News

Latest Japanese Releases update

Animerica Online reports the release of several new anime in Japan:

Beast Wars Special, the new movie in the Transformers Beast Wars series (the descendant to the internationally successful 1980's American cartoon Transformers) is scheduled to be released in Japanese theaters on New Years Day. The series (which has since evolved back to cel animation from the computer-generated series shown in America) further chronicles the ongoing Autobot wars, which comes to a head in the movie when Majin Zarakku, the worst theat to the team, arrives and Optimus Prime, head Autobot, teams up with his counterpart Lioconvoy, to defeat him.

Just when you thought every single Gō Nagai anime had been released in America, Devilman Lady, a new late-night anime based on his manga, starts airing this month. Devilman Lady is Jun Fudo, a model who is feeling like she's being watched, and can only relax around her high-school girl apprentice. When the person who WAS watching her guides her to an abandoned warehouse, only then does she realize the true power she posesses. Airing late night Saturdays.

The shoujo series Glass no Kamen gets reborn as a 3-part OAV series starting December 16, and a new TV show, slated for next year. Based on the manga by Suzue Miuichi, Glass no Kamen is about a girl who helps her mother run a Chinese resturant, but for some reason can always remember anything she hears on television or in a movie. When she is discovered by a recently disfigured actress, she is tries out for a part meant for the actress, but soon finds herself in a rivalry with anbother girl trying for the same part.

An all-star crew benefits the new show Kurogane Communication, the new show on satelite TV station "WOWOW". Haruka, a young girl who has mysteriously survived when all of the other humans on earth have died, is raised by the robots who are left behind, trying to keep themselves going by collecting spare parts with which to fix themselves when they break (which is increasingly often...), and try to protect her from the war machines that are still roaming around. Directed by Kenji Kikuichi (Hyperpolice) and with character designs by Shinya Takahashi (Photon), music by Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell), and designs by Hideki Futamura and Ikuto Yamashita (Evangelion). The series airs Mondays on WOWOW.

Majutsushi Ofen, based on the fantasy manga by Sadanoby Akita and Yuya Kusakawa, started airing October 3 on TBS. Ofen, a loan shark by trade, is actually a high priest and user of black magic, who is often called uppon to help save the continent. The show will draw from the existing eleven volumes of manga, but will also have original storylines.