CoMix Wave Films / Makoto Shinkai Facebook Page Launched

An official CoMix Wave Films / Makoto Shinkai Facebook page has launched at http://www.facebook.com/cwfilms. Content on the page currently includes an English subtitled trailer for Makoto Shinkai's new film Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below (Hoshi O Ou Kodomo).

CoMix introduces themselves

• We began in creative contracting and currently engages in animated movie production, distribution and package sales as well as overseas sales.
• With a small number of highly skilled people, we hope to create works that will both fully display its creators' abilities and stand the test of time.
• Our mission is to work with imaginative artists to deliver heartfelt works to the people all over the world.

Other CoMix projects include
Makoto Shinkai: Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5 Centimeters per Second
Ryoichi Mori: Peeping Life
Jun Awazu: NEGADON: The Monster from Mars, PLANZET
YamatoWorks (Shuhei Morita and Daisuke Sajiki): Kakurenbo
Akitaro Daichi: Grrl Power!: Makasete Iruka
Kengo Takeuchi: Yonna in the Solitary Fortless
Toshikazu Matsubara/Akio Watanabe: Hoshizora Kiseki
Naoto Iwakiri: Kaede Newtown
Tact Aoki: The Asylum Session
Chang Hyung Yun: My Dear Coffee Samurai

Shinkai made his mark with 2002's sci-fi informed relationship story Voices of a Distant Star. The anime followed a decidedly normal relationship between a teen boy and girl, bent by the girl serving in the anime-typical role of piloting a robot against alien adversaries. The two keep in touch through texts, but the time between messages from her grows more protracted as she travels into space at relativistic speeds. It was a nice, effecting story, told over the course of 25 minutes, taken as a real artistic statement due to the story of its production; Voices was originally written, directed and produced by Shinkai on his Power Mac G4, with characters voiced by Shinkai with his wife.

His works continued to impress with their beautifully rendered backgrounds and touching relationship stories.

Source: CoMisWave / Makoto Shinkai Official Facebook page

nano.RIPE to Sing Second Hanasaku Iroha Opening

Music production company Lantis and Japanese rock band nano.RIPE have both updated their respective webpages to announce that nano.RIPE's 5th single will be used as a new opening theme for Hanasaku Iroha. The single is titled "Omokage Warp" (LACM-4831) and will be released on August 3rd. nano.RIPE also sang the first opening theme "Hana no Iro." Lantis is currently streaming the full length promotion video on youtube.

Oh, the image? A shirt that appeared on Nijigen Cospa recently since the single cover art wasn't available.

nano.RIPE official site

via Ota-suke (5th Single, PV)

Image ©花いろ旅館組合 ©COSPA

TV Anime of Manga Chihayafuru Announced

According to Mainichi News, manga Chihayafuru was announced to be getting a TV anime adaptation. It will start this October. Manga Chihayafuru has won the 2nd Manga Taisho in 2009 and the 35th Kodansha Manga Award in 2011.

Source: Mainichi

OVA of Kiss Dum Announced

According to the official website, an OVA will be bundled with the Blu-ray box of Kiss Dum: Engage Planet. It's an original episode titled "Omokage". However, the release of the box set will be canceled if the number of the pre-orders are less than 2,000. The pre-ordering will be closed on June 6th, but the number hasn't reached the lower limit yet.

Staff of the OVA

Director: Sato Eiichi

Script: Ohnogi Hiroshi

Animation Director: Takahashi Noriko (episode animation director of "Kiss Dum", design works of "Witchblade")

TV Anime Kiss Dum was aired in 2007 but the release of the DVD was canceled due to the failure of the production schedule. Director Nagaoka Yasushi was dismissed before the airing and Sato Eiichi took over the director position.

Sources: Kissdum Blu-ray official website, GIGAZINE

ONE PIECE Anime Starts Streaming in Japan for the First Time

On May 29, the Japanese broadcaster Fuji Television Network and the Japanese studio Toei Animation announced that they start streaming the One Piece anime series on their streaming sites "FujiTV on Demand" and "Anime Jan" in commemoration of the 500th episode which was broadcasted on the same day. This is the first official streaming for the anime in Japan.

Unlike the streaming in the U.S., the streaming in Japan is not free and not simulcasting. The price per episode of the series is 105 yen (US$1.30) for the limited three days viewing. You can also purchase the first season episodes pack (1-61), which is the only available season currently, for 4,484 yen (US$55.50) for the 30 days viewing. Only the first episode "I'm Luffy! The Man Who's Gonna Be King of the Pirates!" is streaming for free. They are planning to stream more episodes in the future.


















Source: Anime!Anime!
Image © Eichiro Oda・Shueisha/Fuji TV/Toei Animation

Towa no Quon, Saiyuki Gaiden Promos Streamed

The official website of the Towa no Quon film series began streaming the full trailer off NEC's BIGLOBE website on Thursday. The earlier television commercials for the DVD-bundled tickets and the teaser trailer are also available. The story follows a boy named Quon and others who suddenly wake up with supernatural powers. The anime studio BONES is producing the six-part film series as the last anime of Umanosuke Iida (Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, Hellsing), the director who passed away last November. Takeshi Mori (Otaku no Video, Gunsmith Cats, Vandread) is serving as the "collaborative director" in Iida's place. The first film will open in Japan on June 18.


The official website for the Saiyuki Gaiden video anime series began streaming a 90-second promotional video for the second volume on Friday. The anime adapts Kazuya Minekura's manga of the same name, which ended in Ichijinsha's Monthly Comic Zero-Sum magazine in 2009. The second of the three anime volumes will ship in Japan on June 24.







Source: Saishin Anime Jōhō, Moon Phase

Images © BONES/Towa no Quon Production Committee
© Kazuya Minekura, Ichijinsha/Saiyuki Gaiden Production
Committee 2010

Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens Vol. 1 Manga In Stores Today!

May 25, 2011 (Cypress, CA) – Bandai Entertainment announced today that the first volume of the English version of the KANNAGI: CRAZY SHRINE MAIDENS manga will be available in North American book stores and online starting today. The manga, written and illustrated by Eri Takenashi, focuses on Jin, a normal high-school-aged boy who meets Nagi, a young goddess who awakes after years of slumber with Jin’s help. The odd pair starts living under the same roof together resulting in a bizarre situation with both comedic and dramatic overtones.

The successful manga series was turned into an anime by A-1 Pictures and Directed by Yutaka Yamamoto of Haruhi and Lucky Star fame. The anime was previously released by Bandai Entertainment.

Six volumes of the manga are scheduled for release and creator Takenashi recently resumed work on the series in Japan.

For more information

www.bandai-ent.com

About Bandai Entertainment Inc.

Bandai Entertainment Inc. is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings (USA) Inc. and a premier distributor of Japanese animation on DVD and programming for television broadcast in North America. Titles include K-ON!, Gundam 00, Code Geass: Lelouch of Rebellion, Lucky Star, Gurren Lagann,The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, My Otome, and many more.

Haruhi-Ville Coming to Japanese Mobile Phones

GREE, Japan's largest social networking service, will be offering Nexon Mobile developed The Union of Haruhi Suzumiya starting June 15th. Play involves quests, mini-games and interaction with the otaku media icon Haruhi Suzumiya and her SOS Brigade cohorts. The game is free to play, with revenue being generated through microtransactions.

Gurren Lagann × galaxxxy Collaboration Items Revealed

In the wake of recent Panty and Stocky events, Gainax is presenting a P&S style Gurren Lagann exhibit at galaxxxy in Hi-Fi Boxxx in Shibuya May 22, 2011 - June 19.

New galaxxxy collaboration items will be released in conjuction with an exhibition of anime storyboards and scripts. Super Robot Wars Z 2, the new iteration of the strategy RPG featuring Gurren Lagann among other mecha series, will also be showcased.

Apparel being offering as part of collaboration include:

■ T-Shirt Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Price: 3,675 yen (tax excluded)

Color: White, Red

Size: M, L

■ T-Shirt King Kittan

Price: 3,675 yen (tax excluded)

Color: white, Black

Size: M, L

Manufacturers Lagann

Price: 11,340 yen (tax excluded)
Color: Mix
Size: M, L

■ T-Shirt Enkidurga

Price: 6,090 yen (tax excluded)

Color: White

Size: FREE

Additional Usagi Drop Cast Members and Ending Theme Announced

The official website for the July noitaminA block show Usagi Drop has announced more of the cast, including a few fan favorites. Joining the already announced Hiroshi Tsuchida as Daikichi Kawachi and Ayu Matsuura as Rin Kaga is:

• Sayaka Oohara (Haruka Hasegawa in Moyashimon, Yuuko in xxxHoLiC) as Kouki Mama
• Noa Sakai as Kouki
• Nanako Sudou as Reina Maeda
• Kana Ueda (Sakuya Aizawa in Hayate no Gotoku, Kinon Bachika in Gurren Lagann) as Haruko Maeda
• Maaya Sakamoto (Haruhi in Ouran Host Club) as Masako

In addition, it was also announced that kasarinchu will be singing the ending "High HighHigh." It was previously announced that PUFFY, better known as Puffy AmiYumi to many outside Japan, will be singing "Sweet Drops" as the opening for both the anime and the movie version.

Source: Ota-suke

Image ©Yumi Unita, Shodensha, Anime "Usagi Drop" Production Committee

Nodame's Ninomiya to Launch Manga in New Jump X Mag

Nodame Cantabile manga creator Tomoko Ninomiya is launching a new series in Jump X, a new magazine from the Japanese publisher Shueisha. Ninomiya will illustrate the cover of the magazine's inaugural issue. The magazine's website now features a preview page (pictured at left) that is counting down to June 25.

The third issue of Shueisha's Miracle Jump magazine had revealed the plans for the new magazine earlier this month. Shueisha describes Jump X as a "pure manga magazine" — one that is not pigeonholed to any age range or gender. Jump X's "X" is pronounced as "kai," the Japanese suffix for something that has been updated or improved.

Del Rey published the 16th volume of Nodame Cantabile in North America in 2009.

Source: Manga News

2nd Ika Musume Season Title and Staff Listed

This year's 25th issue of Akita Shoten's Weekly Shonen Champion magazine is revealing on Thursday that the second season of the Shinryaku! Ika Musume (Squid Girl) television anime series will have the title Shinryaku!? Ika Musume.

In addition, the Weekly Shōnen Champion issue reports that Tsutomu Mizushima, the director of the first season, will now serve as the "general director" (sōkantoku) for the new season. Valkyria Chronicles director Yasutaka Yamamoto will actually direct the new season. The first season's character designer Masakazu Ishikawa and series script supervisor Michiko Yokote will reprise their respective roles for the second season. Animation studio Diomedea will once again handle the animation for the series.

The anime adapts Masahiro Anbe's Shinryaku! Ika Musume (The Invader Came From the Bottom of the Sea!) comedy manga about a squid girl who vows to invade the beaches of mankind since humans have polluted the seas. However, her invasion is less than successful, and she ends up on dry land. The first season premiered last October, and the media-distribution website Crunchyroll streamed the anime outside Japan as it aired.

Source: Yaraon!

Main Cast of Live Action Detective Conan TV Drama Announced

NTV (Nippon Television Network Corporation) announced the main cast of the up-coming live-action television series of Gosho Aoyama's Detective Conan manga on May 24. The TV series will premiere on July 7 at 11:58 pm. on NTV and their 30 affiliate stations in Japan.

So far three single live-action television special have been made in 2006, 2007, and April 2011. However this is the first TV serial. It will retain the same cast as the third live-action special. In the first two specials, Shinichi Kudo was played by Shun Oguri (Crows ZERO,TAJOMARU) by the manga author Gosho Aoyama's recommendation. And Ran Mouri was played by Tomoka Kurokawa (Pride).

The cast:

Junpei Mizobata (Hachi-One Diver,High School Debut) - Shinichi Kudo

Shiori Kutsuna (BECK) - Ran Mouri

Nene Ohtsuka (Limit of Love Umizaru, Team Medical Dragon) - Eri Kisaki

Sayaka Akimoto (AKB48) - Sonoko Suzuki

Takanori Jinnai (BURST CITY, ROCKERS) - Kogorou Mouri

Source: Comic Natalie

© NTV

Tokyopop: Japanese Manga Licenses to Revert to Owners

The international manga publisher Tokyopop, which is closing its North American publishing division at the end of this month, issued a statement on its Facebook page regarding the status of its series on Monday. The company confirmed that all of its licensed titles will revert back to their original owners, rather than being held by the company's remaining media division until the contracts expire.

Tokyopop did not address the status of original series for which it owns the rights, however. Many writers, including comic creator Becky Cloonan (whose East Coast Rising comic was published through Tokyopop's "Global Manga" program), blogger Johanna Draper-Carlson, and blogger and comic creator Jason Thompson, expressed concern over the status of these series.

Tokyopop had not responded to ANN's request for comment at press time. California-based manga publisher Digital Manga revealed on Twitter this morning that it is looking into the possibility of rescuing Tokyopop titles.

Source: About Manga

Red Hot Chili Samurai's Katagiri Launches New Manga

Red Hot Chili Samurai (Kokaku Detective Story) manga creator Yoshitsugu Katagiri launched a new series called Tsuki ni Tsubame to Migi ni Kage (A Swallow Flying in the Moonlight and a Shadow to the Right) in the July issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Asuka magazine on Tuesday. The action comedy follows a secret organization who fights supernatural beings called "yokuka" who possess humans. The first chapter, which is online, depicts a seemingly ordinary boy named Ensuke Azuma who goes to school by day and works for the organization to exterminate "yokuka" by night.

Red Hot Chili Samurai had run in Kadokawa's Beans Ace magazine until the magazine ended publication in October 2009, when the manga then migrated to Monthly Asuka. Tokyopop licensed the manga in 2009, and had released four volumes in North America before the company announced it would shut down at the end of this month.

The Conductor manga (pictured at left) by Psychic Detective Yakumo's Manabu Kaminaga and the Akaki Tsuki no Mawaru Koro manga by Arata Kigawa are both ending in the July issue of Monthly Asuka.

Source: Comic Natalie

New Haruhi Novel Ships in Several Countries Tonight

513,000 limited first-edition sets of Nagaru Tanigawa's next Haruhi Suzumiya light novel, Suzumiya Haruhi no Kyōgaku (The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya), will officially go on sale at midnight on Wednesday in Japan (11:00 a.m. on Tuesday EDT). The two-volume novel will also go on sale in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. However, since some retailers shipped earlier than others, some readers have reported receiving their copies already.

Five Animate stores and three Gamers stores will open at midnight in Japan to sell the novel as early as possible. Staff members in some Animate stores will be cosplaying in the light novels' high school uniforms, complete with SOS Brigade armband, and customers will receive one of five random SOS Brigade Supporters Cards with every 1,000 yen (about US$12) they spend on Haruhi Suzumiya items. The Animate and Wawabooks stores in Taipei, as well as two more stores in Taichung and Kaohsiung, will also open at midnight in Taiwan.

Source: Niji ni Kubittake!, Comic Natalie

2.2% of Consumers Purchase 81% of Blu-ray in Japan

According to a survey conducted by Japan Video Software Association, very small number of consumers support the DVD and Blu-ray market in Japan. 4.1% of the consumers spent >30,000 yen ($370) on DVD and Blu-ray software in 2010 and their consumption made up 67.4% of the whole disc media sales. Within the Blu-ray market, the tendency gets even stronger: 80.9% of the Blu-rays were purchased by 2.2% heavy users, who spend >30,000 yen on Blu-ray softwares a year. The biased distribution of consumers reflected the fact that anime videos account for 63.2% of the Blu-ray market in Japan.

In 2010, the percentage of DVD & Blu-ray buyers was 21.2%, down 10% from the previous year. However, the average expenditure on DVD & Blu-ray has increased by 30%: $289 in 2010 and $221 in 2009. These data show that the disc software market has been losing general customers and the heavy users have been getting even "heavier".

Source: Anime!Anime!

Live Action TV Drama of Ouran High School Host Club Announced

According to Natalie, a live action TV drama of Ouran High School Host Club was announced to start this July.

Cast
Fujioka Haruhi: Kawaguchi Haruna (official website)
Suoh Tamaki: Yamamoto Yusuke (official website)
Ohtori Kyoya: Daito Shunsuke (profile)
Hitachiin Hikaru: Takagi Shinpei (profile)
Hitachiin Kaoru: Takagi Manpei (profile)
Haninozuka Mitsukuni: Chiba Yudai (profile)
Morinozuka Takashi: Nakamura Masaya (profile)
Nekozawa Umehito: Ryusei Ryo (profile)

Source: Natalie
We apologize for delayed post.

2011 Summer list!

Lets check this new 2011 Summer list and we have tons of promising anime coming! Exciting.