Some of these news items will have full articles written in ANN.
Disney, Jinni's Fireball Staff, Cast, Premiere Announced
Walt Disney Japan has announced that
Wataru Arakawa is directing and writing
Fireball, Disney's joint computer-graphics (CG) comedy
project with
Jinni's Animation Studios of Japan.
Hitoshi Fukuchi, a mechanical designer on
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 and
Blue Gender, will design the characters.
Hiroki Kawasaki and Jinni's staff on the
Limit of Love movie are producing the CG. The first two-minute episode will premiere on April 7 on the
Tokyo MX broadcast station and on April 11 on Japan's
Disney Channel.
Miyuki Kawasho (
Kekkaishi's Toshimori) will voice Droselle, the daughter of a duke, while
Tōru Ohkawa (
Fullmetal Alchemist's Roy,
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children's Rufus) will voice the robot Gedächtnis. March 27-30's Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008 will premiere footage from the series. Source:
animeanime.jp
Plastic Little's Urushihara Draws Evil Heart 1-Shot Manga

The Japanese publisher
Kill Time Communication revealed in its blog that
Satoshi Urushihara (
Plastic Little,
Legend of Lemnear,
Chirality) will be drawing a one-shot color
manga called
Evil Heart: lost one's deadline in the May issue (on sale on March 27) of the
Comic Valkyrie magazine. Source:
Ultimatum
Square Enix's
Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine announced that
Ami Shibata will revive her popular comedy manga
Papuwa in a special one-shot extra in the May issue (on sale on April 12). Shibata had just ended this series about an island boy's misadventures in the February issue. The 2002-2008 run was itself a sequel to Shibata's earlier 1991-1995
Nangoku Shōnen Papuwa-kun series.
ADV Films released the anime version of
Papuwa in North America. Source:
Ultimatum
Shogakukan's
Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine confirmed that
Gekkō Jōrei is the new manga series that
Kazuhiro Fujita (
Ushio & Tora,
Karakuri Circus) is
launching in Issue 18 (on sale on March 26). The magazine also confirmed that
MiXiM 12, the newest work from
Nobuyuki Anzai (
Rocket Princess,
Flame of Recca,
MÄR), will start in Issue 21/22 (on sale on April 23). Source:
Muhyojo
Writer Morosawa Explains Delay in the Gundam Seed Movie

The April issue (released on March 10) of
Tokuma Shoten's
Animage magazine included an update on the planned
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed movie from writer
Chiaki Morosawa. Morosawa explained that the plot is done, but she has been ill since the end of 2004-2005's
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny sequel. She then asked for the fans' patience.
Source:
Gunota Headlines
Kadokawa Discusses Google Partnership in Interview

The
Nikkei Business Publications' Tech-On! website has
posted the English translation of a
Nikkei Electronics interview with Tadashi Fukuda, president of
Kadokawa Digix Inc. In the interview, Fukuda discusses
Kadokawa's
partnership with Google on the
YouTube video-sharing website and the challenges the companies faces. Fukuda compares Google to the "Black Ships" (
kurofune), or the fleets of America's Commodore Matthew Perry and other foreigners that opened Japanese society in the 19th century. Source:
ComiPress

The Japanese production company
DLE has confirmed that it has a revenue-share partnership with the
Crunchyroll video-streaming website. The first episode of the
Eagle Talon series was made available for free, and the second episode will have an ad in it.
2,000 Turn Out for Tokyo Anime/Manga/Game Job Fair

Raku-Job Career Festa, Japan's first-ever career fair specifically for the "content" (anime, manga, videogame, and other entertainment) industries, was
held in Tokyo on March 9. Initially, about 1,000 job-seekers were expected to show up for interviews with 18 companies. Twice as many actually turned out, with about 40% coming in from outside Tokyo. Some travelled from as far as Kobe and Kyoto. Raku-Job, an anime/manga/videogame industry career website, and
Toranoana, which operates a chain of
doujinshi shops, organized the event. The anime studios
Production I.G, Gonzo, and
TOHO animation; the publishing companies
Hobby Japan and
Kodansha; the online shop Amiami; and Toranoana itself participated in the event. Source:
AkibaBlog