Tezuka's Buddha Anime Film Project to Be Trilogy

The previously revealed anime film adaptation of the late Osamu Tezuka's Buddha manga will be a trilogy of movies. Warner Brothers will release the first film, Tezuka Osamu no Buddha -Akai Sabaku yo! Utsukushiku-, in Japan on May 28, 2011.

Sayuri Yoshinaga will voice the mother of a slave boy named Chapra and provide the narration for the work. Masato Sakai and Junko Takeuchi will play Chapra himself in different stages of his life, and Hidetaka Yoshioka and Ai Orikasa will also jointly play Siddhartha — the prince who would become Buddha. The first film alone has a production budget of 1 billion yen (about US$11 million).

In the original 1972-1983 manga, Tezuka recounts of the life of the young prince Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism. Vertical released all eight volumes in North America in hardcover and paperback, and the story won Harvey Awards in 2004 and 2005. Yasuomi Ishifuji is directing the film off a screenplay by Reiko Yoshida. Hideaki Maniwa is designing the characters and Toei Animation producing the project in association with Tezuka Productions.

Source: News 24, animeanime.jp

Hen Zemi's Tagro Draws Gainax's Panty & Stocking Manga

Also in Young Ace: Sora no Otoshimono's Minazuki, Enmusu's Seguchi launch manga

The August issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine announced on Sunday that Abnormal Physiology Seminar (Hen Zemi) creator TAGRO is launching the manga adaptation of Gainax's Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt television anime series in the next issue on August 4. Gurren Lagann director Hiroyuki Imaishi, character designer Atsushi Nishigori, and conceptual artist Yoh Yoshinari created this project about a teen-celebrity-like blond-haired girl named Panty and a black-haired Goth-Loli girl named Stocking. The two are angels sent from the heavens to battle the "Ghosts" on Earth. The anime itself will premiere in Japan in October.

Also in the next issue of Young Ace, Sora no Otoshimono (Heaven's Lost Property) creator Suu Minazuki is launching a new manga called Daisuki Desu!! Mahō Tenshi Kosumosu (I Love You!! Magical Angel Kosumosu) with Enmusu's Takahiro Seguchi drawing the actual art. In this modern-day fantasy, a town disappears one day in a sudden, unexplained explosion. Where the town once stood, only an expansive desert — with falling snow — remains. Kosumosu is an ordinary girl who was preparing for a birthday get-together for "Raita-oniichan" (who she likes) when her life as a magical angel begins.

In the current Young Ace issue, Morohe Yoshida has launched the new romantic comedy manga Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha. The story centers around a middle school girl who has a crush on a classmate, but she has yet to confess her feelings. However, a mysterious entity appears before her one day after she helps some animals at a shrine.

Source: Comic Natalie

Colorful, Arrietty, Stitch, Evangelion Promos Streamed

Karigurashi no Arrietty, 3rd Stitch! anime, life-size Evangelion in July; Colorful in August

The official website for Keiichi Hara and Sunrise's anime film adaptation of Eto the Sankei Children's Publishing Cultural Prize in 1999. (The novel and film are unrelated to Torajirou Kishi's Colorful manga and television anime series.) The "heart-warming comedy" follows a person who finds himself trapped outside the normal endless circle of life and death. Thanks to winning a lottery in the angel world, the protagonist is brought back to inhabit the body of a 14-year-old boy — who just committed suicide. Thus, the protagonist begins a new life. The film will open on August 21.

Mitsubushi Group's official channel on the YouTube website began streaming a 15-second high-definition "Kumo-kun" ("Spider") tie-in commercial between Mitsubishi's MS&AD Holdings and Studio Ghibli on Monday. The commercial features brief footage from the Karigurashi no Arrietty film by first-time feature director Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Studio Ghibli. The film adapts Mary Norton's 1952 British novel The Borrowers about small people who live under the floorboards of regular people. MS&AD Holdings is the parent company of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, Aioi Insurance, and Nissay Dowa General Insurance. Karigurashi no Arrietty will open in Japan on July 17.

The TV Asahi broadcasting station is streaming a 30-second commercial for the new Stitch! ~Zutto Saikō no Tomodachi~ anime series. (In the linked page, select the movie thumbnail image in the lower lefthand corner.) The new series continues the story of the alien creature Stitch and its human friend Yūna from the previous two television series from the MADHOUSE anime studio. In the new series, however, Shinei Animation (Doraemon, Crayon Shin-chan) is producing. In the story, Yūna moves from Izayoi (a fictional island in southern Japan) to New Town (a fictional town in Okinawa), and she transfers to a new school. The television series premieres in Japan on Tuesday.

Japan's Fuji-Q HighLand amusement park has posted its third and fourth progress report videos on the world's first life-size bust of the EVA-01 unit from the Evangelion anime franchise. The third video covers the head unit, the finishing touches on the bust, the life-size figure of the character Kaworu Nagisa, and the floor map. The fourth video covers the test assembly of the parts, the special effects testing, the transportation of the disassembled parts, and the construction of the entry plug cockpit. The first two progress report videos are still available, and the fifth video will debut on Wednesday. The "Evangelion: World - Life-Size EVA-01 Construction Project" pavilion will open on July 23.

Images © 2010 Eto Mori/Colorful Production Committee © 2010 GNDHDDTW © Disney © Khara

[Via Nippon Cinema, Nausicaa.net]

Otakon to Host Voice Actor/Sound Director Yuji Mitsuya

Voice of Ranma ½'s Dr. Tofu, St. Seiya's Virgo Shaka, Touch's Tatsuya Uesugi

Otakon has announced that voice actor and sound director Yuji Mitsuya will be a guest at the July-August 1 convention in Baltimore.

Mitsuya has performed in such roles as Doctor Tofu in Ranma ½, Virgo Shaka in Saint Seiya, Tatsuya Uesugi in Touch, and Hyouma Aoi in Combattler V. He has also worked as a post-production or recording director in Yu-Gi-Oh!, Samurai X: Reflection, and The Place Promised in Our Early Days.

Otakon 2010 will be at the Baltimore Convention Center. The convention will host other guests such as director Hiroshi Koujina, MADHOUSE studio founder and producer Masao Maruyama, An Café bassist kanon, X Japan members Yoshiki and Sugizo, pop culture diplomat Takamasa Sakurai, hip-hop group Home Made Kazoku, and traditional musicians The Yoshida Brothers.

Strawberry 100% Streaming via Viz Anime, Hulu (Updated)

2005 TV anime follows high school boy's search for girl with strawberry panties

The television anime adaptation of Mizuki Kawashita's Strawberry 100% (Ichigo 100%) comedy manga is now streaming with English subtitles on the Viz Anime and Hulu websites in the United States. Out of 26 episodes from the show, five are already live on both sites. The anime, which debuted in 2005, had not been released for distribution in the United States until now.

Osamu Sekita and MADHOUSE's Strawberry 100% anime follows a high school boy and aspiring filmmaker named Manaka Junpei. After an accidental meeting with a girl who wore strawberry panties, Junpei becomes determined to discover who she is. During his journey, he befriends other girls who help him find the girl with the strawberry panties for the perfect scene in his movie.

Viz Anime and Hulu already have a collection of streaming anime such as Bleach, One Piece, Death Note, and Vampire Knight. Viz Media is also shipping the 13th volume of the Strawberry 100% manga this month.

Source: AnimeOnDVD.com

Update: Viz Anime and Hulu are streaming two short episodes in each stream, so they are effectively streaming 10 episodes now. Thanks, doubleO7.

Crunchyroll to Simulcast Occult Academy, Tono to Issho

Horror comedy anime, samurai-era comedy anime with Gackt to begin this week

The media-distribution website Crunchyroll has announced on Monday that it will stream the Occult Academy (Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin) and Tono to Issho television anime series within one hour of each episode's premiere in Japan. Crunchyroll's streaming of Occult Academy horror and school comedy anime will begin at 11:00 a.m. PDT today, and the streaming of the Tono to Issho samurai-era comedy anime with guest star Gackt will begin at 2:00 p.m. PDT on Tuesday.

Occult Academy revolves around mystery and supernatural cases at Occult Academy, a fortress-like academy city. A-1 Pictures and Hiroyuki Kitakubo (Blood: The Last Vampire, Angel Cop, Robot Carnival) co-created Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin as TV Tokyo and Aniplex's third Anime no Chikara project. Tomohiko Ito (Death Note and Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro assistant director) is directing, and Seishi Minakami (Shigurui: Death Frenzy, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun) is supervising the scripts. The simulcast of Occult Academy will be available in the United States, Canada, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and Portugal.

Ohba-Kai's original Tono to Issho 4-panel gag manga and the television anime adaptation follow the humorous exploits of generals during Japan's tumultuous sengoku (Era of the Warring States) period. The manga has been running in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Flapper magazine since 2006, and the fourth compiled book volume shipped last November.

A video anime adaptation had already shipped in March with a special guest appearance by singer/actor Gackt as the legendary warlord Uesugi Kenshin. Not coincidentally, Gackt played the same historical figure in the live-action drama Fūrinkazan and 2007's Kōhaku Uta Gassen ("Red and White Song Battle") competition. The simulcast of the television version

will be available in the United States, Canada, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Portugal, and Singapore.

Image © A-1 Pictures/Aniplex, TV Tokyo
© 2010 Ohba-Kai, Media Factory/Tono to Issho Production Committee

Bleach, Nurarihyon, Letter Bee Event Anime Announced

Also at Jump Super Anime Tour 2010: original Beelzebub, Toriko anime

Update: This year's 31st issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine has announced on Monday that the Jump Super Anime Tour 2010 will screen Bleach, Nurarihyon no Mago, and Tegami Bachi anime, in addition to the previously revealed original Beelzebub and Toriko anime. The tour will travel to the Japanese cities of Fukuoka (October 23), Tokyo (October 30-31), Osaka (November 6-7), Nagoya (November 13-14), and Sapporo (November 21). Shueisha promises to host more invited guests this year than it did last year, and ticketing and other details will be announced in the next Weekly Shonen Jump issue on July 26.

Tite Kubo's Bleach, Hiroshi Shiibashi's Nurarihyon no Mago (Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan), and Hiroyuki Asada's Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee) manga have all already been animated for television. The Nurarihyon no Mago television anime is premiering tonight, and the second Tegami Bachi television series is slated to premiere this October.

The Adult Swim programming block on America's Cartoon Network will run new episodes of Viz Media's English Bleach television dub starting on August 28, and Viz Media will also begin simulcasting the Nurarihyon no Mago television series this week.

Source: Comic Natalie

Image © Hiroyuki Asada/Shueisha, Tegami Bachi Production Committee, TV Tokyo © Tite Kubo/Shueisha, TV Tokyo, Dentsu, Pierrot © Bleach the Movie Production Committee 2010 © Hiroshi Shiibashi/Shueisha, Nuragumi © Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro/Shueisha © Ryūhei Tamura/Shueisha

---

Kure-nai Manga's 6th Volume to Bundle Anime in December

2nd original anime DVD inspired by light novels after 2008 TV anime

The official website of Shueisha's Jump Square magazine has announced that the sixth limited-edition volume of the Kure-nai manga will bundle a new original anime DVD (OAD) on December 3. The fifth volume of Yamato Yamamoto's manga version of Kentarō Katayama's Kure-nai light novel series already bundled an OAD when it shipped this past Friday. The sixth volume's OAD will run about 30 minutes long and will contain three stories — both stories from the manga and original stories — with an emphasis on the characters Murasaki and Kurihiko.

The light novel series was previously adapted into a television anime series in 2008. Director Kou Matsuo and character designer Kumi Ishii are returning from that television series and the first OAD to work at Brains Base on the new OAD. Likewise, Miyuki Sawashiro (Shinkurō Kure-nai), Aoi Yūki (Murasaki Kuhōin), Ryoko Shintani (Yūno Hōzuki), Nozomi Masu (Ginko Murakami), and the rest of the cast reprise their respective roles. The third and fourth volumes of the Kure-nai manga shipped last year with the anime adaptation of another light novel title by Katayama, Denpa teki na Kanojo.

I.G: Right Stuf Has Utena Movie License (Updated)

I.G confirms upcoming co-production plans, new comic The Innocent

At its Anime Expo industry panel, the anime studio Production I.G revealed that Right Stuf has acquired the North American rights to the Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie. Right Stuf had announced the Utena television series at its panel the day prior.

I.G also confirmed that it is involved in Avi Arad's upcoming live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, and is working with Arad to create a new Ghost in the Shell comic titled Innocent (not to be confused with Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence). I.G is also currently working on two co-productions, one a kids series and the other a co-production with Singapore.

Image © 1997 BE-PAPAS,SAITO CHIHO/SHOGAKUKAN,SHOKAKU,TV-TOKYO. ©1999-2000 Shojo Kakumei UTENA Seisaku Iinkai.

Update: I.G has told ANN after the panel that it "may participate" in Avi Arad's upcoming live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell. The Innocent was not described as a Ghost in the Shell work.