Saturday, November 12

Updates on Madoka movie project

Looks like new Madoka project will have 3 segments. 2 will TV series compilations and final one will be completely new story. Sequel, prequel or whatever for new story, I do not know. Personally I think this is a rather crass attempt to milk the franchise for its worth but I got hand it to them, it is the most successful anime in commercial sense this year. Let's just hope they do not overstay their welcome here. 

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Thursday, November 10

Official Manga Portal opened in USA



Nice initiative by Japanese publishers to reach North America audience, charging minimal fee for content. I do hope they will expand the effort to my part of world too, soon.

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Tuesday, November 8

Madoka movie? Really?


Perhaps one of the biggest news of the year, the award winning series Magica Puella Magi Madoka (recently won like 12 out of 21 categories at New Type Anime Awards 2011 in Oct ) might have a movie coming up. I do not know if the movie is going to be a glorified recap of the series or a completely new story. I do remember Urobochi hinted that the series has yet to run its full course yet in Vol 6 commentary track, much to surprise to the voice actress cast of the series.

I awaiting for more details, should be coming up soon in the Newtype Magazine.


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Tuesday, November 1

How much an anime episode cost (2010)?

A typical 20-30 min anime episode in Japan cost breakdown:

Original work - 50,000 yen ($660)
Script - 200,000 yen ($2,640)
Episode Direction - 500,000 yen ($6,600)
Production - 2 million yen ($26,402)
Key Animation Supervision - 250,000 yen ($3,300)
Key Animation - 1.5 million yen ($19,801)
In-betweening - 1.1 million yen ($14,521)
Finishing - 1.2 million yen ($15,841)
Art (backgrounds) - 1.2 million yen ($15,841)
Photography - 700,000 yen ($9,240)
Sound - 1.2 million yen ($15,841)
Materials - 400,000 yen ($5,280)
Editing - 200,000 yen ($2,640)
Printing - 500,000 yen ($6,600)

Source: Media Development Research Institute Inc.

Values were adjusted to 2010 USD inflation so the total is around USD 145,000 per episode. I wonder if there is any difference between pre and post March 11th tsunami in costing. AFAIK, any sales of Bluray/DVD that passes 4000 unit tends to get sequel. Best indicator is sales of 1st volume in first week itself since it will establish general trend onwards for particular series.

In Amazon Japan for example, Magica Puella Magi Madoka vol 1 Bluray is selling at 5,826 yen now (76 USD).

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Monday, October 17

Saturday, October 8

Black Swan (2010) and Perfect Blue (1998)



Now I know why I keep having deja vu while watching Black Swan (2010) few months ago. I also found this interesting link.

The scene resemblance is uncanny. Very uncanny.

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Friday, October 7

Fate Zero is going to be split into 2 Seasons?



Fate Zero is going to have 2 seasons? What the fuck?

Leaving people hanging halfway is not a very smart move, UFOTABLE. Judging from the news, it would seem that the anime series will split 12-13 eps for 2 volumes of novel each, I was made to understand there are 25 eps.

I really don't get this decision, to be honest.

And yes, the anime have lavish production and a lot of expectation was pumped into the series. It remains to be seen if the series will not end up like ill-fated Fractale. So far, it looks good. No one wants to remember Tsukihime anime or bland JC STAFF Fate/Stay Night.

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Wednesday, August 17

Trailers from C 80, the ones that I interested in




Shakugan no Shana III (Final)



Fate/Zero



Boku Wa Tomodachi Sukunai (I don't have much friends)

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Thursday, August 4

Shakugan no Shana 3 (Final) is finally here



Ugh, got this news pretty late but yeah, Shakugan no Shana 3 is here. It will be final installment of highly successful franchise. Confirmed in Dengeki Bunko July edition. Soon to be shown in 2011 fall season.

JC Staff will animate this, same crew coming back for one last hurrah. The last volume of novel (22) will be out on September then follow by this anime series.

Old entry that caused me so much trouble

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Jin Roh director finally back on scene with Letter to Momo



7 years is a long, long time. Hiroyuki Okiura is the dude behind Jin-Roh which I quite like it, directed this movie for 7 years (yes I have to repeat myself twice). The story synopsis is pretty simple, after received a letter from her late father, Momo went to island with her mom and starts to notice weird thing(s) around her.

Looking forward to this, the movie start to premiere in Japan next year I think.

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Sunday, July 17

Toyota and Evangelion? Ah.



Evergreen and genre changing Evangelion now used to promote Toyota Prius hybrid. Marketing, marketing, Toyota is banging on the fact that most anime fans of the 90s will form biggest purchasing power and they intend to capture this. First promoting their products with Miku now this.

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Berserk The Movie trailer is out



Yeap, it is out. Looks good.

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Wednesday, July 13

Berserk Movies


Yeap, movies. 3 movies to be exact, 1st one will be aired in Japan on January 2012. Since I am not very familiar with Berserk manga, it says the movies will focus on "Golden Age" arc. That's about it, not much news of who is doing what or which studio.

After open ending in anime which frustrated a lot of fans, this is surely a stupendous news, following the remake of Kenshin series and live action movie.

Now I wonder if this is from leaked images from OVA?

Link

Trailer!

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Wednesday, July 6

2011 Summer Anime List



Out of this list, not much I willing to watch. LOL

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Tuesday, July 5

Miku Hatsune in Toyota ad







Toyota ads featuring the famous pop diva who is not real. Personally I don't get it but hey she is a hot item now.

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Saturday, July 2

Kenshin real live action? Hmmmmm...



Can you see Kenshin in this guy? Maybe. Takeru Sato will be Kenshin in live action adaptation. Supposedly he is a big fan of the anime/manga while he is growing up. Warner Bros Japan is willing to invest on the movie, produced by this studio called Swan.

Seen Space Battleship Yamato and I am not too impressed by the movie. Most of my friends did not survive Gantz live action either so I am kinda cool to this development. It is about time, I suppose.

The buzz is high since this is highly regarded franchise.

Time will tell if this movie going suck like the examples I mentioned or not. 2012 release.

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Thursday, June 30

Anime in real girl....(shivers)



I cannot brain this. Good reason why reality and anime should not mix. Ouch.

More

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Toradora! author newest work, Evergreen


Yukiyo Takemiya, writer of successful Toradora! is coming with new manga series, Evergreen. I enjoyed her previous work and the conceptual art for this looks great. Coming soon in summer.

Sounds like another school romance drama to me.

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Japanese sport, Baotashi



Seen this few times in anime, now this vid will shed some light what the hell is it all about.

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Fractale manga controvesy?


Yamakan, reeling from dismal series "Fractale" got into news again. This time he asked the manga of the series to be discontinued after a complaint from mangaka herself that the story is "uninteresting". He is basically tell the mangaka to take a hike and stop riding on other's back.

Despite his request, the manga is still being published, now it is up to chapter 10 in Japan. Volume 2 will be out soon too.

Oh so much drama. How typically him, I still remember his pledge that he will quit anime business if Fractale turns into lemon. Ironically, the manga has more coherent pace than the rushed anime. Oh, I haven't blog what I don't like about series. Sucks.

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Thursday, June 23

Miyazaki talk with R.Kelts at UC Berkeley 2009



Still cranky after this years, the old man hasn't lose much of his spirit. Hee. Kelts wrote for Japanese newspaper on pop culture, specifically anime scenes nowadays.

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