Gatchaman / 科学忍者隊ガッチャマン Space Ninjas CG Movie Teaser

Here it go. It looks like Appleseed, should be interesting to watch. I am looking forward to it. Previous entry.

Preview for Gundam Unicorn Movie

Here it comes, the movie is scheduled next year.

The trailer looks good and the story is not bad. I just wished they make an older pilot instead of another teeny bopper Gundam pilot.

How much salary for a Japanese animator?

An updated estimation, Japanese animator paid in accordance of their experience and seniority. Employees in their 20s earn an average annual salary of 1.1 mil yen per year (11,268 USD) while those in their 30s get 2.14 mil yen (22,532 USD). Veteran artists in their 40s and 50s survive on around 3 mil yen (28,160 USD) per year. Yeap, all this figures are per annual. The senior's wage will be comparable to wage of a carpenter in USA now (29,520 USD).

That makes sense as to why 90 percent turnover rate in Japanese anime industry is happening. Ouch indeed.

Source

Mizuki Kawashita new manga

For few days I been on and off reading mangas when I am free. I came across her newest work, Ane Doki, well....first thing I liked is her female character designs are pretty fleshy, not anorexic skinny models. Unfortunately this new work have same plot device, the male lead seems to recognize the main female lead by her panties. Same plot as Ichigo 100, her most famous work. It is pretty pedestrian work, nothing special unless the reader have straight shota fetish. The main female lead is bordering on unrealistic character too. Ah well.

It is amusing but nothing special about it.

Cheers.

Japanese manga industry surprises

In a move that surprised industry watchers and pundits alike, Kodansha, one of big players in the manga industry released a free online copy of manga magazine simultaneously with sales of same manga magazine on May 22nd 2009. This clearly a desperation move as Kodansha battled online piracy without much success which this factor were blamed for most of slump of domestic market and destruction of US anime/manga industry. In another surprise, the tactic actually increased of said copy by 25 percent which vindicates the seemingly desperate move.

Perhaps the big company should really look into fact that more people are willing to read online and pay a nominal fee for it?

In the same article, perhaps as a general trend indicator, mobile phone comic market, expanded tenfold to 22.9 billion yen over fiscal 2005, thanks to an established charging system.

The bottom line is, manga readers are willing to pay for online copy for convenience sake.

Source Article

Tekken movie

Ahahahaha! Another slowpoke of me! Apparently King of Fighters is not alone, hot on its heels is Tekken the Movie!



The vid shows the cast of the movie.

The director Dwight H Little so far directed TV episodes (Prison Break, Bones, Dollhouse), so this is maybe his first debut as film director. It is good to see Gary Daniels again, I remembered his slick moves from Jacky Chan's City Hunter and Fist of the North Star. And Chiaki Kuriyama, Gogo the school girl with chain ball from Kill Bill is here too as Lin Xiaoyu. John Foo is the wushu sword dude who fought Tony Jaa in Tom-Yum Goong (USA title: The Protector) and Lateef Crowder is the Capoeira guy who fought Tony Jaa in same movie too.



This capoeirista in the video, yeah, he is Lateef who going to be cast as Eddie Gordo in Tekken movie. Looks cool to me.

I might watch this for Chiaki Kuriyama. LOL. Frankly speaking, I do have some hopes for this one compared to King of Fighters movie.

King of Fighters Movie

In another slowpoke of epic proportions, I only knew of live action adaptation of King of Fighters game series now. But based on shows like Street Fighter the Movie and Legend of Chun Li, I am not too sure if I want to watch this flick despite I like Ray Park's dynamic style of martial arts. It is scheduled for 2010 release but I do wonder if film executives having second thoughts after dismal box office performance of Chun Li movie.

IMDB entry







Some of the special behind the scenes stuff. More vids can be seen here.

Cast
* Sean Faris as Kyo Kusanagi
* Maggie Q as Mai Shiranui
* Will Yun Lee as Iori Yagami
* Ray Park as Rugal Bernstein
* Françoise Yip as Chizuru Kagura
* Hiro Kanagawa as Saisyu Kusanagi
* David Leitch as Terry Bogard
* Sam Hargrave as Ryo Sakazaki
* Monique Ganderton as Mature
* Bernice Liu as Vice


Yeap, that is Rugal with his 2 assistants, Mature and Vice. I can hear some SNK KOF fans weeping now. (GRINS)

Look into past, Hideaki Anno with Daicon III and IV OP

Ah a blast from the past. I remember saw this at friend's house 10 years ago. It includes every reference of sci fi pop culture from 70s and 80s which also marked debut of GAINAX with its problem child, Hideaki Anno.

More can be seen from here.

Cheers.

What's with manga/anime heroes and arms?

When you hold a manga in your hands to read it, your thumbs hover at the edges of your vision while your eyes are focused on the page. But there are so many manga stories about people whose arms turn into monsters or machines that you might want to stop and check what your fingers are up to.

In the popular manga Parasyte, teenage protagonist Shinichi must come to grips with the fact that a shape-shifting space alien has taken over his right arm. A major character in The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service believes his arm to be inhabited by a space alien who speaks through an ever-present hand puppet. The title character of Vampire Hunter D has a mysterious entity living in his hand, with its face appearing in his palm. Relations between a person and a possessed limb are often antagonistic, and there is an episode in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure in which a demonically possessed arm actually tries to kill the man it is attached to.

Full article

An interesting discussion why there is so many heroes in anime/manga stories have their arm missing or completely replaced. A humorous example from Midori no Hibi to more serious, gritty Gutts from Berserk.

I believe personally, it is the symbol of heroes willingness to fight for their beliefs, and they are hardcore enough to replace their own arms in expression of such determination. Gutts for revenge for example. When normal hands don't cut it anymore, a powerful replacement, an upgrade is in line to aid the hero in his quest. Interestingly, I haven't run across any main female character losing arms in this manner yet. Gender discrimination at work?

Cheers.

Muscle March Wii Game

Video Games | Muscle March | Japanese Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

The gay feeling is overwhelming......I am...I am speechless....so many muscles.....ARGHHHHHHHH

Akira Live Action is dead

Argh crap, one of my favourite anime LA adaptation,"Akira" has crashed into wall of development hell of Hollywood. Apparently the director left the project which pretty much nailed its coffin. Sad indeed.

Source

2009 Summer Anime lineup

This is the upcoming anime for summer of 2009. Frankly speaking, I only interested in like 2-3 series out of the list; Canaan, Tokyo 8.0 and Spice and Wolf 2.

No good sci fi anime series though. :(