Trigun- Badlands Rumble:


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A second trailer for the upcoming huge Yu-Gi-Oh 10th Anniversary cross-over movie has been leaked online. This new trailer gives us a much better idea of what the 3D film will be like, & includes lots of new footage & information about the feature. It's just so freaking cool to see Yugi, Judai, & Yusei all teaming up. Although Judai's Yubel eyes seem a bit off compared to how they look from the TV series.

Another version of this new trailer can be seen below, & after that you can check out LittleKuriboh's Abridged version of the trailer:

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Holy sweet jesus. What we have here is the first official figurine of Asuka Langley Shikinami in her test-version plugsuit, seen exclusively in the Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 film. There are seemingly hundreds of different Asuka figures that have been released over the years, but this is the first to have her in a new official outfit like this.

This new version of the classic EVA plugsuit was worn by Asuka towards the end of the film when she test piloted a new EVA. Since a new outfit was never even hinted at in the trailers or anything, fans were taken aghast by Asuka's surprisingly revealing new uniform. I mean, yowza. That orange part is essentially see-through.

Outfit aside, I love Asuka's overall look here. Great face, & lovely flowing hair to go along with it. Seriously, you can't call yourself an Asuka fan if you don't order one of these. I put my order in instantly. In fact it's so awesome & I'm such a big Asuka fan, maybe I wont be doing her justice unless I buy two of them. =b

Retail price is 4725 yen (~$50), quite a good price actually. Though that probably has to do with the fact that she's smaller than your average anime figurine. Average tends to be 1/8th scale, but Asuka here is only 1/10th scale. You'll have to wait awhile before importing her too. She wont be hitting Japan until May 2010.

Source: http://www.hobby-wave.com/LINE_UP/kanseihin/2009/asuka

With the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie only about two months away, you'd think we'd have a more substantial trailer by now. Unfortunately for the time being, we'll have to deal with these character sketches. It's still pretty cool though, especially since we can now finally get our long-haired Haruhi. Not only that, but Asakura makes her triumphant return as well. You can check out movie sketches for all the main characters (including a seasonally appropriate Mikuru in a Santa outfit) here:

http://www.cartoonleap.com/2009/12/01/disappearance-of-suzumiya-haruhi-character-sketches

Just as they did last year, Weekly Shonen Jump has uploaded some of the specials from the 2009 Jump Super Tour to its website. & also like last year, some of them have been given official English subtitles on its official English site.

The first video with English subs is the new Naruto special "Naruto: the Cross Roads." This special actually takes place way back when Sasuke was still a part of Team Kakashi, placing it well before the current Shippuden series. The special is also notable for being completely animated in CG, giving it a very interesting look. The other special is Toriko, a recent series that got its first ever anime adaptation for this tour. Toriko probably got the English sub treatment to help promote the manga coming to the US Shonen Jump magazine beginning next month.

While those are the only two titles on the English version of the website, the Japanese version also hosts an extended preview of the upcoming 10th One Piece movie. The Japanese version also promises to add an extended preview of the upcoming 10th Anniversary Yu-Gi-Oh movie soon. Whether or not that'll be added to the English site remains to be seen, though personally I doubt it. But you can at least check out the subbed Naruto & Toriko specials here:

http://www.shonenjump.com/e/animetour

After so many years of joking about it, there actually now is the possibility that Zac Efron IS Kira. When it was announced that Warner Bros acquired the rights to make an American Death Note film, hopes that Efron would play the lead role of Light spread like wildfire. & as it turns out, he was actually in a few meetings about it. Coincidence, or the power of fandom on the Internet?

Regardless though, Efron stated that the project was "not on the front burner." In other words, while it is being talked about & in the works, it's not happening anytime soon. He stated once again that he is a manga fan & does enjoy Death Note, & that he'd like to be a part of the project, but it unfortunately wont be happening at this moment. You can check out his answers towards the end of the video interview above.

Up & coming famous anime director Mamoru Hosoda revealed at Singapore's Anime Festival Asia convention this weekend that he was offered to direct the upcoming Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Movie. His response was that he'd like to do it, he never fully accepted it & the offer never came to past. He has actually already started work on his next film so it would've been tough to fit Haruhi in there as well. Likewise he wouldn't have been able to partner up with his longtime character design & scriptwriter colleagues on the project, as Kyoto Animation already has those positioned filled in order to keep it in the style of the anime seasons.

Hosoda of course has become famous for his award-winning film the Girl Who Leapt Through Time, & is also fondly remembered for directing the first two Digimon Adventure movies, his earliest professional works as a director. His newest animated feature, Summer Wars just came out this past August. It sure would've been interesting having him direct the Haruhi film, though. The director for the second season of Haruhi was not the same as the director from the first season, & it's unknown if the season 2 director will be doing the movie at this time.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-11-22/tokikake-hosoda-had-offer-to-direct-haruhi-film

Eden of the East- King of Eden:


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I'm a little late to remind you that the 12th Pokemon movie (which debuted only this year in Japan) made its American debut on Cartoon Network earlier this evening. So, sorry if you missed that. But I definitely wanted to point out that American dub of the Beyblade Movie will be making its US television debut tomorrow afternoon at 5:30 (Eastern/Pacific)! This movie was actually released in Japan back in 2002, & Nelvana released an English dub of it on DVD back in 2005. But it never aired on Jetix or any other American channel, until now. So the timing on all this might seem pretty odd. But I believe this is actually a good sign that the new Beyblade: Metal Fusion series will be airing on CN next year.

The movie was made during the series' second season, known as "Beyblade 2002" in Japan & "Beyblade: V-Force" in America. So the art style & character designs will look like the second season (each season had its own unique style, though season one was drastically different from the other two). However, this movie actually debuts the character Daichi, who was a main new character in season three. Also, season 2 sucked & was easily the worst of the first three seasons. I'm hoping the movie fairs a bit better.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-11-20/2009-pokemon-film-on-u.s-cartoon-network-today

Keanu Reeves just can't seem to get enough of Japanese culture, so it would appear. First he wanted the part of Spike in the upcoming live-action Cowboy Bebop film, & now it's been announced that he'll be starring in a Hollywood adaptation of the legendary Japanese tale, "47 Ronin." Chris Morgan (Fast & Furious, Wanted) will write the samurai script, & Carl Rinsch (who's amazing work includes the commercial at the bottom of this post) will direct. Here's some information on the project:

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Evangelion 1.01 Opening:


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The Will Smith & Steven Spielberg American adaptation of the classic manga Oldboy seems to now be officially dead in the water. It seems they weren't able to get past the troublesome Korean legal disputes which stemmed from Korea making their own live-action movie of it some years ago. You just know Hollywood's a tough town when a movie involving Spielberg & Smith attached to it couldn't get made. Here's what Latino Review had to say:

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The official Haruhi website has revealed some interesting information about the upcoming Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Movie. First off it confirmed an earlier report that said the film will be debuting in Japanese theaters on February 6, 2010. It was originally slated to come out sometime in the Spring, but actually getting an earlier than expected date after having to wait three years for season 2 is a change no one will be complaining about.

Secondly, it was also revealed that the movie will be a whopping 150 minutes long. That's two & a half hours, practically unheard of for an anime movie, or any animated movie in general. Devoting such an extended period of time to the film truly shows that Kadokawa is trying to make it up to the fans for wasting 8 episodes in the second season by having the movie be about 8 episodes long in length. This should prove to be majorly awesome, & I can't wait till we get the chance to see it as well.

Source: http://www.cartoonleap.com/2009/11/09/suzumiya-haruhi%C2%B4s-will-dissapear-for-150-minutes

Susan Boyle, the woman with the sensational singing voice that took the world by storm over the summer due to her performance on Britain's Got Talent, has been confirmed to sing the theme song for the anime movie "Himitsu Kessha Taka no Tsume The Movie 3 ~http://takanotsume.jp wa Eien ni~." Her most well associated song "I Dreamed a Dream" (see above) will be the theme for the film based on a popular web-based Flash series. Boyle will also be releasing her first album in Japan later this month, while the movie is due out on January 16, 2010.

Boyle singing for a whacky Flash-animated Japanese movie? What part of this made sense to anybody?

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-11-04/britain-got-talent-boyle-sings-in-eagle-talon-anime

Disney’s Buena Vista Home Entertainment has revealed that the American DVD release of Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo will hit stores on March 2, 2010. Three different versions will be available- regular DVD ($29.99) 2-disc special edition DVD ($34.99), & Blu-ray ($39.99). While the regular version will only hold the film, the special edition will come loaded with special features. It also comes with a very cute Ponyo plush toy. The Blu-ray version comes with the same bonus features, but strangely enough it does not come with the toy. Usually Blu-rays have more goodies than DVDs, not less. Glad I don't own a Blu-ray player so I don't have to worry about that.

All in all, Ponyo made over $15 million dollars in the American box office for its entire run, earning it a very sold #5 slot in the top grossing anime movies of all time. Surpassing even Miyazaki's Oscar winning Spirited Away by about $5 million, Ponyo has been pretty successful. Though considering how much time, money, & effort Disney put into releasing it, they were probably hoping for even more.

Source: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16154.html