It’s been reported that at the age of 58, Carl Macek, the producer and story editor of the American version of Robotech, suffered a fatal heart attack on April 17, 2010.

Macek has had quite an impressive list of accomplishments, aside from Robotech, his company, Streamline Studios, imported and dubbed some of the most influential anime from the 1980s and 1990s, including Akira, Miyazaki’s Lupin the III and Laputa, and Wicked City.  He was also the first to produce and English Language dub of Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totorro, which still stands superior over the more recent Disney dub.

I can honestly say that without Macek, I would have no knowledge or interest in anime whatsoever.  But Robotech brought me in, he introduced the United States to Miyazaki and Akira and helped to create a culture here, for better or for worse.  And I’m grateful to him for it.  His work on Robotech is some of the best, most innovative, and fun storytelling I’ve witnessed.  Anime has largely passed me by in the last 20 years, but Robotech and Akira and the Miyazaki movies have been my mainstay that I revisit often.  And such is my love for Robotech that my daughter’s middle name is Miriya.

I’d always held out hope that we’d get a big screen Robotech movie and Macek would be involved, but alas, it doesn’t seem as though that dream was meant to be.

Scale: 7in. PVC
“Misty May” from “Graffiti of Otaku Generation” Mon-Sieur BOME Collection 20
Sculpted By: BOME
Produced and Manufactured: Kaiyodo
www.kaiyodo.co.jp/

What’s greater than the figure itself is the warning that comes with it: “Contains small parts, not for children under 3 years of age!”. What kid is going to purchase an adult collectible?! Thank God i’s a choking hazard – in case those little shits do buy one.

The first thing you notice (and then immediately ask yourself is “Why?”) is that this PVC anime figure is giving herself a thumbs-up almost literally up her own butt. A closer look will reveal her hand ready to hold a gold rod with a heart at the end surrounded by wings (what the fuck?!) positioned behind her. The other two accessories are 2 lion cubs (Posi-king & Nega-king). These 2 dog/lion looking figures are weird as hell. The male has his arms folded standing proud on both legs exposing his genitals. The bitch (or “female”) counterpart is posing in the classic “thinking man” stance trying to be sassy with her anime seductress. All accessories are painted very well to show human like expressions and detailed costumes.

Misty May is painted fairly well, though I hate the black gloves. They have a slight purple tinting to the forearms giving this figure more depth along with the two-tone faded pink hair. Redeeming? No. It seems BOME has only given the most attention/work to her from the waist up. The coloring on Misty’s stockings should have had a black lining on top to help compliment her overall look with the gloves. Instead, we’re given a soft purple stocking throughout down to her red pumps.

Although I’m very pleased with her on all fours, open mouthed, and detailed breasts…I still could only recommend this for horny-perverts and bargain anime hunters.

Which are you?

You can pick up your own Misty May over at Amazon.com!

Welcome to what I hope will be a regular, weekly feature.  I have been known to set my DVR from 9pm to 1am to watch every last second of the [adult swim] programming block on Cartoon Network.  I was proud to stay in Friday nights in high school so I didn’t miss Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. So, I like this stuff a lot.

Normally I’d begin with Sunday and preview upcoming new episodes, then on through the week, but last night at midnight [as] pulled a fast one on us for April Fool’s.

At midnight, a familiar Space Ghost was sitting behind his desk, interviewing “director”/”actor”/”writer” Tommy Wiseau, who promptly told us “Happy April Fool!”

Then they showed The Room.

Considered by some to be the west film ever, I had to see this with my own eyes.  And yes, it’s terrible.  The first 30 minutes is basically like a bad episode of Red Shoe Diaries starring ugly people.  Bad acting and flimsy plot and pretenses to get everyone to take off their clothes and get busy. Although, I’m sure there is generally better acting in your average porno.

Personally, I wish they would’ve gotten “Troll 2” and shown it as a double feature with its accompanying documentary “Best Worst Movie.”  That’s at least so bad it’s funny.

Coming back from commercials they also had tidbits of Space Ghost, Zorak, Moltar, and Wiseau, which was far more entertaining.  During one bit, Wiseau says that everyone should try to enjoy his film how it was meant to be experienced: in a theater.  Zorak and Moltar laugh hysterically and derisively.

Also entertaining—the warning from adult swim that ran across the bottom to not copy and distribute this copyrighted material.  Yeah, no real concern there, imho.  Lots of bit torrents of The Venture Brothers and Metalocalypse, but I don’t think The Room will be coming to Pirate Bay any time soon.

Even more entertaining, because of the aforementioned adult naughty bits and because this is still cartoon network, they had to do something about the… er….

Ha ha! Dangly parts.

So, here’s what they did.  Seriously—no lie—from my iphone to God’s ear:

Black boxes over the naughty bits.  In some cases, they black boxed out ¾ of the screen.  In my opinion, they missed another 25%.

And now on to THIS WEEK:

Sunday, Apr 4

We get 2 new episodes, and some classics in syndication:

Tim & Eric: Awesome Show! Great Job! Lucky. We explore the power of a Cinco product: Dream Cream, with Pierre, who isn’t too happy with the nightmares it’s giving him.  Another Rap from Kid Break, the group that brought you the song about dad’s dirty socks—it looks like there is breakdancing in vomit.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Juggalo. I can’t possibly comprehend what is going on here, so I’ll simply transcribe what the promo says: “With his life out of control, Shake turns to the internet to summon a higher power (an angel wearing a black pinstripe suit who has rocket boosters coming out of his hands and boots like Iron Man).  Then, Shake summons a lower power (a teenage Juggalo) to make the higher power go away.  With a special appearance by breakroom resident George Lowe.”

You can see all of this week’s schedule here, http://www.adultswim.com/schedule/index.html but here are some highlights:

The return of The Drinky Crow Show.  There’ve got to be some of you who like this show, and you’ll be able to get one (not new) 11 minute episode every night at 1:15 am ET/12:15 CT

Also playing this week: The PJ’s.  1:30/12:30?  Anyone like this at all? I usually switch over and watch Larry King, that’s how utterly boring this is to me.

Wed 12:30 ET/11:30 CT – one of my fav episodes of ATHF– “The Last One” where all of the Aqua Teen villains gather on the moon. Hijinks ensure.

As a general rule, I’m not going to review Saturday Nights and anime.  I just don’t get it, and I don’t have the background to tell whether this is a good anime or not.  I don’t know the difference between Cowboy Bebop, Big O, and Bleach.  To me, Bleach is what I use to scrub my grout or the seminal indie album by Nirvana before they got big.  Anime?  Meh.

But since you peeps who watch anime just looooooove it, here you go.  I’ll do this just once…..

We did get news that Kekkaishi will be coming to the Saturday anime block.  Here’s a press release, which I assume someone will translate for me as I lost my manga-to-english dictionary.

VIZ MEDIA LICENSES KEKKAISHI ANIME

SERIES TO ADULT SWIM

Life Is A Wild Adventure For A Teenager Balancing Girls,

Junior High School And Nighttime Demon Slaying

San Francisco, CA, March 31, 2010,  – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has licensed 52 episodes of the popular Shonen Sunday KEKKAISHI anime series to Adult Swim for domestic broadcast. KEKKAISHI will begin airing on May 29^th.

KEKKAISHI is based on the hit manga series by Yellow Tanabe (also published in North America by VIZ Media). A story of mystical forces powerful in the region known as Karasumori. For over 400 years, it has been the duty of a clan of “kekkaishi”—barrier masters—to guard this land and exterminate the supernatural creatures that are drawn to it night after night.

Yoshimori Sumimura is a junior high school student at Karasumori Academy, which is built upon the Karasumori grounds. By night, Yoshimori follows the tradition passed down through generations and fulfills his destiny as the twenty-second “kekkaishi” of the Sumimura clan. But by day, Yoshimori’s got other demons to contend with, like an obsession with cake making and a seriously crotchety grandfather! Yoshimori’s pretty neighbor, childhood friend and rival, Tokine Yukimura, is also a “kekkaishi,” but their families are caught up in a feud over who is the true practitioner of the art. Protecting ordinary people from the ever-present danger of the Karasumori grounds, Yoshimori will continue to grow stronger as he battles the forces of evil again tonight!

“Kekkaishi spotlights compelling cool characters, in an intense yet fun-filled supernatural action adventure saga. It possesses all of the hallmarks of great anime!”  says William Germain, Director, Programming & Music Sales, VIZ Media. We are very excited to add KEKKAISHI to the Adult Swim anime lineup for U.S. fans to enjoy.”

For more information on KEKKAISHI please visit www.ShonenSunday.com.

Thanks for reading!!

Next week I’ll do more in depth on other episodes you should catch during the week, as my review of The Room kind of supplanted that.  I’ll also include reviews of their online content, including their flash games.

Arata Vol. 1 Copyright VIZ Media

Let’s start off this update with something for the ladies with the newly released Shojo manga, “Arata: The Legend”. Shojo, for those who don’t know, are manga specifically geared towards women, so you can expect plenty of pretty girly-men and romance throughout. VIZ has been kind enough to summarize the plot for us, here:

In a world where humans and gods coexist, Arata is the unfortunate successor to the matriarchal Hime Clan–unfortunate because if he’s not cross-dressing to hide his gender one minute, he’s fleeing for his life the next! When Arata winds up in the modern world and switches places with a boy named Arata Hinohara, it’s a wonder which Arata is actually better off…
In Volume 1, Hinohara is the spitting image of Arata, so he suddenly finds himself fighting people after his life! As he navigates through this foreign world filled with power-hungry warriors, who will come to his aid? One thing’s for sure–it’s not easy being Arata!

Yes, that’s right. It seems to be a cross-dressing take on “The Prince and the Pauper” where the male Arata is forced to dress as a woman to keep his position in line as the clan’s next matriarchal ruler. Expect plenty of shenanigans as a result, and a fair share of  Yoai undertones in this teen manga.

Next up, the very hot-button issue surrounding “Dance in the Vampire Bund” and Funimation. For those not familiar with this, basically Funimation acquired the rights to show Bund and announced they would censor said anime for some more questionable content. Of course, there was a huge backlash against this decision, and Funimation was bombarded with rage until yesterday they made the announcement that while the stream would still be censored, DVD and Blu-ray releases should be able to remain uncensored unless the last episode of the series really cross taste borders. (Source: Anime News Network)

So there is a ton of issues on both sides of the fence. On one side, censoring is bad, and really shouldn’t exist with private DVDs for home use. On the other hand is Bund, which is pretty intense. The main character pictured here. (Sorta NSFW), while being about seven-hundred years old, has a very young appearance. With scenes depicted of not so family-friendly behavior, this could further drive those people we’re trying to convince that anime is a valid, moving form of expression. It’s a tough debate, but at least we’re seeing some kind of compromise.

That’s it for this week, but don’t forget to leave your thoughts on censorship in the comments below.

This seems to be the time for big anime news around the world. From the always great source Anime News Network, we get info on the screenings of several choice anime names in Dublin:

The Irish Film Institute in Dublin will be screening Hideaki Anno and Khara’s Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (Evangelion Shin Gekijōban: Ha) movie and Mamoru Hosoda and MADHOUSE’s Summer Wars movie during a two-day festival next month. Evangelion: 2.0 will run on March 20, and Summer Wars will run on March 21.

Other films to be shown at the festival include Anno and Khara’s Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone (Evangelion Shin Gekijōban: Jo), Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters Per Second, Hosoda and MADHOUSE’s The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Hiroyuki Kitakubo and Production I.G’s Blood: The Last Vampire. Blood: The Last Vampire will share a double-billing with a “mystery film.” Jonathan Clements (author of Schoolgirl Milky Crisis and co-author of The Anime Encyclopedia) and industry guests Hugh David and Andrew Partridge will host a panel on the future of anime during the festival.

Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance is the second film in the theatrical film remake of Anno and Gainax’s Neon Genesis Evangelion television
anime series. The film continues the story of a group of 14-year-olds entrusted with giant biomechanical units to protect Earth from mysterious Angels. It opened in Japan in June 2009. It then ran in Spain’s Sitges, Scotland’s Glasgow
Film Festival, Canada’s Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema, and France’s Lyon Asian Film Festival. Funimation had released versions of the first film, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, in North America in 2009 in theaters and on home video.

The light-hearted “action entertainment” story of Summer Wars revolves around a modern-day family on a midsummer adventure. The project reunites many of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time’s staffers, including scriptwriter Satoko Okudera (Angel, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Miyori no Mori) and character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Evangelion, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, FLCL). The film opened in Japan on August 1, 2009, and has since been scheduled in Spain’s Sitges, England’s Leeds Film Festival, Germany’s Berlin International Film Festival, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in the New York International Children’s Film Festival.

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From Anime News Network, we have news about the premiere of the Trigun movie:

Sakura-Con has announced that it will hold the world premiere of the Trigun: Badlands Rumble film during the April 2-4 convention in Seattle, Washington. The convention is three weeks before the April 24 opening of the film in Japan.

Like the television anime series that came before it, the anime studio MADHOUSE is basing the film on Yasuhiro Nightow’s popular Trigun manga. Director Satoshi Nishimura, character designer Takahiro Yoshimatsu, mechanical designer Noriyuki Jinguji, and musical composer Tsuneo Imahori are returning to the franchise after having worked on the television series. Nightow and Nishimura conceived of the story concepts which Yasuko Kobayashi (Claymore, Shakugan no Shana, Witchblade anime) turned into a shooting script. Masaya Onosaka, Sho Hayami, Hiromi Tsuru, and Satsuki Yukino are reprising their roles of Vash the Stampede, Nicolas D. Wolfwood, Meryl Stryfe, and Milly Thompson, respectively.

Nishimura and Yoshimatsu are appearing as guests of this year’s Sakura-Con. In addition to Trigun, Nishimura directed Hajime no Ippo (Fighting Spirit) and Shin Cho Bakumatsu Shonen Seiki Takamaru, and he storyboarded episodes of Black Lagoon, Card Captor Sakura, Monster, Paradise Kiss, and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Yoshimatsu designed the characters in several Slayers and Future GPX Cyber Formula projects, Basquash!, Kiba, Desert Punk, and the two Jubei-chan – Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch television series.

Sakura-Con has always been the premiere anime convention in the country, and it seems this year, they won’t disappoint. For more info, or to register if you plan to make the trip from Salt Lake City, visit their main page here.

Star Ocean is an action RPG. It plays similarly to the Tales of Destiny games in that the level and battle systems are closely related. What I like about both of these series is that the high-action battles keep you involved in the game the entire time while giving you all the basic RPG elements. Star Ocean: The Last Hope is the fourth game in the series and is announced to also be the last. But don’t let that stop you from picking it up, because this is a prequel to the entire series and the story and world are easy to follow along with.

The other thing I like about this series is the science fiction elements.  You’re basically cruising through the Galaxy looking for new planets to colonize post World War III when the Earth was decimated. This is also where the game gets its title, The Last Hope. The main character ‘Edge’ becomes the captain of a SEED ship, and the rest of your party consists of the crew. You go from planet to planet, recruiting members, and saving the inhabitants of those worlds.

I thought the battle systems were done really well. You get four members at a time, and you choose any one of them to control yourself while the other three are controlled by an A.I. . They use an active battle system, that isn’t turn based at all. (You get to use special ability’s and attacks as often as you like provided you have the MP.) While this sounds really simple, there is still a lot of strategy required. (Especially on boss battles.)

Each of the characters has their own abilities and fights in their own unique way. For example, the main character is really good at close combat, whereas his second in command (A girl named Reimi) is an Archer and is better at fighting at a distance. The variations on how to use your party are virtually endless.

The first thing I noticed about this game is that it is incredibly vast. But with the active battle system, and going from world to world, it hardly ever gets boring, and it’s always a delight to look at. The models are some of the best I’ve seen, for both the characters and the enemies. I’ve mentioned in a review of Avatar recently that video games seem to be much more adept at populating new worlds with interesting creatures and environments. This video game was successful in filling many worlds with life and story, that I consider to be a much greater accomplishment.

The international version offers the ability to play in either Japanese or English, which as a Japanese language student I find to be be a really good feature. Also as a North American it’s refreshing to actually see the release of an International version in general because it is so rarely done. (I’ve been waiting for a FF7 international version since 1997.)

The voice acting was done better than some of the games I’ve played recently, and was completely acceptable. Which is saying a lot, because unfortunately now a days, bad voice acting can kill a game. Although I do have to say some of the characters mannerisms were slightly annoying, I am certainly willing to give it a pass. (Especially because the games sound-track was really good.)

Overall, this is a really good looking game that’s fun to play for many hours with a definitive ending point, and a cool story. I highly recommend it. It makes me want to pick up the other games in the series as well.
You can buy your copy from Amazon through this link!

Score:

• Graphics : 9
• Controls: 8
• Audio : 8
• Replay: 7
• Story: 9
• Overall: 8.2
  

It was recently announced that the adaptation of “Akira” would be handled by Allen and Albert Hughes for Warner Brother’s take on the now legendary manga by Katsuhiro Otomo about a post apocalyptic Tokyo.

The new film will be based in Manhattan in a similar setting, with the leader of a bike gang attempting to save his friend from a medical testing facility. No other set news has been revealed, but rumors abound of Leonardo DeCaprio playing the role of Kanada have yet to be confirmed. This news comes after this movie has been floating around since Legendary Pictures acquired the rights in 2007 from Kodansha Publishing.

The Hughes brothers are attached after finishing work on “The Book of Eli’ and of course, when any other info comes out, we’ll make sure to have it to you. So, what’s your opinion on this? Should we really have a live-action Akira?

Funimation and Cybergraphix are starting a collaboration on an animated film, “Guardians of Luna”. Why should you be excited about this? Well, this movie is written by Michael Reaves, famous for Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles, and other bits of 90’s nostalgia, with character designer Cindy H. Yamauchi (Naruto: The Movie, Black Lagoon, Akira) adding her unique look to it.

The movie tells a dark story which revolves around an ancient race of shape-shifters with the ability to change into powerful creatures. Four unlikely heroes descended from this once-great race are charged with protecting an ancestral power source from a ruthless mogul. If you want more details, subscribe to the updates here.

Stay tuned for more next week!

(source: Funimation)

Yamazaki’s Halo Legends episode, “The Duel,” goes back to ancient
times, at the dawn of the Covenant. A shamed Elite defies his role as
an “Arbiter” – an honored but suicidal role that would regain him a
shred of honor—to take a path of revenge against those that stole the
only thing that matters to such an amazing warrior: His true love.
This ancient Arbiter must fight his way through ever-growing groups of
his former allies (grunts, elites, hunters, etc.) until he finally
stands face-to-face with the elite who betrayed his trust.

The episode showcases the richness and depth of the Halo universe, and
gives fans a glimpse of one of their favorite protagonists, The
Samurai-style mythos of the Elites is framed in an animation style
that branches away from many of Halo Legends’ CG and traditional
animation approaches to present the anime via a unique filter – giving
the episode the look of a moving watercolor painting. Yamazaki and the
artists at Production I.G were responsible for this singular artistic
vision. So stunning and different are the tones and forms that
multiple viewings offer new insights on each pass.

A rising star in the anime community, Yamazaki has developed a loyal
following as he has grown his career from sound direction and
storyboarding to a celebrated run as an episodic director of
innovatively-blended visual action on the critically acclaimed hit CG
anime series KARAS. Similarly, Production I.G has been responsible for
numerous acclaimed feature films, television series and video games,
including the cyberpunk classic Ghost in the Shell, Jin-Roh, The Wolf
Brigade and parts of Batman Gotham Knight.

Warner Home Video will distribute Halo Legends on February 16, 2010 as
a Special Edition 2-disc version on DVD and Blu-Ray™, as well as
single disc DVD and available On Demand and Digital Download. The DVD
anthology of episodic films based within the mythology of the popular
game Halo is produced by 343 Industries, a unit within Microsoft Game
Studios.

Yamazaki answered a few questions in regard to his participation in
bringing Halo Legends to animated life. Here’s that Q&A …

QUESTION:
What made you think Halo would lend itself to anime/animation?

HIROSHI YAMAZAKI:
I believe that the suitability (of a property for animation) depends
upon each story. This story definitely worked well in animation, and
in this style.

QUESTION:
What was the inspiration for your artistic vision in your episode of
Halo Legends?

HIROSHI YAMAZAKI:
I have been a lover of viewing the Halo art /illustration collection
books and such for some time and the entire collection of Halo
properties inspired me.

QUESTION:
Were there any particular images within the Halo realm that helped
shape or drive your creative vision?

HIROSHI YAMAZAKI:
When I was contacted by I.G about the project, I imagined that the
project would be very Sci-Fi in taste. However, when I met Mr. Frank
O’Connor (of 343 Indutries, Microsoft Games Studios) for the first
time, his requirement was to create a Samurai episode featuring an
Arbiter, and I was considerably and happily surprised.

QUESTION:
What did you set out to accomplish in this episode, and why do you
think you achieved or exceeded your goals?

HIROSHI YAMAZAKI:
What I was aiming for in this project was to make audiences understand
there should be other styles of animation beyond the existing two
primary kinds of animation presented – precisely cel-drawing 2D style
and CG 3D style. I wanted to show that creators are not limited, that
they have many options for different (animation) styles to create
stories.

QUESTION:
Did you feel you had the proper Halo experience to to bring the world
to life in anime?

HIROSHI YAMAZAKI:
I have played Halo 1 and 2 all the way through to the end. As I was so
busy in this project, I could not play Halo 3 but instead I watched
the gaming movie many times from the beginning to end.

QUESTION:
Did you include any “Easter eggs” for the devout Halo fans in your episode?

HIROSHI YAMAZAKI:
I employed the phrase “Akuma-da!” (“He is a devil” in English) as part
of the dialogue of a grunt soldier for fun for game lovers. I’m not
certain whether everyone will get to enjoy that treat, though, as I
understand the English version and Japanese version differ
considerably and I am not sure how this dialogue by the grunt is
treated in the English version.

For more details, check out the website here.