Hey everybody. I’ve got 3 pieces of news for you in this weeks Update: the Trigun Movie Announcement, free epsiodes of Monster now online, and 20% off Dragon Ball on Viz’s Digital Manga App! (Bonus video from Japan this week: Cat Weightlifting.)
First up: Trigun fans rejoice! The big news this week is that the film Badlands Rumble is coming to theaters in North America this summer. Badlands Rumble released on April 24th of last year in Japan, nearly twelve years after the series first launched on TV Tokyo, and Madhouse Animation worked hard to produce a film that would be able to follow the success of the series.
Fans of the dub will be ecstatic to know that Johnny Yong Bosch is reprising his role as Vash the Stampede.
They may be less excited, however, to know that no other voice actors from the original dub will be returning for this film. I’m not too worried, though, because we’ve got some great voice talent up for this film including Colleen Clinkenbeard (Soul Eater, Fullmetal Alchemist, Dragon Ball, Romeo X Juliet) as Amelia and Luci Christian (Soul Eater, One Piece, Ouran High School Host Club) as Meryl Strife.
Funimation has only released this about the plot so far:
TRIGUN: popular sci-fi action anime series with the original storyline created by Yasuhiro Naito. The setting takes place in a remote planet of the near future. It portrays the life and actions of a wanted man named Vash, an extreme pacifist by nature bizarrely nicknamed as the “human typhoon”. Story and designs have been renovated for this animated film, so that not only fans, but people who haven’t read the original manga or seen the animated TV series could enjoy the work.
Since this is incredibly vague, allow me to fill you in as to what Trigun is all about! Vash the Stampede finds out that he has a huge bounty on his head, for 60,000,000,000 double dollars! Unfortunately, Vash cannot remember his alleged destruction of the city of July or anything surrounding the events that led to his being pursued by bounty hunters. Though armed to the teeth, Vash generally uses non-violence to save the innocent as he works his way towards finding out why he’s become a wanted man. It’s not the deepest story out there, but it’s a fun Sci-fi Western series, and the movie will probably be just as good (if not better for removing filler from the main story).
I’ll let you know more about the film as soon as Funimation releases more details. Until then, here’s the Japanese trailer for the film from last year. It basically introduces Vash as the wanted man with the 60 Billion Double Dollar bounty on his head, and lets us know that he’s back with all our favorite characters to face off against the criminal of the century:
Up next in this week’s Anime Update: catch free episodes of Naoki Urasawa’s MONSTER online at vizanime.com!
What if doing the right thing cost you everything? What would you do if a child you once saved grows up to become a monster! Dr. Kenzo Tenma’s selfless act changes his life forever when the young boy he once saved reappears nine years later amid a string of unusual serial murders… Tenma now must go on the run to clear his name, and stop the monster he set loose upon the world!
Let me just say that Monster is an awesome show. The story is extremely well written and you truly root for Dr. Tenma as he tries to clear his name and his conscience. I’ve already watched through the first ten episodes and am really pleased with the plot and the characters.
The best news about this series coming to Viz Anime’s website is that they’re going to be putting up new episodes each Friday, and they’ll be uploading all the way to the series finale on June 3rd. I’m psyched because this means I’ll finally get to see what happens to Tenma! Definitely check this series out if you like a suspenseful story.
Finally on this week’s Update: Viz Manga is offering readers 20% off each of the $3.99 volumes of Dragon Ball for their Digital Manga App. Remember, it’s free to download the app, and you can find out more at Viz Manga’s website. Dragon Ball is a classic that defines the medium! If you haven’t read it, it’s absolutely a must-read!
That’s all for this week’s update. For more anime news, updates and geek news from around the world, Stay Surfing on Big Shiny Robot!
I leave you this week with another obscure video from Japan: a television show that pits cats against each other to see who can carry the biggest fish – it’s Cat Weightlifting! You don’t need any Japanese language skills to enjoy this video. Just fast forward to a few minutes in and check out one of the most ridiculous shows I ever saw on television in Japan.