Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo Trailer

Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo                                                

Japanese Title: エヴァンゲリヲン新　新劇場版:Q Quickening

Romaji: Evangelion Shin Gekijoban: Kyu

Release Date:  17^th November 2012 (Japan)

Running Time: N/A

Director: Hideaki Anno, Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Mahiro Maeda

Writer:  Hideaki Anno

Starring: Megumi Hayashibara, Megumi Ogata, Akira Ishida, Yuko Miyamura, Kotono Mitsuishi, Takehito Koyasu, Fumihiko Tachiki, Yuriko Yamaguchi, Motomu Kiyokawa, Hiro Yuuki, Miki Nagasawa, Maaya Sakamoto

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of those anime series that marks everyone who watches it. This 90’s anime is smart, intelligent, imaginative, emotionally devastating and uplifting and visually stunning. It was a post-modern take on the mecha genre that combined mecha tropes with crazed religion, science and the twisted imagination and state of near depression of anime veteran Hideaki Anno.

It certainly marked me. I remember being glued to the television on Saturday mornings and being blown away. I remember being gripped all the way to the end and having my favourite characters. I remember the anger I felt when Asuka suffered her fate (as I mentioned in my anime heroines series last year) and welling up with emotions when the series came to the end and Shinji… well, I won’t spoil it. I was moved to tears and if you have yet to see the series, watch it because you will be too.

Then Anno claimed he was not happy with the way the series developed and released a number of films which tried to retell the ending of the show. I have yet to see them but from what I have heard I am glad I have not. Anyway, Evangelion has become quite the money spinner as numerous manga, action figures, models and other cash-ins like pachinko machines and gatchapon testament so it was inevitable that there would be new films on the classic franchise. This film is the third of four which, Anno claims, is how he originally envisioned Evangelion being if it had the time and budget to develop back when the TV show first aired. It looks stunning.

The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki Trailer and Japanese Movie Charts

This week I posted a review for the South Korean horror movie Bedevilled, a trailer for Ushijima the Loan Shark and a review of the French film Irma Vep. Irma Vep had been on my movie wish list for a long time and now it has left that and entered my favourite movies of all time.

What’s does the Japanese movie box-office chart look like this week?

1. Umizaru 4: Brave Hearts
2. Pikachu the Movie 2012
3. The Amazing Spider-Man
4. Helter Skelter
5. Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 2nd
6. Snow White and the Huntsman
7. Rinjo
8. Soreike! Anpanman Yomigaere Bananajima
9. Man on a Ledge
10. Thermae Romae

The top 15 of the Japanese movie box-office charts this week are saturated with last week’s releases. Drudgery Train entered at thirteen, Nanoha at five, Helter Skelter at four, the latest Pokemon movie enters at two and Uzimaru 4 storms to the top. Gusko Budori falls out of the top ten in its second week and Thermae Romae still (still!) sticks in the top ten and has achieved $72, 844,388. It boggles my mind how a manga with such a strange premise could achieve so much. I’m assuming it’s a combination of Hiroshi Abe’s great looks and great comedy.

What Japanese films are released today?

What Japanese films are released today?  Last week was very busy with new releases while this week is quiet with The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki being the only major release. It will be interesting to see where this stands next week.

The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki                          

Romaji: Okami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki

Japanese Title: おおかみ　こども　の　雨　と　雪

Release Date: 21^st July 2012 (Japan)

Running Time: 110 mins.

Director: Mamoru Hosoda

Writer: Mamoru Hosoda, Satoko Okudera

Starring: Aoi Miyazaki, Takao Osawa, Yukito Nishii, Haru Kuroki, Amon Kabe, Momoka Oona, Shota Sometani, Kumiko Aso, Mitsuki Tanimura,

Mamoru Hosoda is frequently called the next “Hayao Miyazaki” but despite similar styles of magical realism and the use of similar themes there is a certain restraint in the fantastical elements that Hayao revels in. My enthusiasm for Hosoda’s work is tempered by the fact that I loved The Girl who Leapt Through Time but was left unimpressed by Summer Wars (which everyone considers his best). As far as this film goes Hosoda is aided with scripting duties by Satoko Okudera who has worked on major anime movies like Summer Wars, Miyori’s Forest, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and The Princess and the Pilot. Legendary character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, FLCL, Evangelion) is acting as character designer here. Madhouse Studio (Paranoia Agent, Black Lagoon, Millennium Actress, Perfect Blue, Master Keaon, Dennō Coil) is co-producing the animation.

A story of love between parents and children that takes place over thirteen starts when a university student named Hana falls in love with Ōkami who is a “wolf man”. The two marry and have children named after the weather on the day they were born – Yuki (snow) the older sister and Ame (rain) the younger brother. The four live quietly in a city concealing the true existence of their relationship until Ōkami dies and Hana decides to move to the country.

The voice actors involved come from the world of live action movies. Hana is voiced by the actress Aoi Miyazaki who starred in Shinji Aoyama’s 2000 film Eureka (she does have experience in anime after voicing Tula in Origin: Spirits of the Past). Ōkami is voiced by Takao Osawa (All About Lily Chou-Chou), Yuki is voiced by Haru Kuroki, and Ame is voiced by Yukito Nishii (Confessions). Other notable names include Momoka Oona (Mitsuko Delivers) who plays an even younger version of Yuki, Amon Kabe(Tada’s Do-it-All House) who plays an even younger version of Ame, Shota Sometani (Himizu, Sadako 3D, Isn’t Anyone live?), Mitsuki Tanimura (13 Assassins), and Kumiko Aso (Pulse).

Trailer for The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki

Writer/director Mamoru Hosoda is a big name in anime. His work on “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” and “Summer Wars” has seen him called the next “Hayao Miyazaki” but as much as I liked the former the latter left me cold. Here’s a trailer for his next film which will soon be released.

A story of love between parents and children that takes place over thirteen starts when a university student named Hana falls in love with Ōkami who is a “wolf man”. The two marry and have children named after the weather on the day they were born – Yuki (snow) the older sister and Ame (rain) the younger brother. The four live quietly in a city concealing the true existence of their relationship until Ōkami dies and Hana decides to move to the country.

The Voice Actors involved comes from the world of live action movies. Hana is voiced by the actress Aoi Miyazaki (who does have experience in anime after voicing Tula in Origin: Spirits of the Past). Yuki is voiced by Haru Kuroki, Yukito Nishii, who starred in Confessions, voices Ame while Takao Osawa voices Ōkami.

Aiding Hosoda with scripting duties is Satoko Okudera whose career has involved a lot of stunning films like “Summer Wars”, “Miyori’s Forest”, “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”, and “The Princess and the Pilot”. More talent is present in the form of the legendary character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto who should be familiar from “Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water”, “FLCL”, and the “Evangelion” series.

The movie will go on theatrical release on the 21^st of July.

Staff: Mamoru Hosoda (Original Creator, Director, Screenplay), Okudera Satoko (Screenplay), Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Character Design)

Voice Actors: Aoi Miyazaki (Hana), Haru Kuroki (Yuki), Yukito Nishii, (Ame), Takao Osawa (Ōkami)

Studio: Madhouse Studios

12 Minutes of .hack//The Movie Streamed

I reported about this film getting a release a few weeks back then promptly forgot about it. Now Namco Bandai Games is streaming a 12 minute video covering the beginning of .hack//The Movie (.hack//Sekai no Mukou ni) which was theatrically released on the 21st of January.

Synopsis

The story takes place in 2024 in a world connected by computer networks. A 14 year old girl named Sora Yūki has no interest in games accepts an invitation from her friends Kakeru and Tomohiko to go into a popular network game called “The World.” However, after an accident in the game, reality starts to suffer anomalies and strange events.

.hack was the first manga I actually bought for myself: I saw Tokyopop’s manga stand in a local store and decided to support the by purhasing the only manga to catch my eye. Unfortuantely I didn’t like .hack all that much and regard the series with little interest. There are a lot of anime and video games connected to the series but I have yet to watch or play them and I doubt I ever will. As far as the movie goes the animation leaves me cold.

This 3D CGI movie was Produced by CyberConnect2 and was directed by Hiroshi Matsuyama who is also the president of CyberConnect2 and has written and directed different entries in the .hack// franchise. The character design comes from the legendary Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Evangelion, FLCL, Nadia, The Secret of Blue Water) and the screenplay comes from Kazunori Ito (Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor: The Movie. Kokia wwho should be familiar to anime fans from doing the opening from Gunslinger Girlo: Il Teatrino opening is credited with the theme song for this. Sora is voiced by Nanami Sakuraba (Natsuki in Summer Wars), Kakeru by Toori Matsuzaka and Tomohiko by Kei Tanaka.

Source

What I want for Christmas! Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water Japanese Blu-Ray Release

The classic anime, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water is getting a blu-ray box set release on the 23^rd of November in Japan.  That’s today. Unfortunately I doubt anybody is going to get this for me and I must resist the temptation to buy it myself because Christmas is a season where others must be put first and all that jazz.

What makes this anime so great?

Well the story of the anime is based on the works of French fantasy and sci-fi author Jules Verne and follows a young French inventor named Jean and a former circus performer named Nadia, a girl of mysterious origins who wishes to return home. The two are chased by a trio of jewel thieves but are rescued by Captain Nemo and his submarine before an even larger enemy emerges.

Sounds intriguing. Even more impressive is the list of people involved in the production of this anime.

The series originally started as a concept that the legendary Hayao Miyazaki came up with for Toho but was never produced. Toho retained the rights to the story and commissioned studio Gainax to produce an educational series for NHK. Now Gainax are guys who strive to be original and never do the obvious, just look at some of the titles to come out of the studio:  Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise, FLCL, His and Her Circumstances, Gunbuster and Evangelion. Well the Gainax staff loved the concept that Miyazaki created and with Hideaki Anno (director of Evangelion for one thing) acting as director and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto as character designer they took on the task of animating the show which ran for 39 episodes from 1990 to 1991.

This new release contains 7 blu-ray discs with all 39 episodes spanning 135 minutes plus a 111 page booklet filled with 74 pages Illustrations. The box illustrations have been drawn by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto who I’m a big fan of and I highly recommend Der Mond which is a book that collects his works.

If I am honest I do not need this release. What I really want it for is the nostalgia. The blu-ray set looks incredible and I would love to have it in my collection, Sadamoto’s illustrations taking pride of place amidst the other anime collections but it is hardly life or death. The anime is probably floating around out there online since nobody on this side of the globe owns the rights to it but whenever I see the opening theme I’m reminded of the sheer exuberance of anime and the joy it once filled me with as a carefree kid. I mean… can you resist the intro?