Anime Vice Anime/Manga News

Though I never watched the Avatar Nick Toon, THE LAST AIRBENDER is definitely up there on my anticipation list for this summer. I’m a huge fan of M. Night Shyamalan, from THE SIXTH SENSE through the VILLAGE, and, while I didn’t dig his last couple movies, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was just going through a slump and this is a return to form. The totally kick-ass trailers and Super-Bowl spots have been bolstered my confidence even further so.  Though I’m not a fan who can judge the authenticity of the translation, these tidbits he shared with UGO during a recent round table questionnaire are nevertheless very exciting.

• The Last Airbender is very much the first in a planned trilogy. Night compares it to Lord of the Rings in that it is all one story not, "more adventures" with your favorite characters. The three films will mirror the three seasons of the series, with some tweaks.
• Night plans to direct all three, but before the second one he wants to bang out a smaller-budgeted thriller.
• The thriller is *not* Unbreakable 2, though he still hopes one day to get to that. And he knows Bruce Willis feels the same way.
• Momo is absolutely in the movie. Night still hopes to find a moment where Momo does something really important and somehow saves the day, but for the first one he's in there "just for fun."
• That said, our expectations for the amount of comedy in the films has been managed. Night warns that "what works in the show won't always work in the film" and some of the broad comedy has been cut.
• During one enthusiastic moment discussing the CG effects, the phrase "Master Pakku using water like nun-chucks" was used. Everyone in the room responded, "Coooooool."
• Night hopes the CG in The Last Airbender will be unique in that there isn't as much quick-cutting as in commonly seen in CG-heavy films. Go back and look at his other films and you will see a lot of long takes. This means the CG is going to have to be really top notch, because it can't be hidden away with cutting.
• The writing in the film (in, say, the Waterbending Scroll or Aang's "Wanted" poster) will not be Chinese calligraphy as in the show, but an Asian-inspired pictorial language created just for this movie.
• Perhaps most importantly, Night eloquently and deliberately addressed the so-called "racebending" issue, dealing with what some feel is a specific effort on his part to bleach the Asian origins of the film.

While I do think it’s cool that this is being planned as trilogy, I hope Shyamalan keep this first movie self-contained.  I’m as a big a fan of serialized stories as they come, but it’s irked me to see so many movies recently are supposed to be “the first in planned trilogies” that usually never happen, because they leave a lot of loose ends rather than resolving their own plots. I’m sure he’s aware of that, but still…

I’m also really glad that he’s going to be doing longer takes for this, as overly-fast cuts are another pet peeve of mine. We’ll get a chance to see that kid just wreck people as Ang a lot more clearly this way and I’m excited. Too much time has passed since 3 NINJAS when we got to see kids just knocking adults around. Also, everybody's been telling me that it ABSOLUTELY MUST check out the show. Is there anywhere online I can watch it, people? Point me in the right direction!

What do you think, oh Tae Kwon Do-practicing Anime Vice community? Can any of you who were Avatar fans vouch for Shyamalan’s statements and their trueness to the toon’s spirit?

-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia Comics.   Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this March - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.

For whatever reason, I just imagine that the Sentai Filmworks' production offices look like the rebel hideout. With their fast, sub-only releases of many series, it often feels like they are smuggling the shows out of Japan. Of course, we profit, since several of them probably weren't big enough for a dub (Special A) or are just too much of a nightmare to localize (Maria+Holic). Not only have they put out some of my favorite releases this last year, but their announcements are usually on shelf's with a month or two, keeping my ADD at an all time high.
 
This, of course, is made possible by the more minimal expenses/production time, associated with simple, feature-less sub-only releases. Well, Sentai Filmworks just announced that the dubs are back. In a limited program aimed at polishing up some of their larger releases, Sentai has announced the following five titles will receive an English Dub.

• Clannad
• Legends of the Dark King ~ A Fist of the North Star Story
• Tears to Tiara
• Blue Drop
• Ghost Hound 
  

But wait? What if I already own those DVDS?

Don't qq yet, you haven't been forsaken. The people over at Section23 (the parent company) have stated that they are looking into some sort of "Upgrade" where you'll be able to trade out and get the newer release, with the dub included. No news on how, as I'm sure they're still mulling it over themselves. But hey, I'm just tickled pink that they remember that we exist.
 
Oh well, who am I kidding, Fist of the North star is like, 900x better with over dramatic English dubs. Sign me up now.
 

Today I present to you Mew, she is a cosplayer from the capital of cosplay, Japan. Her cosplay-jitsu spans many different anime and game series, making her a well diversified cosplayer who can cosplay anything, and look good doing it too. Though she has a deep love in cosplaying Edward Elric, Doremi Harukaze, and Nausicaa. She states that the reason she became a cosplayer was being influenced by seeing all the amazing cosplayers at Comic Market. I have to admit, it was a good decision. If you like these pictures, check out the rest here.  
 

Hot on the heels of Eva 1.11, Dark Horse has announced their own little piece of Neo Tokyo-3... Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse. The book, which just completed its run last December, is another entry in the "alternate universe Evangelion" (see Angelic Days and Shinji Ikari Raising Project.) However, instead of being a lighter, more romantic divergence, Campus Apocalypse seems to take the Persona+Sailor Moon approach to the mythos.
 
Official description:

Shinji Ikari’s parents are gone, and he lives with his legal guardian, Ryoji Kaji, while attending the private NERV Academy. But no one ever told Shinji about its secrets . . . or that he’d find his fellow students Kaworu, Rei, and Asuka out on the streets late at night—fighting with sword, spear, and whip against an enemy that looks very human, but who Kaworu insists are beings called the Angels . . . 

My description:

Taking place at NERV Foundation Academy, Shinji stumbles into a struggle for the fate of humanity. Angels are beings after these "cores," and humans can use the cores to manifest their Evas. For instance, Shinji's Eva takes the form of a gun. Expect more person to person pew pew, and very little giant robot. Oh, and expect plenty of romantic subplots, as the characters attempt to balance their school life with their private attempts to save the world. Oh, and... headmaster Gendo?!?!   

But really, what about that doesn't sound fun? Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse is a four volume release, and Dark Horse expects to ship the first volume August 2010. Granted, I may be an alternate reality junkie, but is anyone else excited for this one?

It appears as if not everyone in Japan is down with the proposed legislation that will censor any depiction of a character who looks younger than 18 and acts in a sexually provocative manner. A group of manga creators have held their own press conference on Monday to fight agains this very law, including such manga creators as Tesuya Chiba ( Ashita no Joe) and Machiko Satonaka (Lady Ann). They then presented the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly with a written statement of their disgust, which was signed by many other creators. Here is the full list of creators who have signed this statement:


Now Hideki Egami, the editor of Ikki manga magazine has asked all those who oppose the legislation and where unable to sign this statement to voice their opinion on twitter. This then opened the flood gates to more and more artists from all around Japan to voice their opinion on the subject matter. It appears as if things are not looking good for the pro loli ban side; but you never know. I’m glad that finally people are standing up to this great injustice.

[Via ANN]

Reviewing machine and user supreme, JJOR64 wrote a review so polished I couldn't help but want to share it. Given how Zetsubou will be coming to your DVD players soon enough, JJOR64's review, in the form of an informative preview, is a great look at what to expect. - John
 
Guest posts are intended to encourage diversity of thought; the opinions represented within are not necessarily those of Anime Vice or its staff.
 
The following review is the entire Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei anime series.  This includes:  Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, and Zan Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei.
 
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is an anime adaptation of the manga of the same name.  There are 12 episodes in SZS, 13 in Zoku SZS, 3 in Goku SZS (OVA series), and 13 and 1 OAD in Zan SZS.  All the seasons and OVAs where produced by Shaft and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo.
 

Brief Overview

Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei is a show about Nozomu Itoshiki and his students.  Nozomu is a very negative person and often wants to commit suicide for being in despair.  During the first episode he tries to hang himself, but ends up failing and meets Kafuka Fuura, one of his students who is the complete opposite of him as she if a very positive person.  This is how the show opens.
 
Since this is an episodic show, there is no consent story.  Each chapter of the episode resolves around an aspect of life, Japanese culture, or a common phrase in the Japanese language.
 
Since Nozomu is a teacher, he has very special students.  Each of his students are named after controversial social issues in Japanese society expect for Kafuka Fuura, whose real name has yet to be revealed.  There are many girls and a few boys in the class.  Since the show mostly focuses on the girls, I'm going talk about the important ones.  Here are their social issues, some worse then others:
 

• Kafuka Fuura - Sees everything in the most positive way possible.  Even in grim situations like when Nozomu tries hanging himself, she calls it "becoming taller" because her mother did it as well.
• Chiri Kitsu - She wants everything to be absolutely perfect even if she has to be extremely violent.
  
• Abiru Kobushi - A girl who is always heavily bandaged.  Most people think she is like that because she is a victim of domestic violence.  Her injuries are actually due to her pulling the tails of animals, which is a fetish of hers.
• Kiri Komori - A hikikomori.  She was locked up in here room until one day when Nozomu and Kafuka try to get her to come to school.  Kafuka believes that she is a zashiki-warashi and end up scaring her out of her home.  Now she ends up living at the school.
  
• Matoi Tsunetsuki - A stalker.  First she stalks her ex-boyfriend, but ends up stalking Nozomu after misinterpreting something he had said.
• Nami Hito - A completely ordinary girl who takes offense when you call her normal.
• Harumi Fujiyoshi - A fan of yaoi and cat ears.
• Taro Maria Sekiutsu - An illegal immigrant of unknown nationality.
• Meru Otonashi - A girl who does not talk and only communicates through text messages, which are very abusive.
• Kaere/Kaede Kimura - Suffers from dissociative identity disorder.  Kaede is an ultimately Japanese woman.  Kaere is a foreigner who is very disgusted with with Japanese culture.  Through out most of the show she is Kaere.  Kaere/Kaede is also the source of all the fan fanservice in the show with many panty shots.
• Ai Kaga - A very shy and insecure girl who constantly apologizes for trivial matters and things she didn't even do. 
• Manami Okusa - A married high schooler.
• Mayo Mitama -  An evil looking girl who always commits horrible acts. Not wanting to be accused of reacting to stereotypes, people simply assume she is a good girl who only looks evil.

 

My Thoughts

Even though the show really bizarre and different from what I have watched before, I really dug it.
 
The first thing that you have to talk about is the bizarre cast of characters.  Nozomu Itoshiki is the coolest teacher ever, even though he is always in despair.  Besides him, the girls are all great as well.  I really enjoyed Kafuka a lot.  With being super positive about everything, even about death, how could you not love such a cute and sweet girl?  I also loved Kiri because I can relate to her, kinda.  I'm one of this guys who always stays are home and does what she often does, watches anime and surfs the web.  And you gotta love Kaere for all the fanservice she provides through out the show.
 
With a bizarre show like this, how can you not have some enjoyable moments?  One of my favorite chapters is when Nozomu is forced to get married.  Every year his family hosts a marriage even for the whole city.  Once you look are someone's eyes, you are instantly married to the person.  Through the whole night he just looks away and tries to run away.  His students also participate and for this being a harem show, the try to make him look at them, especially Chiri and Matoi.  Another great chapter is when Nozomu write a doujinshi for Comiket.  At the beginning of the episode Harumi bumps into Nozomu while she is on her way to make copies of her doujinshi.  She ends up telling Nozomu about her hobby, but he misunderstands it as literary sense instead of a manga/anime sense.  He ends up writing his own thing, but it doesn't sell at all.
 
There are other great things about the show as well.  The art style for the show is fantastic.  Every once in a while they change up the art style and character models and that's all great.  In Zoku SZS episode 7 they used clay animation.  It was so goofy and weird that it was awesome.  The music in the show as fantastic.  When there was music used, it fitted the moment perfectly.  The OP and ED songs were awesome as well.  Some people my be a little turned off my the rock n roll and somewhat screaming used in some of them, but I really enjoyed them.   Speaking of ED, there are some great endings as well that are used through the show.  At the end of season three episodes, they draw Nozomu's head along with a song they made up.  One neat thing about it is the pictures that are drawn are actually pictures submitted by fans which is really neat.
 
From time to time the show gets really dark, but when it happens, it still really goofy and awesome.  There is a part where there is tons of blood and the students end up dying.  There is also a part where the students tear Nozomu into peaces to divide him evenly between the students.  Besides the dark parts, there were also a lot of cameos as well.  Some note worthy anime cameos are Lucky Star, Haruhi, Negima, Clannad, Death Note, and Detective Conan aka Case Closed.  My favorite one has to be the ones of Negima.  Nozomu talks about that their manga wont sell, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, and talking about how Negima will clearly out sell it, which made me chuckle since I got into Negima in January.  I should note that Shaft worked on Negima!? as well.  There are other cameos as well like Freddy Kruger, Blue Man Group, Star Wars and a few others.
 
Now it's time for a few complaints.  During quire a few of the chapters, the pace felt a little too fast and to be paused to read what was going on.  Yet, at other times when they were talking about some stuff, I was completely lost and didn't understand it completely.
 
All and all, this was a excellent show.  Despite these few, minor complaints, I still really enjoyed the show.  If you are looking for a really bizarre comedy, I recommend this show.  Forewarning though.  If you decide to watch the show, I suggest taking a break between each season so the show wont get stale when you get to the third season.
 

Review in a Nutshell

I liked:

• The bizarre cast of characters.
• Stylish Art Style
• Lots of memorable moments through out the show.
• I really dug the music.
• Lots a great cameos
• I'M IN DESPAIR!
  

 
I didn't like:

• Some chapters where a little too fast paced
• I didn't get some of the chapters.  Left me saying "OK, I don't get it."
  

 
My Score - 4.5/5
 
 
~~~ JJOR64
(check out his other reviews here.)

So, Right Stuf is up to something, and they've issued a press release on it, but even I don't know the details. Suffice it to say, you can win stuff, and it looks like they'll be announcing a new license to boot-- so we can't go wrong there, can we?   

      
First off, there's a countdown to the licensing announcement, which will be revealed on Wednesday, March 17th at 5pm CST (3pm PST/6pm EST), which is pretty standard fare-- past announcements revealed in this fashion have included Antique Bakery and ARIA. 
 
But then there's a twist: on the Coming Soon countdown page is an audio clue-- the first of many that will pop up on the same page, the Anime Today podcast, Twitter, Facebook, and "various locations around the Internet" that will give you the info you need to break the code and guess the license. The first person to guess right will get a $100 gift certificate to RightStuf, and four runners-up will get $25 gift certificates. 
 
I gotta tell you, the audio clue is pretty mystifying to me. I have a few ideas for what it might mean...how about you? And while we're at it, what do you want the license to be?

A while ago I talked about Kyoto Animation's figure of Mio Akiyama from their latest hit K-On!, which-- although I've never been that excited about the show --looked awesome. Mio just went on sale today in Japan, by the way, so if you figured out how to preorder it, you should be getting it soon.

But Mio is actually the first in a line of figures called "This is the Real Me" ("Kore ga Hontou no Watashi"), and information was just released about the second figure: Ritsu Tainaka's 1/8-scale. And the concept image is:


 Which looks really cool, although it also looks like she's vaguely doing a flamenco dance. They have a bunch of pics of the unpainted figure:


 I have to say, I really dig it in concept. I think that the pose is really lively and interesting and the sculpt looks pretty good so far too-- we'll see how the paint job goes. But my biggest concern is that she is, of course, standing on one leg, which in figures often means trouble keeping them upright.

 What do you think? Would you look into buying this?    

It appears as if everyone tweets, to the famous to, me, to even a man like Akihiro Hino, who just so happens to be Level-5‘s el presidente. And sometimes these tweets contain super, pant wetting hints that change lives. According to a recent tweet, Level-5 plans on announcing a game sometime in April. This is cool and everything, but it doesn’t stop there. He states: "Once this is announced, it will become an extremely anticipated title", like running down the streets tipping over cars kind of excited. Now a lot of game developers might say this and never pull through, but this is Level 5, a great company that makes some great games (minus White Knight Chronicles). So here are my thoughts on what game this could be.

Professor Layton: Perhaps it is time for another Professor Layton game. But instead of being on the DS they move it over to the Playstation 3. Imagine an RPG game of sorts that takes the best aspects of the DS game and adds more RPG elements to the equation.

More of you please 

Dark Cloud 3: This would be the perfect opportunity to make another Dark Cloud game. They announced a Dark Cloud 3 ages ago, but never got around to actually finishing it. The last two were on the Playstation 2, with a new console there needs to be a new game, because that’s how it works. They can apply what they learned in White Knight Chronicles and bring it to the third installment.

Dragon Quest X: It went from the Playstion 2, to the DS, and now it has to come out for the Playstation 3. Seriously, the last game sold better than hotcakes in Japan, they will make this game. The question is, when will they make it?

Though it could be an entirely new franchise that has never been made before. Either way this has to be good, or else I’ll go to Japan and make Level-5 a Level-4 with my fists.

Papercraft is the art of making models using only paper, wether it be heavy stock paper, cardboard, or normal notebook paper. Papercrafting has been around for a long time now, but I can imagine Gundam papercraft starting when one fan wanted a model for a Gundam that wasn’t on the market yet. That is the true power of Gundam papercraft, the ability to make any mobile suit you want, and make it to any proportion (ie. chibi Gundams).

But most do not make their Gundam’s from scratch. Instead they use pre-made templets, and use those blueprints in order to help construct the Gundam. However, these templets are hard to come by, but if you really scour the internets you can find them. Anyways, check out this amazing gallery of Gundam papercraft, and remember, all of these are created only using paper!