"TITANS" SET TO ATTACK NORTH AMERICA Hollywood World Premiere on July 14th!

実写版『進撃の巨人』7月15日にアメリカ上陸！


July's World Premiere in Hollywood will supersede Japanese debut.

The first of director Shinji Higuchi's two-part ATTACK ON TITAN live action feature films will be released theatrically throughout North, Central and South America this fall by US-based label, Funimation Entertainment, who is also partnering with Toho to host the World Premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on July 14th (before its Tokyo premiere on July 21st and general public Japanese release on August 1st).


Leading man, Haruma Miura, will attend the Hollywood premiere.

Director Higuchi (SINKING OF JAPAN), the man who's gearing up to shoot Toho's next Godzilla film, will be joined on the red-carpet by the film's stars, Haruma Miura and Kiko Mizuhara. Before the big premiere in Hollywood, Mr. Higuchi will be promoting the film this year's San Diego Comic-Con International by signing autographs at the Funimation Entertainment booth (#4135) on July 12th.


Co-star Kiko Mizuhara will also walk the red carpet on July 14th.

ATTACK ON TITAN will also be hitting Australian cinemas in August via Madman Entertainment, while the second film, END OF THE WORLD, will have its Japanese bow on September 19th. At this time, there has been no word of a release for the second film on this side of the Pacific (although it's a safe bet to say its in the hands of Funimation). Stay tuned for more information and news as it develops!

(Source: Funimation Entertainment)

"CYBORG 009" IS RETURNING TO TELEVISION! 50th Anniversary Brings All-New Adventures

石ノ森正太郎の『サイボーグ009』50周年で新作映像化決定！


Preview art for the third anime series based on the famous manga.

The late mangaka Shotaro Ishimori's team of cybernetic warriors will return this year in an all-new animated series this year, with director Jun Kawagoe at the helm, to celebrate the heroes' 50th Anniversary. "Cyborg 009" first appeared in the pages of Shonen King magazine in 1964, which Ishimori never finished, but was completed by his son, Joe Onodera, and Ishimori Productions stable artists Masato Hayase and Sugar Sato, as "God's War" in 2014.


Recent DVD reissue of the original 1968 Toei Animation series.

There have been three anime series based on the characters (1968, 1979 and 2001; the latter having its own three-apart adaptation of the conclusion, "God's War," which was then-unfinished), as well as four theatrical films in 1966, 1967, 1980, and 2012 (Kenji Kamiyama's CG animated 009 RE: CYBORG was a failure of sorts, while Ghost In the Shell's Mamoru Oshii directed a 3D short for Panasonic in 2010). This new adaptation, reportedly, is aiming to develop the further adventures of the Cyborg 009 team.


DVD art for the popular 1979 series produced with Nippon Sunrise.

Transcending decades, fans have passed the torch from generation to generation, as new adaptations have found followers who've fallen in love with Ishimori's bionic avengers, so the chances for success with a new series, as opposed to a reboot feature, are far greater. The staff will have to meet this challenge by staying faithful to the origins of the characters and the dilemmas that have made "Cyborg 009" the classic that is has remained for half a century.


Jun Kawagoe's 2001 series was broadcast on the Cartoon Network.

This challenge is being met by the return of veteran Jun Kawagoe (Mazin Kaiser SKL), who directed the critical and ratings hit, CYBORG 009: THE CYBORG SOLDIER, which ran for 51 episodes from 2001-02. Kawagoe's first go was a very faithful to the original, keeping in spirit with the original look and storyline, but updating it for a modern generation, without selling out the spirit and soul of what Ishimori created in 1964.


Kenji Kamiyama's reimagined CG feature 009 RE: CYBORG (2012).

After 13 years, Kawagoe has come back to give new life to Ishimori's creation — the first to be produced after the completion of "God's War." So, naturally, fans may have concerns about every aspect of story, the designs, and how they are integrated into this completely fresh production. While no date has been set, fans are awaiting the return of their favorite cyborg guardians, which they expect to be true and faithful to the original, although steering them towards a new horizon.

Can lightning strike a second time with Kawagoe? We'll find out later this year...

Cyborg 009 Official Site

SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO: 2199 (2012) Sneak Peak at Michio Murakawa's New Manga!

漫画家むらかわみちおの『宇宙戦艦ヤマト2199』漫画 !


Two unfinished pages for the first new Yamato manga since 1983.

Over at his blog, professional mangaka Michio Murakawa (Robot), just posted a long update concerning his work on the adaptation of the upcoming SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO: 2199, which will be appearing in the pages of Kadokawa Publishing's NewType Ace monthly manga magazine. The 63-page debut will be featured in the April Vol. 7 issue, hitting Japanese booksellers on March 10th, and will continue in successive issues over the coming year in shorter installments. Murakawa is a diehard YAMATO fan who was hand-picked as one of the contributors for the Yamato Comic Anthology published to support the Yamato PlayStation games in 2000. He has also produced a series of self-published illustration books (Yamato: 2199, Yamato: 2201, and Yamato Reunion) with contributors including such famous alumni as Yutaka Izubuchi, Supervising Director of YAMATO: 2199.

Murakawa writes about the trials and tribulations of tackling the first 63-page installment, for which he was hired last summer, and the trial and error process that he encountered; especially being such a fan and trying to create something fresh and original, despite his constraints and pushing his own abilities. The worst of these was the grueling schedule and the fact that he also had little support in terms of assistants to help ink, detail and shade his work. In order to meet deadlines, he worked it out that he would need to complete four to five pages of line art per day, for a total of two weeks. But, with the amount of detail, especially in terms of the battleships, and in terms of his own speculation vs. the finalized designs, all he could achieve were about three pages per day (which burdened him with an extra week added to his own timetable). Not being able to meet his own weekly goals, he said he felt like a fool for ignoring the prophetic advice of his colleague, Miki Matsuda (Unlimited Wings): "Never underestimate the Mecha."

While he received an unprecedented amount of cooperation from the staff of YAMATO: 2199, in terms of the teleplays and storyboards (as well as viewing the first two episodes), Murakawa decided to create mostly disperate angles in his panels, and also, to elaborate on character situations, even the character designs, which was encouraged by the producers. This allowed him to stretch his imagination in creating the manga (and to take his own pride in the job) — which was his motivation in becoming a mangaka in the first place. He noted that he rendered most of the art in freehand, including the hard mechanical elements, such as Radar Screens and the interiors of the spacecraft, which was a challenge. Murakawa noted that the density of this work is unlike others, such as the current Gundams, which comes from being from an entirely different generation. He then wrote that the job was akin to being waist-deep in a 40-year old sake. And a particularly tasty sake at that. But, that he was also overwhelmed on account of the depth in the collusion of the elements which are used to create the animated versions, including music, voice acting, photography, and so on.

In conclusion, Murakawa stated that it was unbelievable to see his name in the end credits, because Yamato has been in the forefront of his dreams since Middle School; even though he realizes that it would be impossible to go aboard, since it is a ship that exists in a realm far beyond his generation. While he acknowledged that his manga will be something that the next generation of fans will inherit, along with the feelings of the crew of the Yamato, he also expressed his hopes that those who read his adaptation will come away with something memorable. His blog entry ended by expressing his wish that, "I'd still like to take a ride on that ship, someday."

Source: Music Only Hall: The Blog of Mangaka Michio Murakawa

Stay tuned to this blog and the official Star Blazers website for more news and information on SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO: 2199 as they develop — and soon, we'll be off to outer space, in the funny pages!