Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei trailer

February 21, 2010
Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei trailer

A trailer for the upcoming anime series by Mind Game director Masaaki Yuasa, Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei is produced by Studio Madhouse, ands follows a nameless college student who looks back at the unusual adventures from his earlier college years.

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Kirsten Dunst in Akihabara Majokko Princess video

February 20, 2010
Kirsten Dunst in Akihabara Majokko Princess

The final video for the cover song “Turning Japanese” has arrived from director McG (Terminator Salvation) and Takashi Murakami (advocate for the Superflat Japanese art style). The original song was released in 1980 by the band “The Vapors”, but what’s so unique about this cover song/video is that is has American actress Kirsten Dunst (Spiderman, Marie Antoinette) in a sailor-suit costume and a blue wig in Tokyo’s Akihabara otaku shopping district! While I’ll restrain from commenting on Dunst’s singing (you can be the judge), it’s a wonderfully creative and colorful video that really brings to life the atmosphere of Akihabara!

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Subtitled Trailer for Koji Masunari’s Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW

February 20, 2010
Subtitled Trailer for Koji Masunari’s Welcome to the Space Show

Director Koji Masunari’s (Read or Die OVA & TV) Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW tells the science-fiction story of children who experience a space-spanning adventure. The story will begin in the countryside during the summer vacation of fifth grader Natsuki Oyama. Natsuki just moved here in June, and she and four of her schoolmates are about to embark on an adventure together that will take them beyond the fields they call home.

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Evangelion: 2.0 You Can [Not] Advance – Review

February 13, 2010
Evangelion 2.0: You Can [Not] Advance

Evangelion 2.0, You Can (Not) Advance continues the story of Shinji Ikari, who has chosen a path of struggle and combat against the mysterious and awesomely powerful beings known as Angels. Joined by Asuka, Rei and a previously unknown heroine by the name of Mari, the true purpose behind NERV, SEELE, the Angels, and the looming apocalypse begin to be revealed…

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Halo Legends – Review

February 10, 2010
halo legends review

Halo Legends is a collection of seven animated short films set in the Halo science-fiction universe. Financed by Halo franchise overseer 343 Industries, the stories were created by five Japanese production houses: Bones, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio 4°C, and Toei Animation. Shinji Aramaki, creator and director of Appleseed and Appleseed Ex Machina, serves as the project’s creative director.

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Nasu: Summer in Andalusia – Review

February 8, 2010
Nasu: Summer in Andalusia

It’s one September day in Andalusia and the sky is clear. The landscape is desolate with no vegetation except for bushes and cacti. No trees to stop the sandy wind nor provide shade for the unforgiving 113 ℉ heat outdoors. This is the stage in the cycling competition known as La Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain). Here Pepe, the film’s protagonist, will be forced to face his past and forge his future.

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Summer Wars – Review

February 6, 2010
summer wars mamoru hosoda cover

In the near future, the creation of a virtual city of OZ has changed the way people live. Through this service, people can be represented anywhere in the world through the use of their avatars—digital representations of themselves, which can take any shape and identity—exploring the city of OZ and as their needs see fit. We then enter Kenji, a normal high school student who works part time as a programmer to help develop OZ further. He is then suddenly approached by Natuski—the girl of his dreams—and unexpectedly gets invited to attend a family celebration, where he is to pose as her fiancé. If that wasn’t strange enough, things begin to get even more bizarre when OZ is suddenly hacked into while at the celebration, and with Kenji becoming the prime suspect, the house—and eventually the world—is turned upside down.

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Japan Society Film Showing: Destiny’s Son

February 4, 2010
Thumbnail image for Japan Society Film Showing: Destiny’s Son

In Kenji Misumi’s breakthrough film, Ichikawa seeks revenge and redemption after his family is murdered by a rival clan. An astonishing, dreamlike samurai film written by Kaneto Shindo, Destiny’s Son is a demonic masterpiece: designed with quasi-expressionist artistry, awash with surreal landscapes, and subsumed in an otherworldly beauty that fuses Zen and sword.

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Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion – Review

February 2, 2010
code geass lelouch of the rebellion

Set in an alternate universe in which Japan is conquered by what is known as the Holy Britannian Empire, the Japanese have been stripped of all rights, freedoms, and have had their country renamed to Area 11. A high school student known as Lelouch Lamperouge is a Britannian prince who gave up his right to the throne after his mother was murdered, and has vowed to destroy his father, the Emperor, and Britannia. He gains the ability through the mysterious power of the Geass, becoming Zero, the leader of the resistance movement to fulfill his two wishes: to seek revenge for his mother and to construct a world in which his beloved sister can live happily.

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The Sky Crawlers – Review

January 31, 2010
the sky crawlers

Stemming from the five-volume novel series by author Hiroshi Mori, The Sky Crawlers follows a group of eternally young fighter pilots known as Kildren and their experiencing the sudden loss of innocence as they battle the enemy in astonishing dogfights above the clouds. With his only childhood memory consisting of intense flight training, the fearless teenage pilot Yuichi’s dogfights coexist with his struggle to find his missing past. When his beautiful, young female commander Suito is reluctant to discuss the fate of the pilot that Yuichi is replacing – or the strangely perfect condition of that pilot’s former aircraft – Yuichi’s curiosity becomes heightened.

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