It’s the end of the year, which means anime bloggers everywhere will be posting their “year in review” articles. While trolling the interwebs, I found an article that’s different than the usual “Best Of” fare. Chris Beveridge over at Mania.com wrote a few points on what the industry actually got right in 2k8
From the article:
Distribution of Releases – Just about every company tried to change things up in one way or another this year. There’s a greater emphasis from all of them, aided by the fact that the Japanese now seem to get it, to provide more digital distribution options. And the companies are taking advantage of that. With Viz Media essentially being a Japanese company, they’ve got their shows out through multiple services, some TV deals as well as their DVD releases. Most of them are shows they’re able to cross-promote with their manga as well. FUNimation does some good cross-promotion with Del Rey for their titles and they’re pushing a lot of digital options as well. FUNimation’s aggressive with their on demand channel as well as pushing through on iTunes, Xbox Live and a YouTube channel. There are so many different digital options it’s almost overwhelming for some with no central place to really figure out what’s available.
Yes, it’s here folks. The official trailer for this god-awful, disgrace to all anime fans. The movie never looked good in the previous sample vids or still shots. Nothing’s changed. But hey, if you’re still curious, or just want a laugh, here’s the new trailer, hot off the presses.
Times are tough, folks. With this economic slowdown, many industries are hurting bad. Anime/manga sales have already been declining both here and abroad. If our favorite entertainment segment is going to survive these tough times, we need to do one thing…
Buy stuff.
Don’t buy just for yourself, because ’tis the season for giving. If the industry is going to prosper ultimately they need to increase their customer base. So make it your mission this holiday season to give anime/manga ’til it hurts.
To be most effective, try to bait in non-otaku with titles that cater to the interests they already have. Buy Vampire Hunter D for your sister that loves vampire movies, or purchase a copy of the Eden: It’s an Endless World manga for the dad that loves sci-fi books. Got a socially inept, lonely brother going to college? Buy him some hentai (though chances are, he’s already a fan).
Manga, like all books, make especially good gifts. They’re portable, durable, relatively cheap, provide hours of entertainment, and they can be easily loaned or re-gifted. It’s the gift that keeps on giving! And maybe, just maybe, you might make some anime-manga converts. There’s a special place in Otaku heaven for people like that.
Surely most of you have heard the news that there’s a Live action Akira movie coming out of Hollywood. Here’s one fan’s fears on how it could turn out:
Of course, the initial script review shows a film that should be very faithful to the original movie, and Katsuhiro Otomo, the creator of both the original Akira manga and its animated adaptation, is on board as the film’s executive producer. Still, it’s funny to see Americanized Akira spoofs
Now that Sci Fi is done airing Gurren Lagann, they’ve moved on to Gundam 00. I’m reviewing the show for IGN, and I’m not really digging it…yet. There’s promise, definitely promise, but the first two episodes didn’t overwhelm me. The dub didn’t do the show any favors, either. But hey, that’s my opinion.
So I’ve been reviewing anime at IGN.com for a while, and one of the shows I’d been assigned was Gurren Lagann as it aired on Sci-Fi. Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled about it at first, but by the end of the show I had enjoyed myself. IGN does a season review for all the shows it reviews, and since Gurren Lagann only has one season, well, it turned out to be a review for the whole series.
Anime News Network reports a particularly odd piece of news today
The Jiji Press news source reports that Japanese Prime Minister Tarō Asō and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will discuss a joint anime
production starring the Japanese manga character Doraemon and the Russian folklore creature “Dorafei” on Saturday. The two leaders will be meeting in Peru this weekend with other world figures at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Former Foreign Minister Masahiko Kōmura had already appointed Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko’s Doraemon robotic cat as Japan’s first “anime cultural ambassador” in March. Doraemon is popular in Russia, and Medvedev’s wife Svetlana joined a Doraemon film showing at the Japanese Embassy in Moscow last Sunday.
O…kay. You would think a prime minister and a president would have more pressing matters to talk about. But I had no idea Doraemon was so big in Russia. Maybe there’s actually something to this “anime as ambassador” thing.
Today, the anime community collectively said, “It’s about damn time!”
The big news:
The North American anime distributor Viz Media has announced that it will begin streaming the latest episodes of the Naruto Shippūden anime sequel within a week of their Japanese broadcast premiere — for free — on January 15. The next latest episode will be added every Thursday thereafter.
In addition, the official Naruto.com website will stream the first eight episodes of Naruto Shippūden for free on January 2. The website will add eight more episodes every Friday thereafter until all of the earlier episodes are online. Naruto.com is already streaming the episodes of the first Naruto ninja action series, and its ad-supported streams are available to users in the United States and Canada.
This was a necessary move for the anime companies to work on curbing the problem of fansubbing. Everybody in the biz with a clue, knew this had to happen. It still remains to be seen how well this will be executed, but it’s a big step towards eliminating the need for fansubs.
Well, after much bitching and moaning from myself and many other anime fans, the new Adult Swim schedule shows Code Geass: R2 moving from the dreaded 5 am slot to 2am. It’s still not a prime slot, but it’s something. Good job, AS.
While scouring the interwebs, I found an interesting Washington Post article on the culture and historical roots of Halloween in Japan. I think it’s an interesting read for anime fans since it explains a lot of the demon traditions that we often see in anime and manga.
From the article:
“Anything that is unexplainable, anything that is scary, anything that is really weird can be considered the doings of a yokai,” said Kenji Murakami, author of a yokai encyclopedia and 19 other yokai-related books. “We do not have a tradition of Halloween, but I think yokai are perfectly appropriate for Halloween. They help explain the inexplicable, and they are fun.”
Part myth, part tall tale, part pop culture, yokai haunt mountains, swamps, subway stations and toilets across Japan. One yokai likes to plunge a large, hairy disembodied foot through the roofs of rich people’s houses. Another is made entirely of discarded dinnerware and is more dangerous to himself than to others.
One of the more interesting things described in the article was the Japanese demon known as the “Filth Licker”, who apparently “haunts dirty bathrooms. Using his long, lascivious tongue, he eats bathtub scum. As if that were not scary enough, there is also the matter of shame. In this exceedingly well-scrubbed country, if word got out that there’s a Filth Licker in your bathroom, your reputation would be ruined.”
So I’ve been reviewing anime at IGN.com for a while, and one of the shows I’d been assigned was Gurren Lagann as it aired on Sci-Fi. Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled about it at first, but by the end of the show I had enjoyed myself. IGN does a season review for all the shows it reviews, and since Gurren Lagann only has one season, well, it turned out to be a review for the whole series.