If you live in the San Francisco bay area, lock your mecha boots into the take-off track and prepare for flight, because the MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UC movie is premiering on March 19 at the Viz Cinema theater. Anime Vice just received a press release from New People, the movie’s distributor… U.S. Premiere of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UC  A screen shot... I flew up from LA to visit Anime Vice’s offices in San Francisco last week. I was only there for a day, so I really didn’t get to see any of the city, but whenever I do get back up there, I definitely want to check out this VIZ Cinema. I’ve only gotten to see one or two anime features on the big screen - - I think it might only be PRINCESS MONONOKE and SPIRITED AWAY - - so I’d thoroughly relish the opportunity to descend into this subterranean theater. It’s a shame there’s only one in America, since you’ll only ever get to watch these in art house theaters usually, and they’re few and far between. Plus, the fact that this is only a month after the Japanese premiere makes it a bit more exciting, since you usually have to wait years for an American release.  ...and another. Calf shot! Anyway, this flick looks like it could be some mecha-busting, space-operatic fun. I’m going to assume that the plucky kid in the poster is the Banagher the press release speaks off, and that he’ll be piloting the Unicorn suit. Do any of you know who the lion-haired dude with the cybernetic opera mask is? Is he a recurring character in the Gundam mythos? Help me out here, Anime Vice community! -- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia Comics.   Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this March - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.
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Day 54/365 From the anime Mononoke, Medicine Seller is simply that. Everything else about him is unknown, name, age,  where he comes from who knows! His one goal it seems is to slay mononoke, which are spirits that linger on in the human world. He carries a mysterious talking sword known as the Sword of Exorcism [...] Related posts:365 Days of Anime Characters: Day 21/365 Fujiwara no Sai 365 Days of Anime Characters: Day 31/365 Urd 365 Days of Anime Characters: Day 38/365 Lucy
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“‘Samurai’ they left; we got to keep ’samurai.’ We lost ’sake’; ’sake’ became ‘wine.’ We lost ‘Japan,’ interestingly enough, and we even lost China at one point.” - Neil Gaiman, on translating Princess Mononoke In the very first episode of Hanamaru Kindergarten, the fansubs I watched had translated the title as “Gold Star Kindergarten.”  That was [...]
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In what is no doubt a difficult search for someone who can help Studio Ghibli carry on when Hayao Miyazaki eventually retires for real (god forbid), the studio has announced that a "young director" is going to helm its upcoming 2011 work (that is to say, the work that comes out after this year's Karigurashi no Arrietty, based on the Brit novel The Borrowers). This will actually be the second of two films to feature an up-and-comer for Ghibli, whose Hiromasa Yonebayashi is debuting as a director with Arrietty this July. It's unclear what the next film is, however. Arrietty the Borrower It's good to see Ghibli taking a critical eye to its future, and I hope that they find some new blood that carries on the Ghibli tradition-- and maybe shaking it up a little, too. I also wonder if The Borrowers/Arrietty wasn't chosen partially in hopes of garnering more support outside of Japan; Ponyo, while not as critically popular as some Ghibli titles (like Howl's Moving Castle-- also based on a Brit YA novel), is Ghibli's most financially successful title in the US to date. I also wonder: it seems like the Miyazaki films that have performed the best in the west are his darker flicks, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. But most recently their works have primarily been aimed quite young. Do you want Ghibli to keep making magical films for kids a la Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Ponyo? Or do you want them to skew a bit darker, as with Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke?    
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I don't think that there is anything inherently wrong with Ghost Hound. It is the kind of show that is only going to appeal to the most niche of niche audiences, and no one else. This is not surprising - the show was largely created by a veritable tour-de-force of cult favorite names, having been directed and storyboarded by Ryutaro Nakamura (REC, Serial Experiments Lain, Kino's Journey) and written by the inimitable Chiaki J. Konaka (The Big O, Serial Experiments Lain, Mononoke, Texhnolyze, and some less weird stuff). But don't get confused. I personally love every single show I just mentioned (half of them are favorites), but that does not necessarily mean that I fall into the same niche as people who like Ghost Hound. It's a niche all it's own.
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…and it felt good. The distinct arthouse style got old quick. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think this unique aesthetic is one of the show’s strengths. But you’ll get used to it in an episode or two. Trapeze is very straightforward (unlike its crazier older cousin, Mononoke), and the real meat of the show is [...]
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Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫) was a project which had been in Miyazaki's mind since at least 1983, when he had written a manga called The Journey of Shuna. Though the plot and characterization in that manga were different from what would become Mononoke-hime, there are some obvious similarities between them. After completing Porco Rosso, Suzuki and Miyazaki had to decide what Miyazaki's next project would be. Suzuki felt that a....
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I think I liked everything but the story in this one. I dunno. It just seemed kinda jumbled together and I didn’t quite understand who was fighting who or what exactly was going on until after the film where I read the Wikipedia summary. Personally, I think Princess Mononoke told the man must work together [...]
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There are a few things you must know about Kuchuu Buranko. It’s being directed by the director of Mononoke and Bake Neko, which were deep horror-mindscrews with deep stories and characters. Kuchuu Buranko, while you might think otherwise at first, is completely different. It’s a series about psychology: a weird doctor and discusses 11 of [...]
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Do you remember reading The Borrowers as a kid? A series by British author Mary Norton, it revolved around a family of three very tiny people who "borrow" things from humans to survive. Okay, more than likely you actually remember the more recent live-action film (from 1997 starring Draco Malfoy , Fred Flintstone , and some other people). Word on Gigazine is that Studio Ghibli's next film is based on the novels and is called Karigurashi no Arrietty , which translates roughly to "Borrowing Arrietty" (as in "Arrietty who Borrows").  Arrietty is the heroine of the story, of course, the 13-year-old daughter of the teeny tiny clan. Apparently the story will be transplanted, though, from 1950s England to modern Japan. The first question I'm sure most of you have is "well, is Miyazaki directing?" The answer is no; it'll be Hiromasa Yonebayashi , who's been working with Ghibli for some time (he worked on Princess Mononoke , Spirited Away , and Howl's Moving Castle before moving on to Ponyo). Now, the question is: can we get a wide release for this in the US? The Borrowers is familiar material, and of course Ghibli and Miyazaki have a good relationship with John Lasseter over at Disney. But it's not a Miyazaki film...still, I hope we'll have some luck on that front.   The movie's due out in Japan in the summer of 2010, but the theme song will be released December 19th...so I'll see you back here then to see if we all like it, yes?
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