America's Cartoon Network has reportedly revealed at Georgia's Anime Weekend Atlanta convention this morning that it will end its Toonami programming block tonight after 11 years. The official announcement will be made during tonight's final run, with an "important message" during the 10:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET/PT timeslot. Naruto has been the only Japanese series in this Saturday evening block recently, but Toonami used to host a variety of Japanese-animated programs when it began as a weekday afternoon block in 1997. Among those titles were Voltron, Robotech, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Ronin Warriors, G-Force: Guardians of Space, Blue Submarine No. 6, Tenchi Muyo!, Cardcaptors, Zoids, .hack//SIGN, Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, The Big O, Outlaw Star, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Cyborg 009, Duel Masters, Astro Boy, Gundam, Rave Master, Zatch Bell, One Piece, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Pokémon, MÄR, The Prince of Tennis, Megaman Star Force, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, and Blue Dragon. The Toonami Jetstream online streaming service will reportedly still continue, and Cartoon Network is working to import the Japanese-animated Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z spinoff that is based on its own Powerpuff Girls series.
Two episode of Naruto are currently scheduled for tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. The 2002 live-action Spider-Man film will run instead of Toonami on September 27, although most television listings have not been updated yet. Batman: Gotham Knight, this summer's Japanese-animated video tie-in to The Dark Knight film, will then run on October 4 at 8:00 p.m. After Batman: Gotham Knight, an episode of Naruto, "Powerful Helper," will run at 9:30 p.m., but there are no other episodes scheduled yet.
SOURCE: ANN
ADV Awaits Restoration of Power after Hurricane Ike
ADV Films Senior Vice-President of Sales Mike Bailiff has updated the Paradox Entertainment Group on his anime distribution company's progress after Hurricane Ike swept through Texas. ADV's Houston headquarters is still without power, but the staffers plan to go back to work on Monday. Hurricane Ike made landfall just southeast of Houston last Saturday, and much of the Houston/Galveston metropolitan area has remained without electricity since then.
ANN
Manga Back on USA Today Booklist
After a rare four-week period during which no manga had been included on the USA Today newspaper's list of the top 150 bestselling books, the list marked its second week with three Japanese graphic novel titles.
Over the seven days from September 8 to September 14, volume 31 of Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto (Viz Media) ranked at #34, down from its opening week's #24 position. This volume had the best-ever debut for a manga. Matsuri Hino's Vampire Knight, also published by Viz, remains a relatively rare shōjo bestseller. Its volume 5, coming five months after the preceding book in the series, held the #133 spot. In the previous week, it had been in the #100 position. The last of latest chart's three best-selling manga was volume 19 of Ken Akamatsu's Negima (Del Rey). It registered at #142 in its debut week.
ANN
Iwakaze Capital's Takeover of Gonzo Parent Proceeds
Japanese investment company Iwakaze Capital KK finalized its bid to become the majority owner of GDH, the parent company of the Gonzo anime production studio. Last week, Iwakaze made a significant investment in GDH by buying 1.9 billion yen (about US$18 million) in newly-issued shares. It is also increasing its stake in GDH to a controlling interest by paying 8,000 yen (US$74.65) per share to purchase 13,189 shares, or 15% of the current outstanding total. The acquisition is expected to be complete by October 10.
ANN
Manga Entertainment Anime Hosted on Jaman VOD Service
Manga Entertainment has signed an agreement to distribute many of its anime films and episodes digitally through Jaman, an online service which focuses in foreign and independent works. Manga's Ghost in the Shell, Black Jack The Movie, Read or Die, Kai Doh Maru, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, and episodes of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Noein, and Robotech are all already available for high-definition download at Jaman.com. The titles are priced at US$2.99 per movie or US$1.99 per episode. Additional anime from Manga's catalog are being added to the service. Once downloaded, files can be watched for seven days with the proprietary Jaman Player software, and new users who register on the site will get two free rentals.
ANN
Due to a recent scandal where icky Chinese rice sent as raw manufacuting material being distributed as food instead, less people in Japan are eating rice. In order to revive the consumption of the real-deal, a bit of moe has been implemented.
These bags, designed by Aoi Nishimata for JA Ugo in Akita Prefecture, will contain locally grown rice. Although stores are skeptic about the move, JA Ugo is convinced it will help boost rice sales.
Moe FTW
Source:
Pink Tentacle
Director Akira Kurosawa's Final Script Gets Anime Film
The Mask of the Black Death, the last script that legendary Oscar-winning director Akira Kurosawa co-wrote before his death in 1998, will finally be animated for a planned theatrical release in 2010. Kurosawa and his writing collaborator Masato Ide (Red Beard, Kagemusha, Ran) based their script on "The Masque of the Red Death," Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 horror short story about a prince's attempt to escape a plague while holding a masquerade in his abbey. Kurosawa and Ide's version resets the setting to a fictional version of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, when most of humanity faces a deadly contagion. The suspense story deals with the human condition when people are pushed to extremes and despair.
Kurosawa began writing the script after his 1975 film Dersu Uzala, another film set in Russia. He and his only son, executive producer Hisao Kurosawa, had initially planned for the film to be shot in 1998. The film's producers spent the previous year in the United States and Europe to secure financing and search for a director. (The Mask of the Black Death would be the first script Kurosawa co-wrote but did not direct himself.) Ever since Kurosawa's death in 1998 until now, however, those plans have been shelved. Kurosawa never directed an animated feature, although his Yōjimbo and Seven Samurai films inspired the anime series Kaze no Yojimbo and Samurai 7, respectively.
Japan's Kurosawa Production and Lotus, America's Lexicon Film Entertainment and Harbor Light Entertainment, and Singapore's Upside Down Entertainment are jointly producing the film.
The Mask of the Black Death is one of two theatrical projects that will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Kurosawa's birth. The other project is a Hollywood remake of Rashōmon, the 1950 film that captured the attention of the world's film critics. The movie eventually won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The academy's California headquarters hosted the world premiere of the original Rashōmon's digital restoration on Thursday evening. The academy is also hosting "Akira Kurosawa: Film Artist," a three-month exhibition of original drawings, props, costumes, screenplays, and other historical items from his seven-decade film career.
Source
ANN
Article originally found by Sangome.
Once again, fellow Otaku, someone from outside our community and culture has written up an expose on how anime and manga are nothing but an endless barrage of overly-sexualized imagery.
Despite getting some things right by stating that not all anime/manga is sexualized and how the good/evil duality of western culture is blurred, this article still ends up being mostly offensive.
Anybody who doubts the rapidly growing influence of Japan's erotic cultural imports in the U.S. only has to spend a little time playing with a Hello Kitty vibrator while reading a fan-created pornographic Pokemon comic — or visit a “maid café” (now available near Los Angeles and Canada) where the waitresses all dress in costume — to realize it's not just a fringe subculture anymore.
There is a good argument to be made, based on those characters alone, that we are all “turning Japanese” as the '80s song goes — especially sexually.
These cartoony, sexualized characters are all part of otaku culture. Otaku is a Japanese word that has evolved from meaning "techno-geek" to describing devoted fans who pore over Japanese animation (anime), manga (graphic books), hentai (erotic comics) and other comics-derived media. As the recent fashion collaboration of designer Marc Jacobs and Japanese artist Takashi Murakami illustrates, otaku culture has become entrenched in the hip American mainstream.
Of course, not all anime and manga is overtly sexual — a lot of it is meant for children. Even some adult anime isn’t sexualized any more than, say, Wonder Woman (who was created as a dominatrix bondage fantasy.)
But sexually-suggestive and explicit anime like "Gurren Lagann" and "Legend of the Overfiend," is finding an eager audience of adult Americans who are drawn to the post-modern, almost post-human mash-up of playful, blurry morality found in the genre.
“The appeal of Japanese pop culture [to Americans] is that it is a moral-free zone,” explains Patrick Macias, editor in chief of Otaku USA, a bi-monthly magazine with a circulation of approximately 60,000. “The ideas of good/bad, right/wrong, that duality is not present.”
READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE - Source: MSNBC
