News

Weekend Wrapup: 5/May - 11/May

We'll start with the new previews for this week on youtube with a 90-sec trailer for Ghost in the Shell Arise detailing the plot of the first installment "border:1 Ghost Pain". This installment will debut in Japanese theaters on June 22nd and will be the first part of four, each running for 50 minutes. Kazuchika Kise (chief animation director for Otogi Zoshi, Blood-C: The Last Dark) is directing the series and designing the characters, and Tow Ubukata(Le Chevalier D'Eon, Mardock Scramble) is supervising and writing the scripts. Production I.G is producing the series, and Cornelius (Appleseed: Ex Machina) is composing the music.

And then we have the second trailer for Saint Young Men streaming. The film is an adaptation of Hikaru Nakamura's original manga that imagines if the Enlightened One Buddha (voiced by actor Gen Hoshino) and the Son of God Jesus (SAKEROCK band leader Mirai Moriyama) shared a low-rent apartment in Tokyo's Tachikawa area. The two holy beings have landed on Earth and now experience the mortal life in Japan.

Manga author Shuho Sato (Say Hello to Black Jack, Umizaru, The Isle of TOKKOU) has released the "Secure Samba wo Yoroshiku" manga for free at the Japan IT Week: Spring 2013 event this week. The five page story focuses on medical resident Saito, the same main character from Sato's Say Hello to Black Jack (Black Jack ni Yoroshiku) medical manga.

The new anime from director Hiroyuki Imaishi (Dead Leaves, Gurren Lagann, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt) has been revealed to be Kill la Kill. The title will be produced at Imaishi's new Studio Trigger which previously produced the Anime Mirai project title Little Witch Academia. Kill la Kill has Kazuki Nakashima (Gurren Lagann, Nodame Cantabile: Finale, Re: Cutie Honey) supervising and writing the scripts and acclaimed animator Sushio (key animator on Gurren Lagann and new Evangelion films, character designer on Engage Planet Kiss Dum) is designing the characters.

And finally the CG Captain Harlock remake has a international version of the film in post-production. This was revealed through the website of London-based film sales company GFM Films with the site having posted the full English script and a promotional video intended for use at France's Cannes Film Festival on May 15-26. There was also several other pieces, the most notable being a preview for an upcoming figure line by Square Enix for the company's PlayArts line and a note that Hot Toys are planning 1/6 scale figures of Harlock and Kei as well as a scaled figure of the Arcadia ship. All this content has now been restricted and the film will still open in Japan on the 7th of September 2013.