Anime News - Kenichi's Matsuena Finishes Waza no Tabibito Anime

Waza no Tabibito, the anime that KenIchi the Mightiest Disciple manga creator Shun Matsuena created and produced himself, has been completed for its screening at Shogakukan's Jisedai World Hobby Fair '11 Summer event this weekend. The story centers around Tekuni Depagaa, a girl who embarks on a journey to train and become a fighting master known as a "wazabito."

Over the course of three years, Matsuena created, wrote, designed, produced, and directed the original 3D project himself. Tenmon, the composer best known for scoring many of Makoto Shinkai's works such as Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Early Days, wrote the music for Waza no Tabibito. The cast includes Rie Kugimiya and Tomokazu Seki.

The official website for the anime is streaming a three-minute trailer. YouTube is also hosting three videos:

(animenewsnetwork.com)

This is quite unique. I'm not one to turn the other cheek because something is different. *adds to list*

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Anime News - Hidan no Aria Author: 2nd Season Needs More BD/DVDs Sales

In a series of Twitter posts, Aria the Scarlet Ammo (Hidan no Aria) author Chūgaku Akamatsu reported that more Blu-ray Discs and DVDs need to be sold for a second season to be realized. To that end, he encouraged fans to buy more, or another season cannot be made. The first home volume for the anime went on sale last week, and it sold4,007 Blu-ray Discs and 2,349 DVDs.

By contrast, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko series director Yukihiro Miyamoto reported that his anime series only needs a little more support for a second season. The first home video volume sold 5,267 Blu-ray Discs and 1,361 DVDs during its first week of sales last week.

[Via Yaraon!]

(animenewsnetwork.com)

It only needs a little more... Come on guys, make it happen! This series deserves it.

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Anime News - Aniplex USA Adds Madoka Magica, Blue Exorcist on Home Video

Aniplex of America, the American arm of the Japanese production company Aniplex, announced at its Anime Expo panel on Friday that it will release the Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Blue Exorcist television anime series on home video. The details of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica release will be announced later. The first of four DVD volumes of Blue Exorcist will ship in October, while the remaining volumes are tentatively slated to ship in January, April, and July of 2012.

The Puella Magic Madoka Magica television anime series features director Akiyuki Shinbo(Bakemonogatari, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Hidamari Sketch, Arakawa under the Bridge), series script supervisor Gen Urobuchi (Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Blassreiter, Fate/Zero) of Nitroplus, original character designer Ume Aoki (Hidamari Sketch), animation character designer Takahiro Kishida (Durarara!!, Serial Experiments Lain), and musical composer Yuki Kajiura (Tsubasa, RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, .hack, Noir, Kara no Kyoukai).

Image © Magica Quartet/Aniplex, Madoka Partners, MBS
© Kazue Katō/Shueisha, Blue Exorcist Production Committee

(animenewsnetwork.com)

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Anime News - NIS America Adds Kimi ni Todoke, 2011 Dororon Enma-kun

NIS America (NISA), the American subsidiary of the Nippon Ichi Software game company, announced at its Anime Expo panel on Friday that it acquired the rights to the first Kimi ni Todoke television animeseries and this year's Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera television anime series. Kimi ni Todoke will be released in 2 13-episode parts. The first part will ship in October, and the second part will ship "later."NIS America does not have release details for Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera yet, but the staff hopes to have more information by next year's Anime Expo.

The Kimi ni Todoke anime adapts Karuho Shiina's popular shōjo manga of the same name. The manga also inspired a second season earlier this year as well as a live-action film. NIS America's release will include My Memories, an art book featuring a look back at the first half of the series from Sawako's point of view. Viz Media publishes the original manga in North America.

Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera is the latest project from Go Nagai's Dororon Enma-kun supernatural anime and mangafranchise. In the series, Enma-kun, Yukiko Hime, and Kapaeru are members of a Demon Patrol who are sent to the human world to arrest demons. Kadokawa Shotenrevealed plans for the new series last September, and it premiered this past April.

Image © DNDP, VAP, Shueisha, Production I.GP © Karuho Shiina / Shueisha

(animenewsnetwork.com)

So...Emma-kun finally got a proper remake? Because I didn't like that dark "adult" one they did a few years back. I'll be checking this one out.

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Anime News - Viz Adds Professor Layton Film, Bleach: Fade to Black

The North American anime and manga distributor Viz Media announced at its Anime Expo panel on Friday that it will release the Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva film and the Bleach: Fade to Black - Kimi no Na o Yobu film this fall. The release details of the Professor Layton film will be announced later, while the Bleach movie will ship on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on November 15.

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Anime News - Funimation Adds Deadman Wonderland, Steins;Gate, More

The North American anime distributor Funimation announced at its Anime Expo panel on Friday that it acquired the anime titles Deadman Wonderland, Steins;Gate, Baka to Test to Shōkanjū Ni!, B Gata H Kei (Yamada's First Time ), and Asobi ni Iku yo! (Cat Planet Cuties). It also picked up additional rights — for DVD, Blu-ray Disc, digital, and broadcast — for the television anime series C. The Fandom Post website noted that Funimation's online copyright notice already listed Cat Planet Cuties and B Gata H Kei just as the panel started.

The Deadman Wonderland television anime adapts Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou's manga of the same name. The story is set after the destruction of most of Tokyo by an earthquake, and it centers on Ganta Igarashi, a middleschool student framed for the murder of his classmates. Igarashi is sentenced to Deadman Wonderland, a bizarre privatized prison that is one part incarceration and one part public spectacle for tourists. The anime premiered in Japan in April, and Crunchyroll streamed it overseas as it aired in Japan.

The Steins;Gate television anime is based on the second "scientific adventure game" by the studios 5pb. andNitroplus, who also created Chaos;HEAd. The artist huke (Black Rock Shooter) designed the characters. The story of the original game revolves around the eccentric college student Rintarō "Okarin" Okabe and his "Mirai Gadget Kenkyūsho" ("Future Gadget Laboratory") circle of friends in a realistic version of Tokyo's Akihabara district. The friends turn a microwave oven into a machine that sends email messages to the past, and that attracts the attention of a mysterious organization called SERN. This anime also premiered in Japan in April, and Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan.

Baka to Test to Shōkanjū Ni! is the second television anime season based on Kenji Inoue's Baka to Test to Shōkanjū (Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts) comedy light novel series about students in the hapless F Class at a magical academy. Funimationhas the second television season — which will premiere on July 7 — and the original video anime releases for release in 2012.

In Yōko Sanri's B Gata H Kei four-panel school comedy manga and the subsequent anime, Yamada is a virgin high school girl who dreams of having 100 casual sex partners. However, she ends up targeting and pursuing only one boy. The anime ran during the Spring 2010 season. The Blu-ray Discs and DVDs will ship in 2012.

The anime adaptation of Okina Kamino's Asobi ni Iku yo! light novel series features an ordinary high school boy living in Okinawa — and the alien catgirl who appears before him and requires protection from a mysterious government agency.Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan last summer, and Funimation will release it on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in 2012.

Funimation also noted that it streaming over 5,000 episodes for free this summer on its official website.

Image © 2007 Kenji Inoue・Yui Haga/ENTERBRAIN, INC./Baka to Test to ShōkanjūProduction Committee
© Okina Kamino, Media Factory/Catia Embassy

(animenewsnetwork.com)

Funimation just pretty much grabbed the best anime of the past season, bar Ano Hana, Han Zemi and Denpa lol. Hopefully Steins;Gate gets a solid dub, which I doubt will be a harder task than most anime.

UPDATE : Yes, I know that Funimation does not do business with Navarre. That's the only picture I have, dammit.

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Anime News - Voice Actress Cassandra Hodges Passes Away

Christopher Ayres posted on his Facebook account today that fellow Funimation voice cast member Cassandra Hodges passed away. Ayres stated a coroner's report has been made but further information regarding the death has yet to be made public. Hodges was only 28 at the time of her death, and she was set to appear at Anime Festival Wichita next week.

Hodges voiced Gotanda and Yuku in Hell Girl and Camembert in Glass Fleet. She also acted in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Hetalia - Axis Powers, and Mushishi, among other Funimation titles.

(animenewsnetwork.com)

Terrible news. I hate hearing news like this. I know some fans don't respect what these voice actors do, but at the very least, keep her in your thoughts guys.

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