, the Ghibli Museum, a chance to view the cherry blossoms in bloom, a visit to an animation studio, and much, much more. The tour is being organized in cooperation with Kintetsu Travel, one of Japan’s most respected travel companies, and will mark the first time that Pop Japan Travel has organized a tour to the Fair.
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Last night was the first of two showings across Canada of Evangelion 1.0, part one of a four-part retelling of the popular Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series, revamped with new scenes and new graphics for an old, an undeniably well-loved, story.
I went to the showing in Halifax, Nova Scotia, along with over 200 fellow fans – not only did the show almost entirely sell out but we also made up the biggest turn-out across the entire country! Way to come out and show your support, Haligonians – you guys rock! Winning moments include a fun pre-show with lots of prizes and trivia and an impromptu light show during the film’s closing credits where everyone took out their cell phones and swayed them to the lovely Utada Hikaru song.
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Today’s AnimeNewsNetwork has posted its list of winners for the recently held Canadian-exclusive contest for tickets to Evangelion 1.0. Congrats to all the winners!
And as another reminder, the first showing of Evangelion 1.0 hits Canadian theatres across the country September 30th (next Wednesday!). The Empire Theatres’ website has information on participating locations including word that each theatre will again be holding cosplay contests for attendees with prizes and goodies for the winners on the premiere night!
I’ll be attending the Halifax showing as both a fan and promoter for 2010′s Animinitime events, so I hope to see lots of friendly and familiar faces there :)
Reusing the above graphic because it’s cool and relevant. AnimeNewsNetwork is holding a contest giving away tickets to 67 showings of the upcoming Evangelion 1.0 film, coming soon to Canadian theatres. ANN is giving away 310 tickets in total and it’s one ticket per location per winner. The giveaway ends on September 19th so head on over for a quick and easy chance to see the movie compliments of ANN and Eleven Arts Inc.
Canada’s Empire Theatres recently put up a landing page for the upcoming special event screenings of Evangelion 1.0. The threatres and dates were announced by Funimation earlier in the summer but Empire Theatre’s page has a few additional locations and times than those originally listed from ET (including two locations now playing it in Halifax, yay!).
Two times are now listed for the showings as well: Wednesday, September 30th and Saturday, October 3rd. The movie itself will be dubbed and will not have any special featurettes playing before or after it (unless specifically added by the individual threatres).
Along with this new information, you can also now pre-order your tickets for Empire Theatre showings, something worth doing in the near future thanks to the notority of large anime screenings selling out. Most theatres will also be hosting cosplay contests in connection with the film and will have some goodies on hand for prizes and freebies, including posters and postcards, and even a few surprises.
Empire Theatres will also be playing Studio Ghibli/Disney’s Ponyo in select theatres across Canada later in the summer with final showtimes and any-applicable special event information coming soon.
Day one of SDCC wraps up tonight and what a day it was! My 6000km trek across the continent that was full of trials standing between me and Comic Con, from barely connecting flights to lost luggage and no hotel room. But, patience and perserverance wins in the end and I was able to join fellow con-goers in enjoying day one (and writing about it on no sleep. It’s all about the con experience!). On that vague note, please excuse any crazy spelling errors or icky photo placement. My SDCC posts will all recieve a cleaning up once I return home from my trip.
As today was preview night for 4-day badge holders, press and professfionals, there wasn’t anything in the way of panels occuring but that didn’t mean the thousands of people who flocked to San Diego to attend didn’t find exactly what they were looking for. Open to the public after a slightly disorganized, but still very smoothly executed, registration, Comic Con International’s exhibitor area (“San Diego Comic Con”) was officially open to its eager audience.
You can read about my initial manga finds on the floor and see some photos after the jump.
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Marvel Entertainment Inc. and Madhouse Present an Exclusive Sneak Peek at the Re-imagining of Marvel’s Legendary Super Heroes
MARVEL ANIME TV SERIES
AT COMIC-CON
Get an Exciting First-Look at the All New Anime Iron Man and Wolverine
At the Marvel Animation Panel on Friday, July 24 at 4:30 PM
CULVER CITY, CA (7/15/09) – Marvel Entertainment Inc., has partnered with renowned Japanese animation studio Madhouse (Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers) to create four all new anime versions of classic Marvel Super Heroes. Get an exciting first glimpse of two of the planned four series at this year’s Comic-Con International, the country’s leading comics and popular arts convention. The Marvel Animation Panel will be held on Friday, July 24, and will include an exclusive first look at official teaser trailers for two of these new series, hosted by writer and multiple-Eagle Award winner Warren Ellis, who will appear to discuss writing the all new adventures of these re-imagined Super Heroes.
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Anime Expo 2009 rounds up today down in Los Angeles which means it’s time for a quick news round-up. Industry presence seems considerably less this year, an observation that I make as someone who wasn’t able to attend mind you, and the announcement list is considerably smaller than the whopping 61 manga licenses that Anime Expo 2008 had for us. Goes to show how the industry’s changed over the past year I suppose, right? Anime Expo did continue its reputation as the largest anime convention in North America however with an attendence of over 44,000.
For the manga news, check out my round-up under the cut.
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