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


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26th June 2006

Naruto Press Release

Manga Entertainment have officially released details of their forthcoming Naruto boxset!  Check out the Press Release for the full lowdown.

Source:  Manga Entertainment
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26th June 2006

Manga Entertainment Sponsor Isake Launch!

Branching out into non-anime areas is something that Manga Entertainment have done before, but never like this!  Manga have announced that they are sponsoring the launch of Isake Premium, a high grade sake aimed at the British market.  As part of their sponsorship Manga will be in residence in Selfridges London Wines and Spirits department from today until 2nd July, showing clips of forthcoming anime titles as well as helping out in a 'very interactive workshop abut the discovery of Premium sake and the Manga culture'.  Oh, and did we mention that you can sample free sake?  Yep, make your way to Selfridges this week and have a sip of Japan's famous rice wine, you know it makes sense!

Source:  Manga Entertainment
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24th June 2006

Del Ray Manga to Launch in the UK

More news from Neo Magazine, this time manga rather than anime!  Neo have reported that US publisher Del Ray are launching themselves in the UK, under the name TanoshimiDel Ray are a relatively recent entrant into the US manga market but certainly made their mark with some high profile titles, including xxxxholic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles from Chobits creators CLAMP, and Negima! from Love Hina author Ken Akamatsu.  The report suggests that the first UK releases will include all three of these titles alongside Basilisk, Ghost Hunt, Guru Guru Pon Chan and AirGear, the first volumes of which are due to hit our shelves on 3rd August.

Source:  Neo
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21st June 2006

Inu-Yasha Mystery Solved

The latest issue of UK anime, manga and Asian film mag Neo has managed to find the answer to the question that pretty much every UK anime site had been asking since it cropped up on Play.Com last month, who is releasing Inu-Yasha?  Well, according to a news snippet in Neo it seems that Fabulous Films will be releasing it through Fremantle Home Entertainment, although the company is at pains to point out that the touted September release date is very much provisional.  The news is a bit of a shock to say the least, with many expecting such a big license to go to one of the existing UK anime distributors, however Fabulous Films are no stranger to long Japanese series - both Monkey! and The Water Margin are part of their catalogue.  This does lead to some interesting questions - will they release more anime after Inu-Yasha?  Considering the TV screenings that both The Water Margin and Monkey have received (currently showing on terrestrial digital channel ITV4), may the series even make it on to the telly?  Here's hoping...

Source:  Neo
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19th June 2006

Free Episode of Samurai 7

DVD review mag DVD Monthly has been pretty good to us anime fans over the last few months, and once again their free cover DVD features a full episode of an anime series.  This time round we get episode 1 of the excellent Samurai 7, an anime interpretation of the classic Akira Kurosawa epic Seven Samurai.  With anime DVDs rarely dropping below the £20 mark, being able to have a look at a new series for just the price of a magazine is too good to miss, especially when they are as good as Samurai 7 - check out our review!

Source:  WHSmith
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14th June 2006

Anime screenings at Barbican

The Barbican Centre in London has sent us a press release regarding their upcoming Japan On Film season, during which they will be showing the following anime titles:

Akira - 1.45pm on Saturday July 8th

Tokyo Godfathers - 4.15pm on Saturday July 8th

Paranoia Agent (Episodes 1 - 4) - 2pm on Sunday July 9th

Makato Shinkai Triple Bill (She & Her Cat, Voices of a Distant Star and Places Promised In Our Early Days) - 4pm on Sunday July 9th

Tickets are £6 per screening (£5 for members) and the screenings of Paranoia Agent and the Makato Shinkai Triple Bill include an introduction by Helen McCarthy, the co-author of The Anime Encyclopedia.  We have been to a talk with Helen McCarthy before and can highly recommend that you attend if you can.

For further information and how to get to the Barbican click here

Source:  Barbican Centre
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12th June 2006

Full Manga Night Schedule

Further to yesterday's news item, Tokyopop have been kind enough to supply us with a list of all their forthcoming Manga Nights!  Events are planned across the UK and will take place across several different bookshop chains, check out the full list here for dates and locations.

Source:  Tokyopop
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11th June 2006

More Tokyopop Manga Nights on the way!

The recent run of Tokyopop Manga Nights in Ottakar's bookshops around the country have proved a great success, and there are more to come!  As well as several more coming up in Ottakar's stores across the UK, Tokyopop have confirmed that they hope to bring them to other book chains in the future.  The nights are great fun, providing a chance to meet other manga fans, enter prize draws, buy discounted manga and take part in a manga quiz, as well as art and cosplay competitions.  If you haven't been along to one yet we'd highly recommend that you do, the upcoming Ottakar's events are listed below and we'll provide news on similar nights in other book chains as and when we get it:

28th June - Ottakar's Lowestoft, Suffolk
29th June - Ottakar's Chatham, Kent
5th July - Ottakar's Worthing, West Sussex
6th July - Ottakar's Camberley, Surrey
7th July - Ottakar's Hastings, East Sussex
11th July - Ottakar's Crewe, Cheshire
12th July - Ottakar's Oldham, Lancashire
19th July - Ottakar's Poole, Dorset
2nd August - Ottakar's Torquay, Devon
9th August - Ottakar's Maidenhead, Berkshire
10th August - Ottakar's Basildon, Essex
14th August - Ottakar's Barrow, Cumbria
16th August - Ottakar's Boston, Lincolnshire
8th September - Ottakar's Glasgow Buchanan Galleries, Scotland

Click on the links above for more info, also please note that the art competitions usually start a couple of weeks before the night, so contact your local branch for more info and get those entries in early!

Source:  Ottakar's, Tokyopop
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11th June 2006

Otogi Zoshi clips!

Manga Entertainment have released a host of clips from their forthcoming samurai epic Otogi Zoshi!  Created by Production I.G., the studio behind the Ghost in the Shell franchise, Otogi Zoshi certainly impressed us with it's refreshingly historically accurate approach to feudal Japan, and it helps that it is pretty good too.  Check out our review and the following clips, and pay attention - we have a great competition coming up and the question will be based on them!

Clip 1 - High / Medium / Low
Clip 2 - High / Medium / Low
Clip 3 - High / Medium / Low
Clip 4 - High / Medium / Low

Source: Manga Entertainment
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10th June 2006

Grave Of The Fireflies screening postponed until October

As previously reported, Grave Of The Fireflies was due to screen today at Bloomsbury Theatre, London.  We have been issued with the following statement from the UCLU society, who organised the event:

'As newly elected President of the UCLU Anime Society, I regret to inform you that due to circumstances beyond our control, the scheduled screening of Grave of the Fireflies on 10th June will be postponed until October of this year. The Society feels great remorse over the let down of fans who were eager to see the movie on the big screen and deeply regret any inconvenience suffered as a result of this postponement. The Bloomsbury theatre, set to host the event in conjunction with the society, has begun issuing full refunds for tickets already sold to the event. Both myself and the UCLU Anime Society hopes that this unfortunate event has not incurred such damage as to prevent your support for the postponed screening and any future events UCL should organise.  Once again, I deeply apologise for the trouble this has caused.' 

We hope that UCLU manage to resolve this before October as Grave Of The Fireflies is a true masterpiece that deserves a cinema screening.  As long as it is not on the same weekend as the next Expo though! 

Source: UCLU
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9th June 2006

ADV press release

ADV
have sent us a press release covering their forthcoming August releases, including Saiyuki: Requiem and the latest volumes of Cromartie High School, Getbackers, DN Angel and the excellent Elfen Lied.  To view the full press release click here

Source: ADV Films
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6th June 2006

Tokyopop DVDs to Hit the UK!!

Tokyopop have confirmed to us that plans are underway for them to release anime into the UK market.  In the US Tokyopop are a major anime licensor but their UK business has been focused on manga, however, this may be about to change with Tokyopop aiming to distribute some of their anime licenses here through an as yet unconfirmed third party. 

Although nothing concrete is yet in place, it is likely that Tokyopop will work with one of the existing UK anime distributors and at present Initial D and GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka are looking favourite to be the first anime releases under this arrangement.  We'll try and keep on top of this one and will give you more news as and when we get it.

Source: Tokyopop
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6th June 2006

More Manga Novels on the Way

Novels based on anime and manga have only really started to make their way to the West in the last couple of years, but following the success of the .hack://AI BUSTER novels Tokyopop look to bring more to our shelves.  Word has reached us that spin-off novels for the romantic comedy Love Hina and the drama series Gravitation should be making their way to the UK in 2007, so keep your eyes open!

Source: Tokyopop
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6th June 2006

More Priest News!

Tokyopop have confirmed that the forthcoming live-action adaptation of Priest, the dark supernatural Western from Korean author Min-Woo Hyung, is due to start shooting in New Mexico this October.  The film, which is due to be the first of a trilogy, has unfortunately lost the big name from the cast list though, with Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen forced to pull out due to other commitments.  Into the rather gaping hole steps Gerald Butler, a Scottish actor who most people will recognise as the titular count from Dracula 2000 and the mysterious Phantom in the 2004 movie adaptation of The Phantom of the OperaPriest is pencilled in for release sometime in 2007, and with backing from Sony and Sam Raimi signed up as executive producer, it looks like it'll be a good 'un!

Source: Tokyopop
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3rd June 2006

ADV sponsor Metal Hammer Awards

Taking place on 12th June, ADV Films are to co-sponsor the 4th annual Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards, which will be screened on MTV2.  Those who have booked tickets to the event will receive a goodie bag themed around the excellent horror titles Gilgamesh and Elfen Lied

We are big metal fans here at Animetion and hope that ADV's goodie bags and co-sponsoring of the event brings anime to a wider audience.   

Source: ADV Films
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1st June 2006

Inu-Yasha for UK release?

Spotted by those eagle-eyed guys over at Anime UK News, Play.com have listed an Inu-Yasha 1st series box set for release on 25/09/06 for £27.99. 

We have yet to receive any official confirmation of an Inu-Yasha release, so for now this remains a rumour.  We hope this excellent series does get released in the UK though and will be bring you any further news when we receive it. 

Source: Anime UK News; Play.com
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31st May 2006

New Live-Action manga adaptation on its way!

It's great to see more manga-based live action films join the growing UK catalogue, and next up is The Peacock King, the live action version of the manga series Kujaku O, which is out on DVD on 19th June from Hong Kong Legends.  The film looks like a great mix of over-the-top action and supernatural shenanigans, with fireball throwing monks, tonnes of random explosions and armies of evil martial artists, to see what we mean check out the following trailer:

Peacock King Trailer

High / Medium / Low

Also, check out the Manga Name Generator on the film webpage - www.hongkonglegends.co.uk/peacockkingdvd - it's absolutely hilarious!  Refer to us ever more as Rounin Katsu and Forceful Dragon!

Source:  Hong Kong Legends
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29th May 2006

MCM London Expo News Report! 

With the MCM London Expo now over and done (and a damn good one it was too), it's now time to report the various bits of news that popped up over the course of the weekend!

First up was the big announcement that Jetix will soon be screening the excellent Naruto and that it will be released on DVD by Manga Entertainment!  Everyone may have known about this in advance but it rocked nonetheless!  Naruto will start screening on Jetix on 22nd July, and Manga Entertainment will be following this up with the first DVD which is pencilled in for the 21st August.  Manga are planning to release the series in 13 episode boxsets which will include the cut English dubbed version alongside the original uncut Japanese version with English subtitles.  No official word on how much the sets will cost but we believe they will be somewhere in the region of £30, and we can hardly wait to see what kind of boxes and extras Manga have lined up!

Generally overshadowed prior to the Expo by Naruto despite being given equal billing, was Oban Star Racers.  However, this stylish French/Japanese co-production proved to be a surprise hit with the audience and will definitely be one to look out for when it begins screening on Jetix on 21st October.  The show itself blends superb artwork and unusual character designs with really high paced racing action, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the Pod Racing sequence from Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.  No DVD rights were announced for this series, but it is rumoured that they have been picked up by a company other than Jetix, so it will be interesting to see how the series is dealt with.

From the other companies news was pretty scarce, with ADV Films working through the red tape on a number of titles which prevented them from announcing anything new, MVM announcing Le Portrait de la Petit Cossette prior to the Expo and Manga concentrating all of their efforts on Naruto and the forthcoming Tetsujin 28 live action movie.  Beez didn't make any new announcements either, but their free catalogue did contain plenty of interesting release info.  It looks like June will be a busy month for them, with the first volumes of My HIME, Eureka Seven, Panda Z and .hack://LEGEND OF THE TWILIGHT all due for release.  They also list Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny, IGPX and Fantastic Children as forthcoming titles.  Beez titles have been known to be delayed, and indeed My HIME vol 1 seems to now be out in July, but check out our release schedule for more info!

On the manga side of things (as in the books, not the company), Tokyopop were doing a brisk trade which prevented us from really having a chat with them, but it was interesting to hear that Sweatdrop Studios artist and Rising Stars of Manga UK finalist Emma Vicieli has been commissioned to do a manga-style adaptation of some Shakespeare plays.  More news on this as and when we get it.

To be fair this was the only real Expo news, although ADV Films, Beez, Manga Entertainment and MVM did preview episodes and clips from several anime titles.  Hits with the audience - alongside Naruto and Oban Star Racers -  included ADV's surreal Cromartie High, Beez's Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and MVM's Spiral, whilst we were also very impressed by ADV's stylish actioner Samurai Gun.  Look out for more announcements at the next MCM Expo in October, and check out our Cosplay and Expo features which should be online by the end of the week!

Source: Various
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