You did not read ‘it’ here first. Nor did you read about it at any other website, such as Cartoon Leap or Anime News Network. In fact, you did not read ‘it’ at all. If you want to know what ‘it’ is, and therefore begin walking the path to further Kyo-ani/Kadokawa uneasiness, then read on…
The up and coming film The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya has been confirmed to have a run time of 150 minutes, a nice respectable number. If this arc was to be in series form, then the movie would be equivalent to about seven episodes, an amount of time that should do justice to the arc (and the smile, see above ^^) we have been waiting for…
The Japanese Cinema release date is February 6, 2010. I officially cannot wait!
–Image Source: Animepaper.net
…apparently.
Yup, February 6 2010 has been named as the day that the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya film will be released in Japanese cinemas. February is shaping up to be an awesome month, not only because it contains my birthday, but if this movie turns out to be awesome as well, it could be a perfect early b’day present. Then again, a small part of me is afraid the movie is going to flop, with possible budget constraints or any other problems Kadokawa seem so good at digging up. NO! Bad Chris! Have faith in the production company that brought Haruhi to the small screen! Don’t continue to think Endless Eight killed the magic that is Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu!
We’ll have to wait and see…won’t we?
–Via Japanator
The wheels of motion against online piracy of Japanese media have kicked into overdrive, or so it seems. Some prominent anime production companies, such as TOHO, Studio Ghibli, and Sunrise have begun collaborating in an effort to reduce the unrestricted distribution of copyrighted video via the internet. Through a large umbrella group of companies and organizations called the ‘Content Overseas Distribution Association’ (or CODA for short), the idea would be to hunt down videos submitted without consent, and then demand the host websites delete the unauthorized media. The whole goal of this association is to ‘stamp out piracy and promote the legal distribution of Japanese content’.
Are you a native Japanese speaker who:
If so then look no further then your local game shop for a copy of the new DS game “Moe-Sta Moeru Todai Eigo Jyuku”, and you may be one step closer to fulfilling a few of those dreams!
Bandai is really pulling out all the stops for Gundam Unicorn. They revealed today that the Blu-Ray version will receive a simultaneous international release, and will include both English and Japanese dub tracks, as well as subtitles in Japanese, English, French, Spanish and Chinese. Those of you without Blu-Ray players, however, will have to suffer through the English subtitles, as the regular DVD release contains only Japanese audio. Bummer, I know how much you otaku hate subtitles.
As a Gundam fan, I would love to provide you with a detailed analysis of Bandai’s international release strategy… but I’m too busy squealing like a fangirl. SQUEEEEE!!!
–Via ANN
Voting has begun for the 4th annual Seiyu awards, which allows fans to pick their favorite Japanese voice actors and actresses. For the second year in a row, the Tokyo Anime Center is including an English-language Overseas Fan Choice Award category. Last year, that award went to prolific voice actor Jun Fukuyama, who played Lelouch Lamperouge in Code Geass and Luca Angeloni in Macross Frontier, among other roles.
Who will win this year? That’s up to you! Go to the Seiyu Awards website and nominate your favorite seiyu!
–Via ANN
Saboten-Con, the upcoming Arizona anime convention, recently held a promo video contest on YouTube. The contestants were ranked based how many views their videos. This tounge-in-cheek short by hbi2k, which uses footage from The Vision of Escaflowne, chalked over 3000 views and won the contest.
A couple of us here at PH are planning on going to Saboten-Con. Anybody else thinking about attending?
Here’s a video of the Funimation Virtual Con Panel (aka FuniCON 1.0), which was held via live streaming video and text chat at 4:00 Central on Thursday. I was in the chat representing Project Haruhi, and Adam actually answered a couple of my questions! He did have some trouble pronouncing Project Haruhi’s name, though (time index 5:19 on the first video). It’s okay, Adam, we forgive you.
He also answered my question about Saboten-Con (6:33), a Phoenix-area convention that myself and a few other PH members will be attending at the end of October. Unfortunately, Funimation won’t have a panel there.
Hideo Kojima has revealed that his upcoming game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will employ the Vocaloid software, which is most famous for it’s role in creating Hatsune Miku. Apparently, Vocaloid will be used to create weapons that can sing and scream. Although more seasoned Metal Gear fans are unfazed by this bizarre announcement, my reaction can be summarized as follows:
Meanwhile, Kojima is engaging in his usual hyperbole while promoting MGS: Peace Walker. Most recently, he claimed that “I haven’t announced this yet, but there’s another feature in [Peace Walker] that will surprise people, to the point where they’ll want to go out and buy a PSP right now!” Hmm, given that the PS3 didn’t make me want to get a second job, I view that claim as rather dubious.
–Via Joystiq