Animanga in the News: 9/25 - 9/30

Sorry for the lateness! This week we've got two new anime trailers, a Japanese model naming her child an anime character, A 22-year-old convicted for carrying hentai-films in his baggage, a woman held captive by a guy she met at an Anime-Con, 'Medaka Box' & 'Kuroko no Basuke' getting an anime TV series, and a Korean mangaka assistant travels to France for autograph signing! Enjoy!~


A live-action television adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ½ martial arts comedy manga will air this December as a two-hour special on Japan's NTV network. Yui Aragaki (Digimon: Data Squad, Koizora) will play Akane Tendō, and Kento Kaku (Paradise Kiss, Gokusen) and Natsuna (Gantz) will play the dual male/female sides of the title character Ranma Saotome.


Yoshihiro Izumi scripted this first live-action version of the manga after having written the live-action television and film versions of the Rookies baseball manga. Takahashi herself said that she was surprised at first when she heard about the live-action adaptation — but with the interesting story scenario and all-star lineup, she added that she now thinks it is very amusing.

The special will air during NTV's 7:00 p.m. Friday Super Prime timeslot in December. The original manga ran in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine from 1987 to 1996, and Shogakukan printed 53 million copies of the compiled book volumes.

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A 22-year-old Chinese man has pled guilty on Wednesday to five charges of importing prohibited goods into New Zealand. According to the New Zealand news source The Press, Xiran Zhang (pictured above), a first year engineering student at Canterbury University, had brought 10 DVDs of "cartoon films, known as 'anime', [that] depicted scenes of rape, abuse, and bestiality" into the country when he flew in from Shanghai.

Zhang's lawyer Simon Clay had argued for Zhang to be discharged without conviction under section 106 of New Zealand's Criminal Justice Act, which states, "If a person who is charged with an offence is found guilty or pleads guilty, the court may discharge the offender without conviction, unless by any enactment applicable to the offence the court is required to impose a minimum sentence."

However, Judge Raoul Neave did not grant the discharge, noting that he was concerned about issues raised in Zhang's pre-sentence report, although Neave did not mention what those issues were. The judge is giving Zhang time to address the issues before he hands down a sentence, so that he might consider discharging Zhang without a conviction. The prosecution in the case has said that they consider supervision as the appropriate sentence.

Zhang is currently in New Zealand on a student visa, but that visa has been suspended pending the outcome of his case.

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The official website for the Ikki Tousen franchise announced on Monday that the new Ikki Tousen: Shūgaku Tōshi Keppu-roku anime project will play in theaters in Tokyo, Chiba, and Osaka starting November 12. Theater goers will receive an A3-size poster illustrated by Yuji Shiozaki, the creator of the original manga.

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The television station MBS began streaming a new version of a 15-second commercial for the Mobile Suit Gundam AGE television anime series on Monday. The new version features the first preview of the opening theme song "Asu e" (To Tomorrow), as performed by the Japanese rock band Galileo Galilei. The commercial debuted during the most recent episode of the Blue Exorcist anime this past Sunday.

Gundam AGE's story will cover a century and three generations of Gundam pilots. In the year A.G. 101 (Advanced Generation) — several hundred years after human have migrated into space — an Unknown Enemy (UE) suddenly attacks the space colony Angel and destroys it. In A.G. 108, the war with the UE comes to the home colony of seven-year-old Furitto Asuno. After losing his mother to the war, he is entrusted with the "AGE Device," a memory unit with blueprints for an ancient mobile suit known "Gundam."

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The Japanese studio Toei Animation produced a 10-minute promotional anime short with its popular character Ikkyū-san to promote tourism in the former Japanese capital of Kyoto. The Jidaigeki (Period Drama) Renaissance Project is streaming the anime short in Chinese with English, Japanese, and Chinese subtitles.

Toei's original 1975-1982 Ikkyū-san television anime series is loosely inspired by Ikkyū Sōjun, a real-life Buddhist monk who lived in 15th-century Japan. The story imagines Ikkyū's childhood as a mischievous but clever monk-in-training at Ankokuji Temple. In the new anime short, Ikkyū and the character Shinemon time-travel to modern Kyoto and visit the city's famous landmarks.

Toei announced last year that it is jointly producing a new animated film based on Ikkyū-san with the Chinese conglomerate Shanghai Media Group (SMG). Ikkyū-san has been popular in China since it began airing there in 1983, and many tourists come from the country to Japan.

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A 22-year-old man from Chicago was arrested on Friday on charges of holding a woman captive after the two moved in together in July. According to prosecutors, the two had originally met at an anime convention in June. Sir Wilfred Camaligan (pictured at right) was denied bail on Sunday and is facing charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, and aggravated domestic battery.

Police stated that Camaligan and the 20-year-old woman corresponded on Facebook and met at an anime convention in June. Police also stated Camaligan held the woman at his house and refused to let her leave for two months after they moved in together in July.

Police and prosecutors stated that Camaligan beat the woman, cut an "X" into the woman's chest, and forced the woman to kneel on rice and cut herself during her captivity. The woman also told police Camaligan had choked her until she lost consciousness. Police also said the woman was allowed to leave the house on Friday to run an errand, and the woman then contacted her mother on a borrowed cell phone, who in turn contacted police. Prosecutors stated the woman suffered hearing loss in one ear and had a fractured shoulder blade.

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Sentai Filmworks announced on Monday it licensed the Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!! television anime series, under the name Majikoi - Oh! Samurai Girls!.

Sentai Filmworks will release the 12-episode series digitally "through many outlets" starting in October and will release the show on home video in 2012.

Keitaro Motonaga (Katanagatari, School Days) and the studio Lerche are adapting MinatoSoft's adult dating simulation game of the same name. The slapstick comedy action story is set in a modern-day school and features a boy named Yamato Nanoe who is surrounded by all-warrior female cast. The anime will premiere in Japan on October 1.

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The live-action film Wild 7, based on Mikiya Mochizuki's police action manga of the same name, received a new manga adaptation in this year's 20th issue of Shonengahosha's Young King magazine on Monday. Manga artist Kan Hashimoto (Armed Arm, Gewalt) will draw the manga based on the live-action movie version in six parts.

Actor Eita (Nodame Cantabile, Azumi, Densha Otoko) will star in the film as Dairoku Hiba, the young leader of the Wild 7 secret police team. Mochizuki's original manga follows the story of seven motorcycle-riding outlaws who catch criminals that have protection from the regular police force. In the film, Wild 7 has to find the group plotting to release a deadly virus in the sky over Tokyo.

The live-action Wild 7 film, directed by Eiichirō Hasumi (Umizaru), opens in Japan on December 21.

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Warner Brothers Japan announced on Friday that it is adapting Mikiya Mochizuki's gritty police action manga classic Wild 7 into a live-action film with actor Eita (Nodame Cantabile, Azumi, Densha Otoko) and Umizaru director Eiichirō Hasumi. In the original manga, seven motorcycle-riding outlaws form a secret police team to judge and even execute criminals that the regular police cannot touch.

Hasumi will begin shooting the film in March with scriptwriter Masaki Fukasawa (live-action Salaryman Kintaro, Godhand Teru) and producer Shuji Abe (Always: Sunset on Third Street, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva). Eita will play Dairoku Hiba, the young leader of the Wild 7.

The original manga ran from 1969 to 1979 in Shonen Gahosha's Weekly Shōnen King magazine. Mochizuki would later create the Shin Wild 7, Zoku Shin Wild 7, and Hiba sequel manga. The manga already inspired a controversial but highly rated 1972-1973 live-action television series, a 1994-1995 original video anime (OVA) project, and a 2002 television anime series.

ComicsOne licensed the original manga in North America, and Urban Vision released the OVA project.

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The November issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Asuka magazine began serializing a manga adaptation of the anime film A Letter to Momo. Akiko Kitami is writing the manga before the drama anime's release in spring 2012. Kitami previously wrote several other manga published in Monthly Asuka.

A Letter to Momo revolves around a young girl who loses her father to an accident. Momo moves from Tokyo to the countryside of Japan's Inland Sea with her mother. The girl has trouble fitting in in her new environment and falls into depression. Momo spends her time wondering what her father meant to write to her in a mysteriously blank letter. Strange events begin taking place after Momo finds an ancient book in the attic.

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This year's 20th issue of Shueisha's Super Jump magazine is announcing on Wednesday that a television anime adaptation of Maya Miyazaki's Gokujyo—. ~Gokurakuin Joshi Kōryō Monogatari~ manga will begin airing in early 2012.

The "silly, slightly risque" comedy is set in the halls of a high school girls' dormitory where there are no rules and anything goes. A beautiful girl named Minami Kurihashi transfer to the girls' high school Gokurakuin ("Gokujyo") from Los Angeles, and she plans to rule Gokujyo with her cuteness as her weapon. However, a girl named Aya Akabane confounds Minami's plans on her first day there, and Minami deals with the unpredictable life on this campus.

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The official website of Itako, a city north of Tokyo, posted an October 3 casting call for extras on the latest film by award-wining director Tetsuya Nakashima (Confessions, Kamikaze Girls, Paco and the Magical Picture Book). According to the casting call, the crew is looking for 80 "healthy male and female" extras "to play people fleeing in panic from 'giants' who suddenly appear in a peaceful shopping district."

Seiichi Yamazaki, a businessperson in electronic book/video/app distribution and development, wrote on his Twitter account on Tuesday that Nakashima has begun shooting a Shingeki no Kyojin film. However, he quickly added with chagrin that this has not been made public yet.

Hajime Isayama launched a Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) manga in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in 2009. The story follows the life of humans after giants suddenly appear and take over the entire world. To keep out these invaders who eat humans for food, the humans erect huge walls, but at the cost of their freedom in the outside world.

The manga has become a sleeper hit, selling over 3 million copies since last year. The fifth volume shipped in August.

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This year's 43rd issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine is announcing on Monday that a television anime adaptation of Tadatoshi Fujimaki's Kuroko no Basuke basketball manga has been green-lit. Production I.G will produce the anime.

In the story, Taiga Kagami has just enrolled into Seirin High School when he meets Tetsuya Kuroko of the school's basketball team. Kuroko happens to be the shadowy sixth member of the legendary "Generation of Miracles" basketball team. Together, Kagami and Kuroko aim to take their team to the inter-high school championship — against Kuroko's former teammates.

Fujimaki launched the manga in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2008, and Shueisha will publish the 14th compiled book volume next month.

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Huhu Studios, Ltd., based in New Zealand, has been scouting Taiwan for quite some time, and this past week confirmed their intention of establishing a computer animation production studio in the near future. Huhu Studios is eager to capitalize on the Asian country's growing number animators interested in gaining experience in the international marketplace. The Government of Taiwan, meanwhile, is excited to be making use of a new high-tech software park, which dedicates space to corporate or industry research and development organizations.

Huhu Studios enjoys a history of production stretching back more than a decade and a half. The company is based in Warkworth, New Zealand, which is roughly a sixty-kilometer drive north of Auckland. Huhu's recent CG efforts can be found in select iterations of the faith-based cartoons Angel Wars and Veggie Tales, as well as the preschool series Turbo Dogs. The animation group's planned expansion to Taiwan will be no minimal effort, according to Taiwan Today, considering that numerous staff will be housed at the Kaohsiung Software Technology Park. Kaohsiung is located in southern Taiwan.

"We appreciate the studio's good eye in picking Kaohsiung," Mayor Chen Chu, Kaohsiung, commented. "[Kaohsiung is] a city that has worked hard to transform itself from a heavy industry center to a new base for cultural and creative industries."

Huhu Taiwan will take residence at a software and technology park that comprises nearly 80,000 squared meters of work space. Huhu Studios will occupy enough room to accommodate up to 200 positions, according to reports. Taiwan's growing technology infrastructure is cited as one of the largest reasons for the added facilities (as opposed to mainland China, or South Korea). Another key motive may also surely rest in the country's growing output of graphic designers and animators. Huhu Studios is investing an estimated NT $60 million (USD $1.98 million) into initial operations and set-up of their the Taiwan offices.

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This year's 43rd issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine is announcing on Monday that a television anime adaptation of NisiOisin and Akira Akatsuki's Medaka Box school fighting comedy manga has been green-lit. More information will be provided in future issues of the magazine.

In the story, Medaka Kurokami, the strongest girl in Hanokiwa Academy, leads the school's student council. The student body can submit pleas for help, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, into the suggestion box that Medaka installed. Together with council members Zenkichi, Akune, Kikaijima, she takes on the challenges in the school that include supernatural powers and near-constant battles.

NisiOisin and Akatsuki launched the manga in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2009, and Shueisha will publish the 12th compiled book volume next month.

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The wraparound jacket band on the first volume of ESE and Kiyohito Natsuki's Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai! manga is announcing next month that a television anime adaptation is in the works.

The story revolves around Sakura, the main vocalist of the nationally renowned idol group Sweet. Sakura suddenly decides to become a female professional wrestler one day.

The text novel version has been running on the online website for Earth Star Entertainment's Comic Earth Star magazine since last December, and the manga version launched in the magazine this year.

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Hong Ki-Woo, the assistant designer of The Swordsman (Booken editions), will do a signing fan-dedication on Monday, October 3rd around 5:00pm at the library Momie Mangas Lyon. The next day he'll be in Paris for another book signing at Café Manga V2, around 6:00pm. Note that the seventh volume of the series will be released on October 20.

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Two national legislators of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) submitted a petition this month to change Japan's child pornography laws so that they apply to anime, manga, and video games. Some members of the LDP have been advocating for this revision since at least 2008, but have not succeeded thus far. The revision would also make "simple possession" of child pornography illegal. Currently, buying, selling, or distributing child pornography is illegal in Japan, but not its possession. The petition introduced by Hiroyuki Hosoda and Yuriko Koike has 222 signatures.

The proposed revision to the "Act on Punishment of Activities Relating to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Protection of Children" would make it illegal to own, buy, sell, or possess child pornography in anime, manga, and video games, and other "virtual obscene images." The LDP also wants to revise the law to prosecute those who possess child pornography on their computers and mobile phones, as well as those who distribute it online via child pornography websites.

The LDP submitted the petition at the 178th meeting of the National Diet, which ran from September 13 to September 30.

The LDP in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly was a major backer of a separate revision to Tokyo's Youth Healthy Development Ordinance. This revision expanded the number of manga and anime that fall under "harmful publications," the legal category of works that must not be sold or rented to people under the age of 18.

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It's nice to know that it's not just American celebrities that name their kids crazy things. It seems the rich and famous find the usual random names like Brian and Joe - just too boring.

Hikari Kamikawa, a Japanese fashion model, recently named her newly born son after Portgas D. Ace, a character from the super obscure anime One Piece. Luckily enough for the boy, he only adopted a small part of fire-fist's name, and from now on will be known as Ace. The mother claims that she picked the name due to her love of the One Piece manga. Well, she has good taste in reading material at least! The child will now be forced to read a manga he may dislike due to name influence.

The Japanese public does not seem to agree that this was a good idea, claiming that the kanji used in Ace's name are too difficult to read correctly. What's your opinion on naming children after fictional characters? At the end of the day she may not be a model mother, but at least she didn't call him Apple.

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Since saladesu is out for a while, if you would like to help in finding and translating news of this nature, please contact Asahina via PM, or any staff. ^^ Please, feel free to PM Asahina any interesting bits of anime or manga news you find floating around the internet, too.