"HEISEI GAMERA" 4K DIGITAL RESTORATION BOX Ultimate Blu-ray Package Dropping July 22nd!

平成ガメラ4Kデジタル復元版 BLU-RAY BOXが7月22日に発売される。


Jacket design for "Heisei Gamera 4k Digital Restoration Blu-ray Box"!

Hitting Japanese shelves this July 22nd will be a special six-disc Blu-ray box set containing the ultimate 4k restorations of all four of the Heisei Gamera films, including Shusuke Kaneko's 1990s trilogy and Ryuta Tasaki's GAMERA THE BRAVE (2006), the latter film in its first domestic BD release. For fans of the 1990s trilogy, at the very least, this set boasts the ultimate restorations of the films ever issued on any home video format.


The guts of this ultimate Blu-ray box are spilled for the first time!

The first disc of special features includes the 30-second teaser for the proposed new, upcoming film, director Kaneko's on-stage talk show from the March 20, 2016 4k screening of his trilogy, as well as Chukyo TV's 1996 documentary aired during the release of GAMERA 2: ASSAULT OF LEGION (apparently, Kadokawa's new English-language title for the film). But, wait! That's not all...


One of the 750 unpublished photos included in the special book!

Rounding out the first special features disc are original series director Noriaki Yuasa's "Gamera Special" Volumes 1 & 2 (issued on VHS in the early '90s), as well as the entirety of special features created for the original "Ultimate Box" Laserdisc set, which is pretty intensive. While the second special features disc contains an astounding 380-minutes (that's six-and-a-half hours) of interviews with 95 staff members who worked on the films! Hold on! There's more...


Three-sixth view of the soon-to-be-released Blu-ray box set!

Also contained in this ultimate digipak box set are two booklets; one not being a "booklet" at all: "G I-III Sfx & Art: Photographs" features 200 pages of 750 unpublished photographs of artwork and props from the '90s Trilogy. While the "G I-IV Complement Books (sic)" is 32-pages of interviews on the 4k restoration, updated and revised materials from the original Laserdisc booklets, and Shinji Higuchi's LD jacket designs for those releases. MSRP: ¥38000 ($349.00 USD).

To trumpet this release, these 4k restorations of Kaneko's Trilogy will be screened for three weeks, starting June 22nd through July 2nd, at United Cinemas Toyosu in Tokyo. Schedule and further details will be announced on June 1st via the theater's official website (Japanese only). While the new-old Gamera is back, can we still look forward to a new-new Gamera to love in the future? Stay tuned...

"NEW GAMERA" WILL BE REVEALED AT NYCC '15! October 8th on the Live Stage (Booth #656)

明日に角川映画はNYコミコンで新作『ガメラ』を発表します。

Gamera's getting off his back and going to New York Comic-Con.

Everyone has been awaiting a new Gamera film for the half-century Anniversary, and Kadokawa Daiei Studios Co., Ltd. (which owns the entirety of the Daiei Studios and their catalogue, including Gamera) was prepping a big announcement last May for a release in 2015 — which I covered, here — but never materialized. Most non-Japanese fans wondered why, not knowing the megalithic Kadokawa Group (the biggest publisher and film producer in Japan) was going through a series of major upheavals.

On June 22, 2013, nine subsidiary companies in the Kadokawa Group were merged (eight of them now operating as branding companies) and rechristened Kadokawa Corporation, while Kadokawa Productions was subsequently dissolved and integrated into their intellectual properties business headquarters. The restructuring continued when Kadokawa merged with Dwango, which owns Niconico (the Japanese version of YouTube), forming a new holding company, Kadokawa Dwango on May 14, 2014.

New York Comic-Con's listing for Kadokawa's Gamera presentation.

Now that the dust has settled, the plan to celebrate the colossal chelonian's 50th Anniversary is moving forward. Tomorrow, reps from Kadokawa Daiei will be hosting a half-hour presentation on the NYCC Live Stage (Booth #656) at the New York Comic-Con to announce a new "pilot film". What that intimates is a test film or a teaser for a full-blown feature film, that obviously, will not be ready in time for Gamera's official anniversary this year (the original film was released on November 27, 1965).

With the announcement taking place in less than 24 hours, there's no need to fret or speculate; I'm sure we'll see the announcements flow via the interwebs, tomorrow...

Sponsored by Shout! Factory and Famous Monsters of Filmland!

Meanwhile, don't forget I'll be hosting another "Kaiju Marathon" for Shout! Factory TV on October 17th — this time, we're presenting "Gamera's Revenge"! — streaming eleven of the terrible terrapin's feature films all day, absolutely free, starting at 8:00 am Eastern (stay tuned for more information)!

"ULTRAMAN MAX" COMES STREAMING TO THE US! 2005 Ultra Series Premieres October 13, 2014

今『ウルトラマンマックス』は世界中でストリーミングされます！


One of the best of the post-1970s series will stream world-wide!

The Ultra Series goes streaming on premier anime streaming site, Crunchyroll, this Monday, October 13th with ULTRAMAN MAX! This announcement seems to be a two-sprong strategy by Tsuburaya Productions to breech the US market and establish the brand to English-speaking countries around the world — the first being the "Ultra Hawaii" travel campaign established in the Islands, coupled with the English Subtitled broadcast of ULTRAMAN LEO (1974) on Honolulu's KIKU-TV. The Crunchyroll presentation of ULTRAMAN MAX will be available in the United States, Canada, Latin America, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.


DASH agent Kaito Toma (Souta Aoyama) who transforms into Max!

ULTRAMAN MAX was originally aired on Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting from July 2, 2005–April 1, 2006 with 39 episodes (and one "farewell special"), and while following the direction of the modern Ultraman series, such as ULTRAMAN TIGA (1996), also took a step back to its roots with references to the original Ultra Series from the 1960s, ULTRA Q, ULTRAMAN, and ULTRA SEVEN. This retro respect also included three actors Susumu Kurobe, Hiroko Sakurai, and Masanori Nihei, who were in the main cast of the original ULTRAMAN — Kurobe played Hayata, Sakurai played Fuji, and Nihei played Ide (Ito in the US version) of the Science Patrol.


Max gets a chokehold on old-time Ultra Kaiju favorite, Red King!

Many of the original Ultra Kaiju were brought back to life for ULTRAMAN MAX, in addition to all-new monsters and alien creatures (with Episode 29 being as a full-blown homage to ULTRA Q), although the series is set in its own unique universe. In addition to the familiar monsters, a number of guest stars from the long history of the franchise, including Kenji Sahara (ULTRA Q), Sandayu Dokumamushi (ULTRAMAN), Koji Morisugu (ULTRA SEVEN), Ryu Manatsu (ULTRAMAN LEO). Not to mention original ULTRAMAN directors Toshihiro Iijima (Baltan) and Akio Jissoji (Jamila), as well as modern directors including Shusuke Kaneko (Heisei Gamera Trilogy), Takashi Miike (AUDITION), Hirochika Muraishi (DENJIN ZABOGA) and Takeshi Yagi (ULTRAMAN NEXUS).


Director Kaneko behind-the-scenes with actress Hikari Mizushima.

In the very first episode, a strange visitor from space notices Kaito Toma's bravery when the young man risks his own life to help save a lost little boy from danger. The alien gives Toma (Souta Aoyama) the power to become the mighty superhero Ultraman Max, a towering red and silver giant 40 meters tall. When two gigantic monsters threaten the world, Toma uses his new powers to destroy them.

Captain Shigeru Hijikata (Kai Shishido) of Team DASH (Defense Action Squad Heroes), an elite squad of the United Defense Federation, learns of Toma's brave actions and invites him to join Team DASH. To defend from otherworldly dangers, their fantastic arsenal includes the fighter jets DASH Bird 1 and DASH Bird 2, located at their headquarters in Base Titan, a massive off-shore structure in Tokyo Bay.

The agents of DASH include Kenjiro Koba (Nobuyuki Ogawa), the hot-headed weapons expert, Mizuki Koishikawa (Hitomi Hasebe), DASH's ace pilot as brave as she is beautiful, American Sean White (Sean Nichols), and Ellie (Hikari Mizushima), who looks like a beautiful girl, but is really a high powered super android, who serves as Team DASH's operations officer.

Could this new break in North America lead to a possible DVD or Blu-ray release? Who knows, but hold fast to your Max Sparks and remember to set your browsers to Crunchyroll this coming Monday and schuwatch ULTRAMAN MAX!

"GODZILLA" ON SONY BLU-RAYS REVEALED! Full Specs On All Four May 6, 2014 Releases

平成とミレニアムのゴジラ映画は米国Blu-rayに来る!


Blu-ray jacket art courtesy Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Following up on my breaking news of February 28th concerning the details on Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's upcoming Blu-ray releases of their Heisei and Millennium Godzilla titles, which went through several updates over following days and weeks, SPHE has finally issued their specs and cover art via their press release site. As you can see, SPHE is still sticking to their English titles, first issued on VHS and DVD back in the 1990s and early 2000s. Click on the links to go to the Amazon listings:

GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH (1991)
GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA (1992)
2 Discs, MFT (Blu-ray/UltraViolet, ST) • Closed Captioned • Screen Format(s): Anamorphic • Languages: English (US) 5.1/Japanese 5.1, English (US) DS • Subtitles: English (US), French (Parisian) • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1


Blu-ray jacket art courtesy Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1993)
GODZILLA VS. SPACE GODZILLA (1994)
2 Discs, MFT (Blu-ray/UltraViolet, ST) • Closed Captioned • Screen Format(s): Anamorphic • Languages: English (US) 5.1/Japanese 5.1, English (US) DS • Subtitles: English (US), French (Parisian) • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1


Blu-ray jacket art courtesy Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

GODZILLA VS. DESTROYAH (1995)
GODZILLA VS. MEGAGUIRUS (2000)
2 Discs, MFT (Blu-ray/UltraViolet, ST) • Closed Captioned • Screen Format(s): Anamorphic • Languages: English (US) 5.1/Japanese 5.1, English (US) DS • Subtitles: English (US), French (Parisian) • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Destroyah) & 2.35:1 (Megaguirus)


Blu-ray jacket art courtesy Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS (2003)
GODZILLA FINAL WARS (2004)
2 Discs, MFT (Blu-ray/UltraViolet, ST) • Closed Captioned • Screen Format(s): Anamorphic • Languages: English (US) 5.1/Japanese 5.1, English (US) DS • Subtitles: English (US), French (Parisian) • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

These specs do not mention any special features content, so one shouldn't have any expectations of such. Meanwhile, keen cinephiles and kaiju fans alike will notice the conspicuous absence of previous Sony releases of Takao Okawara's GODZILLA 2000 (1999), Shusuke Kaneko's GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK (2001), and Masaaki Tezuka's GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (2002) from this set of releases. Curious, as Sony Pictures created a US theatrical version of GODZILLA 2000, while GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA is the first of the two-part "Kiryu Saga" which concludes in GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS. And of course, GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK is arguably the best of these latter films in both depth and execution.

Did Sony's rights elapse on some of these errant titles? Or do they have something else planned for them? Only time, and Sony, will tell. For now, stay tuned to this blog as this story develops...

Special thanks to Shawn Francis!

TAKASHI MIIKE'S "CELLPHONE INVESTIGATION 7" New SF Crime Drama is More Than Meets the Eye

三池監督の新SFドラマ「ケイタイ捜査官７」で４月２日スタート！


Miike (left), Shimatani (center) and Kubota (left). ©Mainichi News

Acclaimed director Takashi Miike (GREAT YOKAI WAR), is now hard at work as the Supervising Director on a new 51-episode science fiction television series for the TV Tokyo network, CELLPHONE INVESTIGATION 7 (Keitai Sousankan 7). Produced by WiZ and Production I.G., the series will feature episodes directed by such noted genre filmmakers as Mamoru Oshii (GHOST IN THE SHELL) and Shusuke Kaneko (DEATH NOTE).

The story of CELLPHONE INVESTIGATION 7 concerns the adventures of Kieta, a High School Freshman, played by 19 year-old actor Masataka Kubota, who becomes the seventh member of "Anchor," an organization formed to bring a hi-tech internet criminal organization to justice. He is bestowed with a special automaton, Phonebraver 7, which — shades of Transformers — morphs into a cellphone.

The supporting cast features Mickey Curtis (AGITATOR), Yuko Ito (BUBBLE FICTION), Kanji Tsuda (JAPAN SINKS), Natsuki Okamoto (ARCH ANGELS), Satoshi Matsuda (KAMEN RIDER RYUKI), and Nao Nagasawa (HURRICANGER). The opening theme song is sung by Hitomi Shimatani, who said, "If my schedule is open, I've told Director Miike that I'm interested in acting." Shimatani had previously acted in Yuichi Abe's PRINCE OF TENNIS (2006).

The series begins airing Wednesdays at 7:00 PM starting April 2nd. Later that month, SoftBank Mobile will launch a promotional tie-in with special cellphones modeled after the robots in the series.


SoftBank's prototypes for Phonebraver 7 (left) and Phonebraver 01 (right).

Sources:
Mainichi News
Official Tokyo TV Page
Official Series Page