The official website for the sci-fi anime Expelled From Paradise (Rakuen Tsuiho) has released the first piece of key visual art, names of the additional staff have also been announced. Gen Urobuchi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero) is writing the film’s script and Seiji Mizushima (Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam 00) is the director.
An original anime film, Toei Animation is planning and producing the project in collaboration with the game studio Nitroplus.
Warner Home Video has revealed that Bleach the Movie: Hell Verse will be available on Blu-ray and DVD from 4 December in North America. The Blu-ray will be priced at $24.98 and the DVD will cost $19.98.
Originally released in Japan in December 2010, Tite Kubo, the Bleach manga creator, oversaw the production of the film.
Warner Home Video provided a description of the film:
Hell – a place where beings that have committed mortal sins during their lifetime are sent. It is a realm where even Soul Reapers are forbidden to interfere. When a group of vicious Sinners plots to escape from this eternal prison, they discover that Substitute Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki is the key to their freedom. The Sinners launch an attack and in the process kidnap Ichigo’s younger sister Yuzu and take her to Hell. With the help of a mysterious man named Kokuto, Ichigo and his friends must now travel into the depths of Hell to stop the Sinners and save Yuzu, unaware that their actions could bring Hell to the World of the Living.
The 15th uncut Bleach boxset will also go on sale on 11 December on DVD for $44.82.
Keeping a high interest in the upcoming Madoka Magica cinematic releases, the official website for the two-part Madoka Magica films has released a promo for the second film, Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part II: The Eternal Story.
The films will be released in Japan on the 6 and 13 October consecutively. The films are also set to be released in eight other countries in December 2012 (sadly the UK is not included):
For further information and to view the trailer of Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part I: The Beginning Story click here.
VIZ Media has posted a preview of the English dubbed Tiger and Bunny due to arrive at Western shores soon. Tiger and Bunny is also due to have a film release in the UK on September 23 in London.
Wild Tiger is an veteran superhero. Comfortably middle aged, with a wife (deceased) and child, Tiger holds onto his old morals of superheroes being full of ‘justice and courage’. However other superheroes only seem to care about getting the job done. When Tiger is paired up with newbie Barnaby Brooks – a younger, sexier hero with the same power as him – the two form a love/hate alliance. Now Tiger must learn to co-operate with his new partner ‘Bunny’, and as much as he may hate it, this means occasionally letting someone else take charge!
The English dub cast so far (alphabetical by Actor):
Yuri Lowenthal as Barnaby Brooks, Jr.
Tara Platt as Agnes Joubert
Kari Wahlgren as Blue Rose
Wally Wingert as Wild Tiger
The dubbed opening scene of the Tiger and Bunny anime.
Article by K. Cooper
From the director that created the heart wrenching Girl Who Leapt Through Time and the intense cyber-battling Summer Wars, London Film Festival is exclusively showing three screenings of Mamoru Hosoda’s new film, The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki.
The story follows the lives of Hana and her two children, Ame and Yuki, as they try to adjust to rural town life after the unexpected death of Hana’s love. But there is a twist; the mystery man Hana fell in love with had the ability to transform into a wolf – a creature extinct in this world Japan – and his children Ame and Yuki also have this ability!
As the children grow, they face many trials, but none more so than the ultimate choice; whether to live as a human or as a wolf, for the rest of their lives.
Ame and Yuki demonstrate their way of dealing with teething problems.
Tickets for the screenings go on sale 24th September at 9:30am. There will be three screenings of The Wolf Children, each around lunch time at the following locations.
Article by K. Cooper
First announced in 2006, A teaser trailer of Hana no Utame Gothicmade, Mamoru Nagano (Five Star Stories) directorial debut, has been released by Kadokawa. In addition to taking on the role of director, Nagano is the creator, scriptwriter, storyboard designer and animator of the film.
The film is set for release in Japan on November 1 2012.
The story follows 16-year-old Bellin Ajelli (Shigeyo Kawamura), one of the Songstresses who inherit the memories of the generations preceding them. A newly reborn Songstress, Bellin sets off on a holy pilgrimage across Carmine, a small colony world. With threats of a terrorist attack, Prince Truhallon (Nozomu Sasaki) of the militant Donau Empire is sent in to protect Bellin on her journey. The Prince and Bellin have completely opposing principles but they are stuck with each other until they reach the capital.
A new promotional video for the first two-part film of the Madoka Magica trilogy has been released. Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part I: The Beginning Story is a compilation of the original television series, which will be followed by the release of an all new film, Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part II: The Eternal Story.
The video features a new theme song “Luminous” by the teenaged female duo ClariS.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part I: The Beginning Story will be released in Japan on 6 October 2012, closely followed by Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part II: The Eternal Story on 13 October.
From Up On Poppy Hill, directed by Goro Miyazaki, has been adapted from the manga Kokuriko-Zaka Kara by Chizuru Takahashi and Tetsurō Sayama. It follows a group of Yokohama teens involved in a student movement to prevent the demolition of an old club house in preparation for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Hayao Miyazaki, Goro’s father and Studio Ghibli’s co-founder, scripted the film.
Already having been released in Japan, the film is set for release in America next spring. English dub cast members have recently been announced by Ghibli; Gillian Anderson (Princess Mononoke, X-Files), Chris North (Law and Order), Sarah Bolger (BioShock 2, The Spiderwick Chronicles) and Ron Howard (American Graffiti) will be voicing characters in the Ghibli film, though it is unclean which characters they will be playing.
Academy Award-winning sound designer and director Gary Rydstrom (Jurassic Park, Toy Story) is directing the English dub and Studio Ghibli will be overseeing the dub as producer. The film has qualified for Oscar consideration and the company GKids plan to release the film on Blu-ray and DVD after its cinema release.
Danbo, a cardboard robot from Kiyohiko Azuma’s manga Yotsuba&!, has made a special appearance in a TV advert to promote the Blu-ray release of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws in Japan.
The Blu-ray was released by Geneon Universal Entertainment in Japan yesterday, and it is the first time that a Japanese character has been officially used to promote Spielberg’s work.
A second Gintama film has been green-lit for next year. Slated to hit Japanese cinemas in 2013, this all new feature-length story will be written by manga creator Hideaki Sorachi. Draft layout images (right) from the film’s production have been released with the announcement.
As well as the film release, the Gintama anime series will be returning to Japanese TV; however, it is unclear whether these episodes are repeats or a new series.
Gintama is set in the Edo Period of Japan where samurai try to fight off an alien invasion. The aliens called Amanto defeat the samurai and place a ban on carrying swords. In a world where samurai no longer belong, Gintoki Sakata finds employment at an odd job shop, Yoruzuya (“we do everthing”). Along with Shinpachi Shimura, the teenage heir of the Kakido-Ryu style and Kagura, an incredibly strong alien girl from the powerful Yato clan, Gintoki takes on all sorts of jobs in order to pay his rent, but they rarely go to plan.
