MAZIN-GO! "MAZINGER Z" COMES TO U.S. DVD Volume 1 from Discotek Drops April 29, 2014!

マジンゴー！『マジンガーZ』は米国DVD BOX-1発売 2014年4月！

Discotek's package art for the US release of MAZINGER Z!

Created by mangaka Go Nagai, MAZINGER Z (1972-74) was the first anime series to feature a "super robot" — a giant automaton piloted by a human being and not run by remote control — and the dynamic series captured the imagination of an entire generation of Japanese children (as well as children around the world), spawning an entire genre of robot culture in Japan beyond ASTRO-BOY and GIGANTOR — it was not only the most influential robot series of the 1970s, but the most important of the 20th Century. If it weren't for MAZINGER Z, the TRANSFORMERS would simply not exist. It was also highly influential to a young Guillermo del Toro as a foundation in creating PACIFIC RIM, and it's about time to came to the US in its original form!


Panel from Go Nagai's original manga for MAZINGER Z!

Back in October of 2012, I reported that the original MAZINGER Z series had been licensed by Discotek Media for release in the US for a late 2013 drop — which Discotek decided to push back to the first quarter of 2014 and just announced today for a street date of April 29, 2014! Discotek has also announced that another classic Go Nagai series from 1972, DEVILMAN, will also be released under their label before the year is out! The only details we have so far are that Box Set 1 will contain Episodes 1-49 (out of 98) and will feature the original Japanese Audio with English Subtitles. Currently, Discotek has not released any further information on how many discs the first box set will have, how many episodes will be contained on each disc, or the estimated MSRP, so please stay tuned!

LIVE ACTION "GAIKING" FEATURE IS NOW A GO! Produced by Toei Animation & Gale Anne Hurd

Art for the original 1976 series from Akio Sugino and Toei Animation!

After being announced as in development at 2010 Tokyo Animation Fair, heralded by an exciting promo trailer that set the web on fire around the world, the production of a live action adaptation of Toei Animation's popular 1976 super robot series, GIANT SPACE DRAGON: GAIKING (aka "Dino Mech Gaiking") fell silent. Initially, it was only announced that Toei's partners were to be Americans Jules Urbach (founder CEO Lightstage & Otoy) and Matthew Gratzner (visual effects supervisor of HUGO). Until now.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the story today that the film has now secured solid production partners in the form of veteran producer Gale Anne Hurd via Valhalla Entertainment, Toei Animation, and Danny Choo's All Nippon Entertainment Works (ANEW), who are teaming up to develop the property for the big screen. Of course, Hurd is no stranger to big-budget science fiction films, having produced such hits as ALIENS (1986), TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991), and is the executive producer of the AMC series, THE WALKING DEAD.

Here's the official press release from Valhalla Entertainment:

LOS ANGELES – December 18 , 2012 – Gale Anne Hurd’s Valhalla Entertainment (“The Walking Dead”) and Toei Animation have teamed with All Nippon Entertainment Works (ANEW) to develop Toei’s iconic anime property GAIKING. This marks a new push for Toei into the U.S. marketplace and the first development deal for ANEW. GAIKING follows a young man who is recruited to serve as the lead pilot for the Super Robot Gaiking.

When Earth is threatened by an alien race intent on taking over the planet, he emerges as the only one who can pilot the massive robot. Together with his fellow co-pilots he must fight off the alien force in order to save mankind.

“I’m extremely excited to be working on GAIKING,” said Hurd, “which marks a huge step forward in adapting one of the best Japanese IP for a global audience.”

Valhalla Entertainment recently announced their USA Network pilot HORIZON for Universal Cable Productions. Additional projects on their development slate include THUNDER ROAD for Discovery Channel, RECONSTRUCTION at The History Channel, JANE WAYNE with USA Network, 11th COMMANDMENT with NBC, and AREA 51 at AMC.

On the feature side, Gale Anne Hurd executive produced the upcoming Sundance Premiere film, VERY GOOD GIRLS, and is moving forward on the action/thriller THE NAMELESS with Route One. Hurd is also known for her sci-fi blockbusters THE TERMINATOR 1 & 2, ALIENS, ARMAGEDDON, and THE INCREDIBLE HULK.

ANEW, led by CEO Sandy Climan, is dedicated to partnering with Japanese underlying rights holders to develop creative content, including films, books, toys, animation, and manga, into global English language motion pictures and television. It has an initial capitalization of $80M from the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), a public-private investment fund affiliated with the Japanese government. ANEW’s creative partners include a broad spectrum of the leading media and entertainment companies in Japan.

“ANEW’s mission is to bring the highest quality Japanese stories to a global audience in partnership with world-class producers,” said Climan, “I am thrilled that ANEW is joining with Toei Animation and Valhalla Entertainment in developing this landmark property into a major motion picture.”

Toei Animation is the largest animation production company in Japan and is responsible for thousands of hours of programming, including DRAGON BALL, SAILOR MOON, and SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK, which is being remade as a 3D CG animated feature film. Since it’s founding in 1956, Toei has produced more than 10,000 episodes of TV (191 titles) and over 200 animated feature films. Toei Animation is the original rights holder of the underlying GAIKING IP and a Co-Producer with Valhalla Entertainment.

“Gaiking has long been one of the most beloved giant robot animation franchises with a global fan base. We are very excited to be partnering with Valhalla Entertainment and ANEW to bring this title to a worldwide audience as a live-action feature film, which we hope to be the first of many more to come from Toei’s large stable of IPs,” said Yoshi Ikezawa of Toei Animation.

Gale Anne Hurd will serve as lead producer on the project. Yoshi Ikezawa of Toei Animation and Joseph Chou will also serve as producers. Sandy Climan, Tim Kwok, and Kozo Morishita of Toei Animation are executive producing. Kris Henigman, Director of Development at Valhalla, will oversee development for the company in association with Annmarie Bailey, Vice President of Creative Affairs for ANEW.

This is exciting news, and the production of GAIKING probably got a kick in the pants due to the frevor over the upcoming Guillermo Del Toro Japanese-inspired giant robot epic, PACIFIC RIM, opening world-wide next Summer — and it's about damned time.

Let's hope that GAIKING will be a huge success, so we can finally see spectacular live action adaptations of MAZINGER Z and GRENDIZER. And who knows, can we hope for a big screen versions of GETTER ROBO and DANGUARD ACE?

"MAZINGER Z" & "CUTEY HONEY" ON U.S. DVD! Go Nagai's Classic Anime Series from Discotek

『マジンガーZ』と『キューティーハニー』は米国DVDがもうすぐ！

Japanese DVD release package art for MAZINGER Z! ©Toei Video

Hell has officially frozen over. I thought this would never happen...

Discotek Media, which had specialized in a number of Asian film releases on DVD for the US market, including several significant releases of Japanese live action and anime titles, such as Jun Fukuda's THE WAR IN SPACE (1977) and Rin Taro's GALAXY EXPRESS 999 (1979), recently announced that they had signed a deal with Toei Animation to issue the original 1978 anime series, SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK. And before we knew it, they actually released a complete box set for the Hayao Miyazaki/Yasuo Otsuka-helmed LUPIN THE 3RD series from 1971 (my personal favorite of the long-running franchise). Then, their balls got a whole lot bigger.

Japanese DVD release package art for CUTEY HONEY! ©Toei Video

This past Saturday, Discotek dropped a proverbial Photon Bomb when it was announced that they had secured the rights to not one, but two, classic anime titles created by the manga bad boy himself, Go Nagai: MAZINGER Z and CUTEY HONEY! The epoch-making series that launched the Super Robot genre, MAZINGER Z (1972-74), became a legend around the world (localized for the US market as "Tranzor Z" in the 1980s), and now all 92 episodes are to be issued in two box sets! Meanwhile, all 25 episodes of the original CUTEY HONEY (1973-74) will be issued in a single complete series box set. Both titles, in Japanese with English Subtitles, will drop in 2013.

With all of the other upcoming DVD/Blu-rays of Japanese genre titles which have recently hit the North American market, and those still to come in 2013, it looks like a banner year for U.S. fans, and Discotek isn't pulling any Rocket Punches, either. What's next? GETTER ROBO? GREAT MAZINGER? JEEG OF STEEL? UFO ROBO: GRENDIZER? As a hardcore Old Skool and Go Nagai fan, I can't wait — bring it on, Discotek Media, you magnificent bastards!

Crimson Phoenix! "SUPER ROBOT: RED BARON" Coming to DVD This April From BCI/Ronin!

特撮番組「スーパーロボット・レッドバロン」は米国DVDで、出動!


Awesome jacket design by Dan Wheelan.

At long last, I finally completed work on BCI/Ronin Entertainment's upcoming release of the 39-episode visual effects television series, SUPER ROBOT: RED BARON. Parts of the process were waylaid with personal life issues, which knocked me off the the rails for a couple of months, and caused me to ask — again — how can people can be so self-absorbed that they end up being deeply cruel to others? It still causes me to shout to the Heavens,"WTF!?"

Once I was able to pull myself out and get my head straight, I needed some time to reflect on what's really important. Honesty, integrity and commitment. I still can't understand why people spend so much energy being deceitful, when it's far easier — and respectful for both parties — to just be straight up. Apparently some people just don't have the intestinal fortitude to be honest. They just don't have it in them. So, now that RED BARON is "in the can," so to speak, you think that it would be time for me to take a deep breath and celebrate (or at least, get smashed), right?

Well, maybe I can squeeze in a deep breath, before I start work on the next gigs I've already lined up — more DVD projects — not to mention the upcoming signings of my book at WonderCon this weekend (I will also be hosting a presentation on Sunday at 11:30 am), and the Clay Theater's Toho Double Feature of MOTHRA (1961) and BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE (1959), dedicated to Visual Effects Director Eiji Tsuburaya. Well, what can you do? It's feast or famine. So I guess that I shouldn't be complaining (idle hands are the work of the Devil, after all, no?). Well, I do have a long put-off vacation coming up in the spring — far away from here.

Getting back to the blog at hand, SUPER ROBOT: RED BARON was originally produced by Senkosha & Nippon Modern Planning in 1973, and was a hit on Japanese television. Now, the series is coming to North America for the first time, and I was really excited to jump at the chance to contribute to this presentation. My work included, standardizing names and terms, editing the English subtitle scripts, compiling and translating series credits and episode titles, providing ad copy, and compiling and penning the liner notes booklet.

This liner notes booklet covers the background and production details in bringing the show to life; the personnel involved, as well as biographies for the cast and guest stars who populate RED BARON, all wrapped up in beautiful booklet and packaging design by Dan Wheelan (see accompanying images). What's RED BARON all about? Here's my copy from the jacket:

Terror strikes an international exposition, showcasing giant robots from around the world, when it is suddenly attacked by the mysterious Iron Alliance, who seizes all of the nations’ automatons. But Dr. Deviler (Hiroshi Ikaida), a mad despot who plots to overthrow mankind, fails to capture Red Baron, a super robot built by Kenichiro Kurenai (Nobuhiko Ishida). When Kenichiro is captured, he entrusts Red Baron to his younger brother, Ken (Yosuke Okada), a member of the S.S.I. (Secret Science Investigation) organization. Now, Ken pilots Red Baron to fight against the Iron Alliance’s mechanical hordes to protect the future of the human race!

Super Robot: Red Baron is an action-packed series produced by the same creative team responsible for Ultraman and Iron King, featuring wall-to-wall action, colorful miniature effects, imaginative production design, endless city-stomping excitement, and a wild score by Bob "Gatchaman" Sakuma. Created during the height of the Tokusatsu (special effects) Boom on Japanese television, Super Robot: Red Baron delivers the all of massive spectacle of clashing colossi, in the tradition of Godzilla, in every episode. Presented for the first time in North America, this presentation features all 39 episodes fully subtitled in English!

"SUPER ROBOT: RED BARON The Complete Series" will be streeting on April 8th and with an MSRP of $59.95, or you can order it online from Deep Discount DVD for the super price of $36.44 - that's only 93¢ an episode, so you have no excuse not to pick this one up!


A peek at the 20-page booklet on the series.

I'd like to publicly thank Ronin Entertainment's Cliff MacMillan for the opportunity to work on these releases! Next up, Yasuaki Kurata's 26-episode series FIGHT! DRAGON (1974) and Akio Jissoji's SILVER MASK (1971). There's also a new DVD release coming from Generation Kikaida later this year... I can't divulge the title of the series at this time, but it will be officially announced in May. Stay tuned!