•        

Welcome to our News archive for April 2006 - to see this month's news please click on the button below.
 


___________________________________________________________________________


26th April 2006

Studio Ghibli Classic to get Cinema Screening

In a great show of fan co-operation, several University Anime Societies in London have joined forces to bring Isao Takahata's harrowing masterpiece Grave of the Fireflies to the big screen for a special one-off screening.  The showing, to be held in the UCL Bloomsbury Theatre in London, has been made possible by the collaboration of the UCL Union, Imperial College Union, The Royal Holloway Student's Union and SOAS Union anime societies, and will take place at 3pm on Saturday 10th June.  Tickets cost £7.50 (£5.50 concessions), check out www.thebloomsbury.com to book tickets, and www.animesoc.uclu.org/grave for more information on the film.  We would really urge that anyone able to do so attends this, it is very rare to see an anime film on the big screen and if it is successful maybe it will become a more common occurance.

Source:  UCLU Anime Society
___________________________________________________________________________


19th April 2006

New Anime Releases!

Play.Com and Anime-On-Line are currently listing a couple of as yet unannounced titles due out in June and July.  First up is the the stunning looking Otogi Zoshi vol 1 and Tactics vol 1, both apparently from Manga Entertainment, and secondly ILC Prime are looking to release another cut-price boxset entitled 'Ultimate Anime Collection'.  The collection is a seven disc set and six of those discs are to be La Blue Girl Returns vol 1 & 2, MD Geist and Project A-Ko vol 1, 2 & 3, no news on what the final disc would be, but we'd guess at The Humanoid.  All of these releases hit the shelves in June, the boxset will cost £39.99 and Otogi Zoshi and Tactics will each cost £19.99.

Source:  Play.Com, Pinnacle Vision, Anime-On-Line
___________________________________________________________________________


17th April 2006

2nd GIG free with DVD Monthly!

Yep, this month's issue of DVD Monthly has a free DVD which includes the first episode of Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG!  The magazine widely available in retail outlets, the best place to find it is your local WHSmith

Source: DVD Monthly
___________________________________________________________________________


13th April 2006

Transformers Masterforce Press Release

The next instalment of Metrodome's great value Transformers Takara Collection is due for a UK exclusive release in May!  The series, called Transformers: Super-God Masterforce, is the second of three Japanese Transformers series that has never had an English subtitled release before and is one of the missing links between the original Western Transformers series, and the modern anime incarnations like Transformers Energon and Transformers Cybertron.  Once again the series is being released in a great value boxset, which gives you all 42 episodes (approximately 16 hours worth) for just £34.99!!!  Check out the Press Release for more info and keep your eyes open for some more Transformers stuff in the run up to release.

Source: Metrodome
___________________________________________________________________________


13th April 2006

Anime at Sci-Fi London

With the Sci-Fi London Festival at the Apollo West End cinema just round the corner, Manga have provided us with some more info on two of their film screenings.  First up is the bizarre live action film Survive Style 5+, which is screening at 10.10pm on Friday 28th April and 6.30pm on Saturday 29th April, and secondly is a very early screening of the live action Tetsujin 28, which isn't due out on DVD till later in the year!  Tetsujin 28 is screening on Saturday 29th April at 2pm, and Manga and Cypherpress will also be unveiling a Tetsujin 28 costume which will be stomping around too!  Also on the Saturday is the Anime Allnighter, so it's a day that anime fans really can't afford to miss!  Check out our Mini Guide for more info on Tetsujin 28.

Source: Manga Entertainment
___________________________________________________________________________


13th April 2006

New Karas Clip!

Manga have released the fifth clip of the stunning Karas The Prophecy, which is due for release on 24th April.  Karas is also going to be shown at the Anime All-Nighter in London (see below), and we have copies to be won in our current competition, check out our review and this new clip:

Karas Clip 5

High / Medium / Low

Keep your eyes open as more clips will follow in the run-up to release!

Source: Manga Entertainment
___________________________________________________________________________


12th April 2006

Initial D: Driftracer Cinema List Part 1!

With the cinema release of the live action racing film Initial D due to hit cinemas on 12th May, we've obtained an early list of where it will be showing!  We will stress that this isn't a comprehensive list and more cinemas will be added, so if none of these are in your area don't panic, we will post an updated list as soon as we get it.  Here are the cinemas announced so far (in alphabetical order):

Belfast - Vue
Birmingham - Vue Star City
Bristol - Showcase
Cheshire - Vue Cheshire Oaks
Dublin - Vue
Leeds - Showcase
Liverpool - Showcase
London - Vue Shepherds Bush
Manchester - Odeon Printworks
Peterborough - Showcase
Teesside - Showcase

As far as we're aware these cinemas will be screening the film from the day of release, more info when we get it.  Check out the official Initial D: Driftracer website here, or our press release page for more info on the film.

Source:  Contender Entertainment
___________________________________________________________________________


12th April 2006

Manga Street Team Move House!

The Manga Street Team, a group set up to raise awareness of Manga Entertainment's releases amongst the general public, have decided to change their MySpace address to the snappier Manga Team Go.  Head to www.myspace.com/mangateamgo to check out their blog and some great videos from The Cable Street Collective and VJ Anyone!

Source: Manga Street Team
___________________________________________________________________________


10th April 2006

XBox 360 Naruto to be Europe & US exclusive!

According to Teletext section GameCentral, Ubisoft have acquired the licence to release video games based on the mega popular Naruto, which up until has been held by Tomy

Gamecentral also reports that Ubisoft will be releasing a Naruto title on the XBox 360 which will only be released in Europe and the US.  Hopefully the format will mean that the game will be a online adventure that could including teams competing against each other.  The possibilty of playing against US teams in The Forest Of Death has me drooling as I type this!  More details when we get them. 

Source: Teletext
___________________________________________________________________________


7th April 2006

More on Ottakar's Manga Nights!

As previously reported (see March news archive) various branches of Ottakar's bookshops are running Manga Nights in the coming months to support their '4 for 3' manga offer.  We have spoken to our local branch in Trowbridge for more info on the event - as well as the Manga Collectors Card, which allows you a free manga book for every three purchased, there will be further offers and they will also be running some interesting competitions for fans to take part in!  The main competition is Draw Your Own Manga Character, which is pretty self-explanatory, the branch provides you with entry forms to draw your design on or you can use your own paper as long as you provide your name, age, telephone number and a description of the character.  The competition has two age groups - 12 and below and 13 and over - and entries have to be in by 6th May.  The second competition is a fancy dress (cosplay) competition, on the night you can dress up as a manga character if you want, it is optional but there are some great prizes on offer for the best costume!

We'll be at the Trowbridge branch on the 11th May for the event, and urge everyone in the area to come along too!  Similar events are running all over the country, for more information pop into your local branch of Ottakar's - check out their website to find the one nearest to you.

Source: Ottakar's Trowbridge Branch
___________________________________________________________________________


7th April 2006

Initial D Live Action Movie Trailer!

The popularity of Asian cinema in the UK has meant that we are getting more live action films based on anime and manga being released here than ever before!  Next up for the live action treatment is Initial D, based on Shuichi Shigeno's hi-octane manga of the same name about the world of illegal Japanese drift racing, read the press release and check out the trailer:

Initial D: Driftracer Trailer

High / Medium / Low

Initial D: Driftracer is due in cinemas on 12th May, courtesy of Contender Entertainment, and features more Japanese performance cars being thrown round hairpins than you can shake a stick at!  If you're a bit of a petrolhead this looks like one that shouldn't be missed.

Source: Contender Entertainment
___________________________________________________________________________


7th April 2006

New Karas Clip!

Manga have released the fourth clip of their stunning forthcoming release Karas The Prophecy!  Due for release on 24th April, Karas is also going to be shown at the Anime All-Nighter in London (see below), check out our review and this new clip:

Karas Clip 4

High / Medium / Low

Keep your eyes open as more clips will follow in the run-up to release!

Source: Manga Entertainment
___________________________________________________________________________


7th April 2006

Virgin Clearout

No, it's not the latest anime porn film!  Virgin Megastore currently have a major clearout of old stock alongside their current sale, and there are some anime bargains to be had.  The clearout started last Thursday and the stock on offer varies from store to store, but everything in the clearout - which includes CDs, DVDs and computer games - is a miniscule £3.99!!  The Bristol store had pretty decent selection of anime in the clearout too, from older series like Dai Guard and Bubblegum Crisis through to pretty recent stuff like Gad Guard and Salaryman Kintaro.  There were also plenty of anime games too, Sony PlayStation 2 titles on offer included Saint Saiya, Yu Yu Hakusho Dark Tournament, Dragonball Budokai 3 and Astro Boy.  Get down to your local store as soon as possible before the bargains disappear!

Source:  Virgin Megastore, Bristol
___________________________________________________________________________


4th April 2006

Manga Joins My Space

It's certainly a busy time for Manga Entertainment at the moment!  As well as their major presence at the upcoming Sci-Fi London International Festival, and their forthcoming appearance at the MCM London Expo in May (at which they have a major announcement to make, we're pretty sure we know what it is, but we're not telling!), they have also branched out into wider web community.  In support of their 'Manga Street Team' - which aims to spread the word about Manga Entertainment and their forthcoming releases amongst the general public - Manga have launched an account on popular Online Community website MySpace.com to keep fans updated as to their activities.  Their profile - which can be found here - includes trailers, images and a weblog which will be updated with details of various projects the team has lined up, make sure you check it out!

Source: Manga Entertainment
___________________________________________________________________________


3rd April 2006

Anime All-Nighter tickets now available!

Further to our report last month, tickets are now available to the annual Anime All-Nighter as part of the Sci-Fi London International Festival. 

Taking place on Saturday 29th April at the Apollo Cinema on Regent Street, the event will begin at 11.30pm and throughout the night (ending at approximately 9am) screening the following features:

The UK premiere of the mighty Karas (read our review here)

The live-action version of Tetsujin 28 (aka Gigantor) (read our mini-guide here)

The visually stunning Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and the equally stunning Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence

Alternative reality anime The Place Promised In Our Early Days which is the follow-up to the hit Voices Of A Distant Star

Finally, live-action crime caper Survive Style +5 - a bizarre offering starring Sonny Chiba & Vinnie Jones!

Tickets cost £22 and can be booked by calling the box office on 0871 22 33 444.  All attendees will receive a free goodie bag which will contain cans of Red Bull to keep you awake and coffee and muffins will be served in the morning.  Ice-cream will be served throughout the night as well. 

For more information on the festival and directions, visit the official website by clicking here

Source: Sci-fi London, Manga Entertainment
___________________________________________________________________________


29th March 2006

New Karas Clip!

Manga have released the third clip of their stunning forthcoming release Karas The Prophecy!  Due for release on 24th April, Karas is really going to turn some heads on its release, check out our review and this new clip:

Karas Clip 3

Clip 2 - High / Medium / Low

Keep your eyes open as more clips will follow in the run-up to release!

Source: Manga Entertainment
___________________________________________________________________________


___________________________________________________________________________