Wolverine Anime - Trailer

First there was the Iron Man anime trailer. Now Wolvie has got in on the action.

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Iron Man Anime Trailer

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Gatchaman, Battle of the Planets, G Force - Whatever you call it here is the trailer

This is a videotaped recording of the Gatchaman teaser trailer that was shown at the 2009 Anime Expo.

Over here in the UK we had a cartoon called Battle of the Planets that took the original Japanese cartoon, cut it up, added the dreadful 7-Zark-7 and 1-Rover-1, and they made sure no one died. It was still cool though as it had the fiery Phoenix and Princess.

This new version looks pretty damn tasty.

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The Last Airbender - Trailer

This is the official teaser trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, the live action movie based on Avatar the Last Airbender.

It certainly looks a lot better than Dragonball Evolution and has a similar tone to the original cartoon. If anything the long shot of all the ships reminds me of John Woo's Red Cliff. It definitely has the potential to look epic. All depends upon how good the main kid is at acting I suppose.

You can have a better look at Aang and Dev Patel as Zuko in this photo.

What do you reckon? Good or bad?
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Gundam - Life size robot in Japan

How cool is this! Standing 59 foot / 18 meters tall this 1/1 full scale GUNDAMN statue (RX-78-2) currently stands on the grounds of Shiokaze Park in Tokyo, Odaiba, Japan.

Source: Pink Tentacle

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Blood: The Last Vampire - New poster & trailer

In the film, demons have infested the earth and only one warrior stands between the dark and the light: Saya, a half-human, half-vampire samurai who preys on those who feast on human blood. Joining forces with the shadowy society known as the Council, Saya is dispatched to an American military base, where an intense series of swordfights leads her to the deadliest vampire of all. And now after 400 years, Saya's final hunt is about to begin.

Directed by Chris Nahon. Written by Katsuya Terada and starring Gianna Jun, Allison Miller, Masiela Lusha.

Due on 12th June 2009

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Blood: The Last Vampire - Second trailer

On the surface, Saya is a stunning 16-year-old, but that youthful exterior hides the tormented soul of a 400-year-old "halfling." Born to a human father and a vampire mother, she has for centuries been a loner obsessed with using her samurai skills to rid the world of vampires, all the while knowing that she herself can survive only on blood like those she hunts. When she is sent onto an American military base in Tokyo by the clandestine organization she works for, Saya immediately senses that this may be her opportunity to finally destroy Onigen, the evil patriarch of all vampires. Using her superhman strength and her sword, she begins to rid the base of its evil infestation in a series of spectacular and elaborate showdowns. However, it is not until she forms her first human friendship in centuries with the young daughter of the base's general that Saya learns of her greatest power over Onigen may well be her ability for human connection.

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Astro Boy - Japanese Teaser Trailer

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The Asylum Session - Trailer for new CGI Anime

The story is set in a future in which human civilisation has stopped advancing and has even started to decline. A girl named Hiyoko runs away from home to live in a tent city inside a stadium nicknamed “Asylum”. It’s there that she befriends Akira and a group of children who want to stop police from tearing down the stadium for their own gain. Together, the Asylum residents create a street culture event called “The Asylum Session” to stop the demolition plans.

Check out the official site.

Asylum Session trailer

Source: Quiet Earth

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Ninja Scroll - DiCaprio wants SMAP

Leonardo DiCaprio is considering casting Japan's SMAP pop group as the main leads in Warner Brothers and Appian Way's proposed live-action adaptation of the 1993 anime feature "Ninja Scroll" reports The Anime News Network.

According to the Nikkan Sports newspaper, casting is in progress with DiCaprio's expressing intention to "cast with Japanese people."

The five members of SMAP — Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Goro Inagaki and Shingo Katori — have acted in several films based on manga and anime since the band's formation in 1988, but have not acted together in the same film since 1994's "Shoot".

Yoshiaki Kawajiri wrote and directed the original 1993 anime about a wandering ninja fighting a conspiracy of demons.

Source: Dark Horizons

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Bunnies at War

This is very strange. Anthropomorphic warfare. Trailer for the anime series Cat Shit One.

Source: I Watch Stuff
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Astro Boy - New promo image

Source: MTV Splashpage

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Baton - Anime style sci-fi

Set in three, 20 minute parts, Baton is an animated scifi film directed by both Ryuei Kitamura and Shunji Iwai. Check out the trailer.

Baton trailer

Source: Quiet Earth

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Blood: The Last Vampire - Full Trailer

On the surface, Saya is a stunning 16-year-old, but that youthful exterior hides the tormented soul of a 400-year-old "halfling." Born to a human father and a vampire mother, she has for centuries been a loner obsessed with using her samurai skills to rid the world of vampires, all the while knowing that she herself can survive only on blood like those she hunts. When she is sent onto an American military base in Tokyo by the clandestine organization she works for, Saya immediately senses that this may be her opportunity to finally destroy Onigen, the evil patriarch of all vampires. Using her superhman strength and her sword, she begins to rid the base of its evil infestation in a series of spectacular and elaborate showdowns. However, it is not until she forms her first human friendship in centuries with the young daughter of the base's general that Saya learns of her greatest power over Onigen may well be her ability for human connection.

Director: Chris Nahon
Writer: Katsuya Terada
Studio: Pathe Pictures
Cast: Gianna Jun, Allison Miller, Masiela Lusha

Release: June 12, 2009

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Mad Max is hitting the road again...as a 3D Anime?

Some big screen animated Mad Max 4 action is shaping up to become a reality, according to George Miller, the writer/director of the previous three films. The catch? He doesn’t want Max himself, Mel Gibson, anywhere near the project.

“We’ll probably go a different route,” Miller told MTV News about the potential talent voicing the lead role. The plot would be partly lifted from the script of the fourth “Max” film, which was set to shoot in 2003 until financing collapsed in the wake of the Iraq War.

Now Miller is resurrecting the idea as an R-rated, stereoscopic anime flick for theatrical release. It’s a curious undertaking, to be sure, but one made all the more certain to happen after the runaway success in 2006 of his computer-animated “Happy Feet”—not that the newest, ever-violent “Max” film will have much in common with that kid-friendly penguin party.

“I see myself as someone who is very curious about storytelling and all its various media,” Miller said. “I’ve always loved anime, in particular the Japanese sensibility. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

The project is one phase of a “Mad Max” renaissance of sorts. Along with “God of War II” designer Corey Barlog, Miller is developing an action-adventure videogame based on the fourth film. Gibson won’t be participating in that endeavor, either.

For the anime release, Miller isn’t looking simply to mimic Japanese-style animation but rather to adapt it for Western audiences. “The anime is an opportunity for me to shift a little bit about what anime is doing because anime is ripe for an adjustment or sea change,” he explained. “It’s coming in games and I believe it’s the same in anime. There’s going to be a hybrid anime where it shifts more towards Western sensibilities. [Japanese filmmaker Akira] Kurosawa was able to bridge that gap between the Japanese sensibilities and the West and make those definitive films.”

Well that's all a big surprise isn't it. Mad Max as an anime. Thinking about it I could see it working and could lead to some amazing visuals. Would you want to see Mad Max go anime on us?

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Yatterman - Character Posters

Nice looking posters. Check out the review for the adaption of Yatterman by Takashi Miike as well as the trailer.

The film stars Kyôko Fukada, Sho Sakurai, Sadao Abe, Saki Fukuda, Katsuhisa Namase and Anri Okamoto

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James Marsters as Lord Piccolo from Dragonball Evolution

Total Film had this image from Dragonball Evolution, directed by James Wong.

This one shows James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville, Torchwood) as Lord Piccolo. Green and bald sums it up. Kind of like a stretched out Yoda but with less hair. Below is Piccolo as seen in the cartoons so the makeup job isn't too bad.

Dragonball fans do you want to see this film or should they have stuck to the animated versions?
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Blood: The Last Vampire - Live action trailer

Blood: The Last Vampire - “A vampire named Saya, who is part of covert government agency that hunts and destroys demons in a post-WWII Japan, is inserted in a military school to discover which one of her classmates is a demon is disguise.”

Blood: The Last Vampire teaser

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Doctor Who anime style

Paul Johnson is the bloke who has done all the work on this anime version of John Pertwee's Dr Who. Pretty cool, although the voice acting is a bit patchy. Looks amazing.
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Yatterman, 2009 - Movie Review

Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Kyôko Fukada, Sho Sakurai, Sadao Abe, Saki Fukuda, Katsuhisa Namase, Anri Okamoto

This excellent review is by Grady Hendrix over on Twitch

The economy is on fire. Everyone in America is broke. Jobs are a rumor. The terrorists are winning. But I just saw Yatterman and I’m feeling groovy. A vaccination against The Dark Knight blues, a massive day-glo rail of cocaine that hits your brain like the Accela Express and kick starts your pleasure centers, this flick is far smarter than it has any right to be and it pops the pip all over your popple.

I may not be the best judge of a Miike movie, especially this one. As part of Subway Cinema I helped host the world premiere last night, and as a fan of the director I like my Miike movies in the vein of The Great Yokai War rather than Ichi the Killer (I like Ichi the Killer, but I thought Yokai was pretty amazing). On top of that, I had listened in on dozens of interviews he gave while in town and so I was thoroughly indoctrinated into his point of view before I saw a single shimmering frame of this flick. Proceed with caution.

The original Yatterman was a goofy 70’s television anime considered slightly risque and trashy for the times. Every week, toy shop owner, Gan (Sho Sakurai) and his cute assistance Ai battle the evil and incompetent Doronbo gang led by femme fatale Doronjo and her assistants: pig-nosed muscle man Tonzra and rat-faced mecha genius Boyacky. Everyone talks in cute phrases (Toy-Botty ends his sentences with “-botty,” while evil Skull Obey ends his with “-obey”) and the mecha are nuts: clunky Yatter-wan (or Yatter-woof) is a giant mechanical dog whose powers seem to entirely consist of rolling around very fast, there’s a Yatter-panda, a Yatter-pelican. Every week Yatterman and the Doronbo gang battle for piece of the mystical skull stone, every week the Doronbo gang fail (usually due to incompetence), there’s a mushroom cloud, Gan and Ai do their Yatterman dance and they all come back the following week to do it all over again.

Miike takes this basic and injects a heaping helping of self-awareness. The Doronbo Gang are tired of getting beaten up every week, Gan is a bit of a dolt, bystanders watch he and Ai break into their Yatterman dance and they shake their heads, muttering, “These people are crazy.” Yatter-wan gets beaten up more often than he wins, and mushroom clouds bloom all over the place like there’s just been a heavy nuclear rain.

Two things in Yatterman really stand out. The first is the CGI. This is the movie that people tricked themselves into thinking they were watching when they raved about Speed Racer (and at an hour and fifty minutes it’s mercifully shorter). Projected in HD, watching Yatterman was like getting Candyland poured in your eyes. Attack sushi, the Funny Bunny Club, Titty Missiles, two mecha getting hot for each other and humping in the middle of a battle, a pile of all the schoolgirls in Japan…Yatterman offers up something shiny, new and nutty in every frame. Miike’s idea-cup is more than overflowing – in this flick it’s practically a geyser.

The heart of the movie, however, is Doronjo. Played by Kyoko Fukada, the sugar princess from Kamikaze Girls. She’s a preening, prancing, pretty pony princess who just loves to be evil because, well, she’s a genius. What else is she going to do? You can tell that a million little Japanese boys probably popped their first boner to her animated antics, and Fukada’s flesh and blood incarnation of Doronjo will likely unleash a million more, but she also brings adult shading to her cartoon character and maintains her essential humanity no matter what kind of onscreen indignity is being visited upon her.

This flick is kid friendly, but it’s a Miike movie through and through, about 10 minutes too long, and with an ending that feels endless. But it’s also got the Miike trademark of giving you more “I can’t believe I just saw that,” moments per minute than any other movie out there today. And I have to confess that I got a little teary at the end. In an interview, Miike talked about the way that Yatterman offered reassurances when it aired only 30 years after the war. He felt like it was a message from adults to kids that everything was going to be alright. No matter how many battles were fought or how many mushroom clouds rose up in the sky, next week things were going to be fine again so don’t worry. It’s not the end of the world.

By embracing the repetitive nature of the original Yatterman, Miike’s telling us that it’s the things we do over and over again that are keeping us immature and stop us from growing up, but they’re also our protection against a tough old world. That teddy bear you’ve kept since you were a kid IS childish and immature, but isn’t he sort of your best friend, too? Yatterman points out the problems, but also celebrates the comfort they provide. In a world that feels like it’s rapidly spinning down the toilet, it’s nice to have an adult come in the room and tell all of us that hey, don’t worry, no matter what we do everything’s going to be just fine.

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