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Anime Pop Star Yoko Ishida

If you missed Anime Pop Star (Yoko Ishida) at the Anime and Manga Convention
Anaheim, California  this past May you can still check her out at this years Anime Expo® 2008. Anime Expo® 2008 in conjunction with Geneon Entertainment, is ecstatic to announce the return of the highly popular Anime Pop  Star Yoko Ishida to this year¹s event held from July 3-6, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. More information can be found on the website www.anime-expo.org.

Blue Dragon Anime

VIZ Media announced that it has secured the license for the Blue Dragon anime adaptation of the Xbox 360 roleplaying game of the same name. The television series has been airing in Japan since April 7. The license includes television, home-video, and non-video-game merchandising rights.

The original game is the first time that Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, Dragon Quest character designer and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, and Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu have collaborated since the classic roleplaying game Chrono Trigger.

Bandai visual USA Talks Haruka

A new press release (pdf) has come out today talking about their acquisition of Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time. The series is being released across nine volumes and will come in at $29.98

Tokyopop Creators Hold Book Signings

Creators Jim Pascoe (Undertown), Rikki Simons and Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons (ShutterBox), Steve Buccellato (Battle of the Bands), and Tricia Riley Hale (Grand Theft Galaxy) will hold a book signing on behalf of their publisher Tokyopop at the Borders Northridge bookstore in Southern California on Friday, November at 7:00 p.m. They will hold another signing at the Kinokuniya bookstore in Los Angeles on Saturday, November 17 at 2:00 p.m. Source: MangaBlog

Japanese Man Arrested for Stealing 101 Mangas

You know sometimes you really.... and I mean really want some comics lol. Yōichi Yonehata, a 23-year-old unemployed man, was charged in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward on November 14 for stealing 101 volumes of manga. The suspect reportedly said, "I'm in deep debt, so I was going to resell the books back to used bookstores." He is suspected of stealing Detective Conan, Hana Yori Dango, and other manga worth about 60,000 yen (US$500) from the Tsutaya's main Edogawa store on November 3 between 4:20 and 4:40 p.m. He allegedly took about 50 volumes out of the store in a plastic bag, hid them in a parking lot, and then went back to get more. He was caught when a nearby bicycle store's employee spotted him. Source: Jiji Press, Asahi Shimbun

WITCHBLADE" #1 ANIME SERIES

Official Press Release

Fort Worth, TX -- FUNimation Entertainment announced today that the company's Witchblade volume one release is the best-selling anime home entertainment release to date in 2007.
 
According to analysis of Nielsen VideoScan data after its September 25th release date, Witchblade volume 1 is the #1 best selling anime series launch of the year based on first week sales.

Nielsen VideoScan collects sell-through POS (consumer purchase) sales data weekly from traditional channels of video distribution including mass merchants, audio/video and video specialty retailers, electronics outlets, grocery stores, drug stores, and some Internet sites. Nielsen VideoScan maintains this weekly POS data in one of the largest databases of VHS and DVD products in the country.

From the renowned anime studio GONZO, Witchblade is the saga of a woman who must bear the burden of a terrible force of destruction known as the Witchblade. Based on the comic book series from Top Cow Productions, the anime series goes into the future to tell the tale of a new bearer of the Witchblade and the conspiracy that surrounds her burden. Witchblade is the first U.S. comic book property to be made into an anime.

FUNimation will release Witchblade volume 2 on November 6th. DVD packaging features exclusive covers from Top Cow Productions artists.

 

Anime Network licenses TV programming from Illumitoon

MUMBAI: In order to add a dose of sci-fi and adventure to its programming line-up, US broadcaster Anime Network has licensed two new anime series from Illumitoon Entertainment.                   

The mecha robot-filled series B’tx and AM Driver are set to premiere on VoD next month. Illumitoon CEO Barry Watson says, "We are delighted to be partnered with the Anime Network, as they have consistently delivered top-tier anime for the fans and are readily identified as a leader in anime content. We were very happy to add B’tx and AM Driver to the channel’s lineup, and we know that anime fans will be equally pleased." Anime Network director of programming and operations Stacy Dodson says, "These two series really capture the essence of classic mecha anime, as both are loaded with action, robots and sci-fi twists. They will make a great complement to Anime Network’s VoD schedule, and we’re pleased to work with Illumitoon in bringing them to our viewers."                         

B’tx follows the adventures of Teppei, whose plans to reunite with his scientist brother Kotaro are shattered when Kotaro is kidnapped during a conference. While searching for his brother, Teppei encounters a broken mechanical insectoid-like weapon called B'tx, which comes to life due to inadvertent contact with Teppei’s blood. In a strange development, the unlikely pair develops a brotherly bond and end up on a quest to save Kotaro.

Anime firm boss gets online death threats

Odex boss Stephen Sing has no regrets over cracking down on pirated animated Japanese cartoons

Online hate target Stephen Sing admits he has made some mistakes by antagonising local fans of anime -- animated Japanese cartoons.

But Mr Sing, 35, who runs anime distribution firm Odex, has no regrets over his crackdown on those who allegedly downloaded pirated anime from the Internet.

Hundreds of anime fans face financial claims of up to $5,000, after Odex obtained a court order to get Internet providers to hand over details of anime downloaders.

This action has led to a bitter online campaign against Mr Sing, by anime fans -- including death threats that he has reported to police.

It had been a "PR disaster," Mr Sing told The Straits Times, and he had been "very wrong" to make dismissive remarks online.

Anime fans were incensed by a two-week-old online message by Mr Sing that was seized on amid publicity this week over Odex's campaign.

Mr Sing explained that he typed the comment in frustration when he was having a bad day dealing with downloaders who were openly taunting him in his office.

So when friends asked him why he could not join them for a gaming session, he flippantly wrote the offending comment -- that he was "busy suing people."

Another mistake, he said, centred on the allegation that Odex was passing off "fansubs" or fan-subtitled anime as its own products.

He said this was partially true as he had hired anime fans to do subtitling in 2004, but "they took the easy way out and copied word for word the subtitles on fansubs they downloaded."

Nobody realised it at the time, the anime went on sale, "and we have been paying for this mistake ever since," he said.

BANDAI AND KADOKAWA ANNOUNCE “SOS BRIGADE INVASION TOUR”

Anime Expo® 2007, Bandai Entertainment Inc., and Kadokawa Pictures USA announced today that the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya will be celebrated at this year’s Anime Expo® convention, held at the Long Beach Convention Center June 29-July 2, 2007, with the “SOS Brigade Invasion Tour.”

The SOS Brigade is a reference to the school club formed by Haruhi Suzumiya, the eccentric lead character of this series, which has been nothing short of a phenomenon in Japan and is making its North American debut on DVD on May 29th 2007.

Aya Hirano (Haruhi), Yuko Goto (Mikuru), and Minori Chihara (Yuki), renowned worldwide for their performances in both the Haruhi television series and the character soundtracks will be attending as Official Guests of Honor at this year’s Anime Expo®.

In addition to appearing on panels and having autograph sessions, the three voice leads, will also be performing in a live concert on Saturday June 30th 2007 at 4:30 pm at the Long Beach Arena, next to the convention center.  They will be performing such hit songs as “Bouken Desho Desho?” and “Hare Hare Yukai.”  Winner of Bandai Entertainment Inc. Haruhi Dance contest will be allowed to come up on stage and perform the infamous dance with the voice actresses, live on stage. The concert will be free for Anime Expo® attendees.

New prize launched for manga artists

TOKYO - Japan will hand out its first "Nobel Prize of Manga" this summer for artists in the comic book genre abroad, another step in its efforts to harness the power of pop culture diplomacy.

The International Manga Award — which manga enthusiast Foreign Minister Taro Aso likened to a "Nobel Prize" when he first proposed it last year — will be given to an artist working abroad whose work best contributes to the spread of the manga form worldwide, the ministry said Tuesday in a statement.

Manga, a name used for Japanese-syle comic books, often combine complex stories with drawing styles that differ from their overseas superhero counterparts, particularly in their frequent emphasis on cuteness.

The winner and three runners-up will receive a certificate and trophy at an awards ceremony set for July 2, and will spend 10 days in Japan meeting with local comic book artists and publishers, the statement said.

"Manga and anime have been spreading overseas and are selling quite well," Aso said in announcing the award. "I want to further boost the communicative power of these so-called pieces of pop culture."