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Welcome to our News archive for October 2004 - to see this month's news
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IMAF to London... In a surprise bit of news it seems that 2004 is the inaugural year of the International Manga and Anime Festival (IMAF)!! The festival is set to be held in the London County Hall in Westminster, London from December 16th to the 19th and will feature, amongst other things, anime showings, manga art displays and interestingly a competition offering quite meaty prizes for those of an artistic nature. The competition has three categories - Best Short Animation, Best Storyboard and Best Character, and with a prize fund of $75,000 (around £41,600!) it is definitely not one to miss! Check out the Press Release for more information. Closing date for entries is on 30th November, so get scribbling!! Source: IMAF Committee |
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Chun Li or Not Chun Li, That is the Question... XBox owners will be pleased to hear that tomorrow's release of Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition will, like the already available PS2 version, contain the Street Fighter II anime film as an extra. However, it is unclear whether the infamous Chun Li shower scene, excised from the version of the film on the PS2 game, will be reinstated for the XBox. Of course we at Animetion UK firmly believe that censoring the film is wrong as it is a defamation of the creators original vision. It's not that we want to see Chun Li's breasts again, oh nosiree... Source: Game |
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Re-Viz-ion! A representative of Diamond Comics Distribution, one of the world's leading comic and cult goods suppliers, has hinted that Viz Comics may finally be on the verge of resolving their long standing export problem. US manga and anime giant Viz (not to be confused with the UK comic of the same name), were forced to suspend direct imports to the UK after it emerged that they did not hold the European rights to many of the manga titles they were supplying. However, word has reached us that an agreement should be finalised in the next couple of months that should resolve the issue, and hopefully put the likes of Ranma 1/2, One Piece and Neon Genesis Evangelion back on our bookshop shelves. Fingers crossed... Source: Kathie's Comics |
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Also Out Now Carrying on picking up on the releases we missed whilst on holiday... Angelic Layer vol 4: Faith, Hope & Love (ADV
Films) Cert: PG ADV Films once more lead the mid-month charge with a raft of releases including the continuation of the excellent school-based comedy Azumanga Daioh and the fourth volume of the all-female creative team CLAMP's 'shonen' series Angelic Layer. However, ADV top this with the long awaited conclusion to the highly rated Full Metal Panic! and the first volumes of the intriguing Kino's Journey and the fan favourite Mahoromatic - Automatic Maiden. Not to be left out Manga weigh in with probably the best value boxset you'll see this year - all 36 thirty min episodes of Fist of the North Star for just £40 (RRP)! Surprisingly this set also includes a Japanese Dub and half of the episodes have never previously been released in the UK. Last but by no means least Contender weigh in with yet more retro anime goodness in the form of the classic French-Japanese co-production Ulysses 31, collected in a four disc boxset for just £25 (RRP). Source: ADV Films, Manga UK, Forbidden Planet |
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Out Now Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (Optimum Asia) Cert: 15 Optimum have followed up their recent release of Grave of the Fireflies with another highly rated title, albeit in a very different style. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is the sequel to the pretty dated looking but inexplicably popular Vampire Hunter D (currently available from Manga Video), and is a stylish mix of gothic horror and kinetic action with stunning imagery that leaves its predecessor in the cold. Although there are question marks over the quality of the plot and dialogue the sheer style of this film will make it a massive hit with fans of the vampire genre. Source: Play.com |
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Winter of Disc Content! In a great piece of news NewType USA - the English language version of the best selling Japanese anime and manga magazine - has confirmed that it will once more contain free promo DVDs from November onwards. Previously in the year NewType axed the freebie from off the shelf magazines in an attempt to cut costs and reduce the number of stolen discs, leaving the DVDs only available to subscribers. However, with the price of the magazine staying the same without the DVD as it was before, it seems likely that sales plummeted and this coupled with public and retailer pressure has caused the reinstatement. Power to the people! Source: AnimeOnDVD |
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Give Piece a Chance UK Anime.com have reported that US distributor 4Kids are currently in discussion with the the company behind Cartoon Network and Toonami to finalise a deal to bring pirate anime One Piece to UK television! Providing these discussions are fruitful we would hope to see One Piece on telly in a matter of months, and its pirate orientated action should make it a huge hit following the success of US blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean. Fingers crossed for an announcement soon... Source: www.ukanime.com |
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Hart of a Samurai? With several live action films based on manga and anime series bouncing around in pre-production it comes as a bit of a surprise to find one with both a script and actress attached. News has come out that manga and anime distributor Tokyopop have teamed up with US production company Hartbreak Films to bring Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School to life as a vehicle for Sabrina The Teenage Witch star Melissa Joan Hart. The live action version will be 'inspired by' rather than based on the original manga, and scriptwriter Dan Gordon describes his new script as 'Clueless meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. The mind boggles, but it sounds like it could be good fun. Source: AnimeOnDVD |
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New Releases Next Week:
Gundam Wing Box Set vol 3 (Beez) Cert: PG The recent change of stance by anime distributors towards boxset releases continues this month with both MVM and Beez reissuing one of their older series in collected form. Beez continue where they left off in July with the third of their excellent Gundam Wing sets, which contains both DVD volumes 5 & 6 and a highly detailed Gundam figure for the decent RRP of £29.99. However, alongside the third volume of the Sci-Fi actioner Kiddy Grade, second volume of romantic comedy Love Hina and first feature length outing for Tenchi Muyo - Tenchi in Love, MVM gives even better value for money with its Sailor Moon Series 1 Boxset, which contains no less than seven discs for the budget RRP of £39.99. Source: Play.com; MVM |
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