Kite Live Action Trailer Up.

Ah, finally the Hollywood adaptation of infamous anime 2 ep OVA with hentai element , "Kite" is up. The development of adaptation is been a long, long time, I heard about live action adaption for 1st time in 2006, I think. The director of the anime OVA is Yasomi Umetsu, the dude who gave us Mezzo Forte and Wizard Barrister Cecil.



Let's see how good this is but I would expect the explicit underaged sex scene to be snipped off.

Heavy Object Anime Announced

Dengeki Daioh announced anime adaptation of Heavy Object, a series that I already expected to given anime treatment since 2011. Written by same dude who did Magical Index, so expect typical anime hijinks - mecha, cute girls and clueless hero.

Synopsis: "The science-fiction war action story revolves around Objects, powerful, massive weapons that change the course of warfare and Elite Object pilots. An odd Elite girl named Milinda meets Quenser, a student who aims to become a Object mechanic, with the soldier-in-training Heivia on a snowy battlefield"



No announcement of the airing time yet.

Source.

First Impressions: Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works 2014

Holy crap.

Fate/Stay Night reboot of UBW by ufotable is stunning. Fuck yeah, this is what TYPEMOON fans like me has been dreaming for long, long time. It really feels what I felt when I play the fateful visual novel back in 2005.

Now Servants are really epic heroes instead of that crap years ago. The scene of first clash between Archer and Lancer is so well done indeed that I actually hooted in excitement because it is how the visual novel describe it. They shows how fast Lancer is and how enigmatic Archer's skill can be.

Art is bountiful, same level as Fate Zero. Voice acting is the same as the old series and music is not bad so far.

Episode 00 is prologue where readers play as Rin.

(Geeking happily) ^^ YOSHA!

If they keep up this kinda of quality, this will be a worthy contender for Anime of the Year. 

Autumn 2014 Anime Lineup.

As usual, lineup for next season is here. Looks pretty impressive : Psycho Pass 2, Fate/Stay Night reboot by ufotable, Log Horizon Season 2 and Mushishi Season 2.

Click the image for readable resolution.

Live Action Ghost in the Shell is Gaining Momentum

According to this site, Dreamworks is getting serious in adapting the most famous Japanese cyberpunk science fiction, GITS. Apparently one of the actress, Margot Robbie (Wolf of Wall Street) in talks to be the female lead.

Directed by the dude who did Snow White and the Huntsman, no timeline has been given yet. Honestly speaking, I am not too impressed with Snow White so I getting a bit leery about this adaptation.

Time will tell if this movie will be something or not.

Aldnoah Zero Season 2 is Confirmed on 2015.

The current most talked about mecha sci-fi series, Aldnoah Zero will be split into 2 cour series of 12 episodes each, Season 2 is announced to be aired in Winter 2015, if I am not mistaken.

@KanbaraKouha @KasugayaHaruto @MoeHentaiMiku 24 parce que c'est prévu en 2 saisons de 12
— Crunchyroll.fr (@Crunchyroll_fr) September 3, 2014

Perhaps this is to avoid expected to be explosive debut of Fate/Stay Night reboot that is scheduled end of this year. And perhaps the rationale is to keep quality of the production instead of stretching the budget for 24 episodes which might compromise the art etc too like Fate Zero.

Kancolle Anime is Coming in Jan 2015

To be honest, I don't get this craze for web based naval game that is using real World War 2 ships such as Yamato or Akagi and anthropomorphize it into moe, cute anime girls but apparently it taken the anime world by storm. Not surprisingly, to cash in the surging popularity, the anime series is coming soon. This kinda reminds me of Strike Witches and Girls und Panzer.

This wiki entry will give a general idea on the phenomenon. 

The official website for the anime.

Heaven's Feel Movie is Announced.

Well, smack me some tentacles and call me Horsey! They just announced a movie adaptation for Heaven's Feel, the final arc in Fate/Stay Night story. A surely tremendous time for TYPEMOON/Fate fans (like me)

Personally, I think it is the best story out of 3 from the original visual novel. To some people, it is a bit too bloody and brutal.

Needless to say, I am damn fucking excited.

Japanese Government Wants to Shut Down Foreign Pirate Sites.

Okay, what I roughly understand from this NHK news is Japanese government will go after 580 sites outside Japan to remove all illegal content such as anime, manga etc 1 year from now. The particular target is China and government ministry estimated 560 billion yen is lost due to piracy (equals to USD$ 5.4 billion) annually. Undoubtedly, the fansub sites might be targeted too.

How successful it would be is kinda doubtful, given the dissemination of these products is so widespread and common especially at Asia.

I am interested to see how they will pull this one off.

Link.

First Impressions: Aldnoah Zero

Holy crap, the 1st episode upped the stakes so high and epic, I love it. Easily, I can see why this will be the most talked about and perhaps one of the best anime in 2014.  

The peaceful, lovey dovey princess dies in 1st ep and milions of people of dead in nuclear assault by enraged Martian troops in her wake. Their bodies (the Earthlings) turn into nuclear ash in unapologetic manner as it should be. With a mournful J-Rock song accompanying it. Certainly a nod to Japan's experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. 

The unrealistic and pacifist belief in peace is mercilessly crushed in face of human reality. Urobochi have no time for this non sense so no Relena Peacecraft crap here.

And I actually feel sad for a pair child siblings who innocently wishing for peace when they saw shooting star which is really Martian weapons descending down to wreck some hell on their world.

The feels of the final scene is very strong for me.

Highly recommended.

A very disturbing anime themed tattoo. (NSFW)

A pic worth a thousand words, they say. I don't even know where to start with this. (NSFW)

Source: Reddit.

Awww Yes.

Best news to confirm my hopes. Pacific Rim 2 scheduled for 2017 release. Muahahhaha!

Sidenote: Animated series is coming out but I am not holding much hopes for it.

Trigun's Mangaka Got Another Anime - Kekkai Sensen / 血界戦線

Yashiro Nightow, the mangaka who likes to insert black cat in Trigun has another adaptation for his manga, Kekkai Sensen.

To be honest I know nothing about the manga so this is the official synopsis:

"A breach between Earth and the netherworlds has opened up over the city of New York, trapping New Yorkers and creatures from other dimensions in an impenetrable bubble. They've lived together for years, in a world of crazy crime sci-fi sensibilities. Now someone is threatening to sever the bubble, and a group of stylish superhumans is working to keep it from happening."

No other infos are available for now though. At first glance, it looks like a seinen stuff with strong imagery of martial arts mixed with supernatural stuff. It looks intriguing enough for me at the minimum.

Finally Child Pornography is Banned in Japan But...

After years of wrangling and discussions in the Diet, Japan lawmakers finally passed the law to ban underage pornography in a landmark law few days ago.

But!

Yes there is an exception.

This law is not applicable to manga or animation. The opponents said it will lead to curtailment of freedom of speech so it is not all encompassing ban.

Anyway, you can read it more here, courtesy of Huffington Post or BBC  and Japan Times.

My view on this, yeah I agree that hentai lolicon genre or even shotacon should be filtered out because frankly, those 2 genres are pretty darn disturbing. However it is quite a slippery slope here. The activist and manga publishers are arguing freedom of speech to prevent the ban from covering anime and manga works. Politicians are trying to push it very hard but not successful so far.

Zankyu no Terror / 残響のテロル? Hmmmm

Okay the only reason I am intrigued by this show is because the director is one of my favourite, Shinchiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo). And....Yoko Kanno is doing the score. Hmmmm

Despite his orgy of self masturbation in Space Dandy, I still have faith that he can deliver a good show. Airing on Noitama slot which means either 11 or 22 episodes, next month the world shall see the debut of this show.

The synopsis:

"In an alternate version of the present, Tokyo has been decimated by a shocking terrorist attack, and the only hint to the identity of the culprit is a bizarre video uploaded to the internet. The police, baffled by this cryptic clue, are powerless to stop the paranoia spreading across the population.

While the world searches for a criminal mastermind to blame for this tragedy, two mysterious children—children who shouldn't even exist—masterfully carry out their heinous plan. Cursed to walk through this world with the names Nine and Twelve, the two combine to form "Sphinx," a clandestine entity determine to wake the people from their slumber—and pull the trigger on this world."

Here is the trailer.

First Few Images from Omoide no Marnie / 思い出のマーニー

Few images released for upcoming Studio Ghibli's latest release, Omoide no Marnie / 思い出のマーニー. Directed by Arietty guy, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, this movie is out in Japan soon on 19th July 2014. No announcement of international release date yet.


Here is the collection of images.


I knew this movie based on Joan G Robinson's children novel (you can read the synopsis on Amazon here), I am looking forward to this. I am kinda enjoyed Arietty so I will follow this with some interest. However I am quite perplexed with lack of trailer(s) to promote this movie. Like big time puzzlement here.

Rumours seems to be buzzing that this might be potential lesbian/yuri material.  

Ghost in the Shell Live Action Video. (NSFW)

Check this out. Looks pretty cool. 

Micheal Bay Wants to Direct Evangelion?

To be honest, I am not too keen on this prospect despite his commercial success with Transformers franchise (it made billions for the movie studio) because I don't think he is the right guy to handle something like Evangelion. It is not a direct to toy mecha show and it is very stylistic discourse of self existenalist by Hideaki Anno. He is very commercial, action orientated with big love for explosives plus unmistakable love for US militaria. I just can't see how the live action Evangelion can do justice with his handling. Big time.

If he wants to do an adaptation then Macross maybe more suitable since it is a very commercial friendly mecha saga. Not Evangelion, it is a very personal work.

I really don't like the shakey cam action sequences where I don't know what the heck is going on. I hate it with my passion. I already can see it when this news came up few days ago.

So yeah, that's my take on this rumour now.

Source.

Upcoming Anime for 2014 Summer! (Japanese)

Upcoming anime for 2014 summer, Japanese version for now. I will upload the English version soon, so be patient! Hahahhaha.

Hitsugi no Chaika Season 2 This Fall?

A tweet from creators talking about continuation of the surprise hit (for me at least) series, Hitsugi no Chaika (Chaika's Coffin). 

【特報続き・拡散希望】最終話先行上映付き、プレミアムイベント、開催!!　6/20、棺音（ラジオ）のチャイカ、公開録音、実施予定！1期最終12話、皆で観る！とても大事!!http://t.co/wKqo6qNMH1　#棺姫のチャイカ
— 【公式】棺姫のチャイカ (@ChaikaTrabant) May 14, 2014

There you have it, I am surprised that the possibility of Hitsugi no Chaika sequel is mulled so soon. If everything goes well, we might see a sequel of this series?

Personally I liked the series not for the albino girl but the male lead that is not annoying at all. 

Fan Made Akira Kicks Ass.

Perhaps one of the best live action Akira to date. I wonder if the upcoming Warner Bros project can equal to this short fan made trailer or not.

If that project ever becomes realized that is.

Hatsune Miku Domino's Pizza Japan Ad.

Uhhhh....what? Guess this will Japan centric, I can't imagine this will work in other places.

Sneak Preview of 2nd Fight of Fate/Stay Night 2014 Reboot. HOLY CRAP.

 My....my inner geek is screaming with luscious joy and bloodlust. Just look at the animation of the 1st fight! The clip is married with audio from the Realta Nua PS3 visual novel. The fight looks really good, this is what I imagine how the fight look like between Servants when I read the visual novel back in 2005/6.

Studio Deen's version look so amateurish compared to this! Wow.

Correction: Okay, this is 2nd fight of the story. Sorry.

Rebooted Fate/Stay Night by ufotable is Coming This Fall.

Yeap, it is confirmed 2014 anime lineup for fall alright. Rebooted Fate/Stay Night with strong rumours it will cover 3rd arc of the VN, Heaven's Feel which I considered as the best story arc of the 3 heroines.



This story focuses on often quiet and gentle Sakura. I believes it will be this route because there is split second shot of Shiro from the back with cloth of Martin wrapped his left arm in 1st trailer.





Anyway, I am looking forward to it. This studio is famous for spot-on and superlative adaptation of TYPE-MOON stories, most fans are clamouring for a reboot of the sub-par Studio Deen TV series in 2006. Looks like we getting our wish.

Okay, for those unable to watch the trailer due to some country bullshit policy, try go to their corporate site: http://www.fate-sn.com/news/

Gundam Unicorn Ep 7 First Few Minutes

Enjoy! I am looking forward to watch it in full HD glory soon!

Review: The Wind Rises (2014)

The Wind Rises (2014) is the saddest movie I ever seen, it is not tearing out your eyes type sadness but it is a loaded silence looking at how dreams can be a monster when it tampered with reality. I was choking inside last night and I felt this is the most personal Miyazaki work ever. His sadness can be felt from flat line pacing which might pissed some viewers off as being too uninteresting. To me, it is thematic background acknowledgement of dead dream represented by the flatline...constantly goes on and on. His treatment of events are rather blase, Miyazaki is just not interested in dramatizing things at all. Which is remarkable.

The characters are insular and aloof, they never try to engage the viewer because the director wants to talk about the end of a dream more by using these characters as a proxy to that end. It is not about character development at all. Even Jiro, the male lead is voice acted by Evangelion director is placid in his expression. The only human connection is brief moments of lapse and the constant puffs of smoke. The main female lead feels tacked on despite efforts to make her relevant to the story.

Artwise is very dreamy, fitting because it talks about dream.

To fully grasp the meat of the movie, a viewer must have some background knowledge of Japanese history and aviation too since this is the only spot of passion that Miyazaki keep in the movie. World War 1, the Great Kanto Earthquake, the economic crash, the war on China and World War 2 are the pivotal points for storytelling.

This movie can be polarizing since it is so personal, it is solid 8 out of 10 from me but other people might hate this movie because it appears to be so uninteresting. In a way, it is Miyazaki's personal essay on why militarism is bad for Japan and his criticism (some say preaching) to Shinzo Abe that this is not right at all.

I suspect I might see something else if I going to watch this movie again in future.

Spring 2014 Animes!

Here you go! Click on the image to enlarge. So far, I am only interested in 2nd season of Mushishi. LOL. Getting old!

Wow, a special treat for Makoto Shinkai fans.

A friend of mine linked me this album on imgur of Makoto Shinkai productions stills and works which is remarkable. Being a fan of his work, this is indeed a big boon for me.

Here is the album, enjoy!

LINK

Kadokawa launching new online manga portal service soon.

Wow, an impressive number of 200 titles are to be featured on this portal with starting 40 titles will be available in translation to English or Chinese at the launch. What more, it would be free and the library is from anthologies like Shonen Ace and Young Ace. Titles like D-Frag, Haruhi, Haganai, Gundam and Eva (for example) will be ready for fans to read. It is 100 percent legal too.

AFAIK, no limitation in terms of nationality so non Japanese can access the site too. What is the catch?

Well you can read the new chapter of ongoing series 2 weeks after it is published in printed edition - a small price to pay IMHO. Just wait a while and you will get your fix.

Kadokawa is hoping to feature translation option in French in future soon and set the date for the site operation on 22nd March 2014. Oh, I forgot to mention again that this site is free.

The website.

I hope this is just a bad BN joke. A moe-fied anime mascot of a byelection in Malaysia...

I mean seriously?

Ｚ会 「クロスロード」 120秒Ver. By Makoto Shinkai and Masayoshi Tanaka

Luscious quality, expected of Shinkai. This is an advert for education service, Z-Kai which explains the story in the short video.

Masayoshi Tanaka is the character designer (Ano Hana, Tora Dora).

First Minute of Knights of Sidonia is Here.

Check this out, it looks great. Now I wonder if this can do the manga justice.



Slated for 12 ep anime cour this coming April.

Ghost in the Shell Live Action is Happening?

Alright, I read the headlines and frankly speaking, I am not too comfortable with the choice of the director since I found Snow White and the Huntsmen (2013) suck balls.

Fine, my opinion is premature given he is doing 1 movie only so far. Maybe. I am not so sure. All being said, I am excited to see the project finally going somewhere now. Just hope it won't suck.

Link.

Doraemon's Best Ending?

Possibly one of the best ending for Doraemon (Xiao Ding Dang). Personally I think this is one of the best ending for evergreen series but the publishers did not think so, forcing the mangka withdraw the doujinshi from publication.

However it becomes an enduring legend of the lore that is well beloved by millions of kids across Asia for many decades. Here is the scanned and translated version for non Japanese Doraemon fans.

Enjoy.

The link