December 2008 News Highlights

On December 9, Bandai Namco Games released a variant of a karaoke machine using its Afrec! technology. Instead of having fans add their voices to music, Afrec! allows fans to voice over anime segments. The machine was released under the Joysound label.

The process for the seiyuu wannabe has three steps:

1. Select one of the anime scenes offered on the Karaoke monitor.
2. Voice over the selected scene using the words that are shown, trying to synchronise with the character’s lip movements.
3. After the recording is made, it is rendered with the animation. The fans now can watch their masterpiece.

Currently, fans may choose from scenes taken from six anime:

• Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space
• Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Owaranai Asu E (Episode 50)
• From the Apennines to the Andes (aka 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother)
• Conan, The Boy in Future (aka Future Boy Conan)
• Tales of the Abyss
• Tales of Destiny (RPG)

A prototype of the machine was shown in March of 2008 at the Tokyo International Anime Fair.

Incidentally, the name Afrec! comes from “afureko”, a term used in Japan for dialog dubbing done after the video has been made. This is roughly analogous to the term ADR (Automatic Dialog Recording) used in the US.

Prototype Image: ©AFP/Yoshikazu TSUNO

KatanaXtreme (tranlation of AnimeAnime article): You can be a voice actor? Karaoke JOYSOUND to start new service of voice over experience

Japanese Source: AnimeAnime

Bandai Namco Games Press Release

ANN Article (3/29/08): Bandai to Sell “Karaoke” Unit for Dubbing Anime Scenes

Japanese Source: AFP/BB News

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In July 2008, some information was leaked from the animation studio BONES that there might be a Hagane 2 (the Japanese title for Fullmetal Alchemist is Hagane no Renkinjutsushi which translates as Alchemist of Steel). This was confirmed a month later on the wraparound jacket band of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga’s 20th volume.

More recently, the official website for the upcoming Fullmetal Alchemist TV series was launched and Japanese broadcaster TBS ran a trailer for the series after the December 7, 2008 airing of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season. The series will air on the MBS/TBS network in Japan starting in April 2009.

There has been much speculation on whether the new series will be a continuation of the first series or a restart. Supposedly more information from the same source as the July leak was released stating that the series would be a restart; it would be a 50+ episode series; and it would be in the same time slot as Code Geass R2 and Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season. This was from a message board posting. I currently have not been able to get independent verification that this second leak exists, so there is no guarantee that this information is correct and may just be a fan’s wishful thinking.

Fans of the manga are hoping the new series is a restart and that it will follow the manga. The first series followed the manga closely for about the first half of the 51 episodes, but had to diverge since it was catching up to the manga source material. The movie sequel to the first series provided some closure and the short Hagaren “Kids” OVA* (which celebrated Ed’s 100th birthday) appeared to bring the series to a close. From this perspective, a restart following the manga makes more sense than a continuation of the first series. We should know shortly what path BONES will take.

*NOTE: On January 10, Fanboyreview.net reported that FUNimation has acquired the rights to the Fullmetal Alchemist: Premium Collection OVA set which includes “Kids”. The report also says that FUNimation is in the process of dubbing the collection. The other three OVAs included in the collection are “Seven Homunculi VS State Alchemists”, “Live Action”, and “Chibi Party”.

Images © Hiromu Arakawa/Fullmetal Alchemist Production Committee, MBS

ANN Story: New Fullmetal Alchemist TV Anime to Premiere in April (Update 3)

Japanese Source: Moon Phase Comments

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2008 was a rough year for Tokyopop. Last June, I wrote that the company had restructured and had laid off 39 of its US employees (about 35% to 40% of its staff at that time). The Beat (a blog of PublishersWeekly.com) had a couple of posts in December with more bad news about Tokyopop.

The December 2, 2008 post had a quick comment about layoffs at the LA office:

“Through the grapevine, we’ve heard that Tokyopop also laid off seven employees from their LA office, last month, including one editor, the CTO, the HR manager, and two others from Media.“

The December 12, 2008 post mentioned eight additional layoffs with comments by Tokyopop’s Marketing Director Marco Pavia who said that the current bad economy was to blame:

“It’s one of the worst selling periods in history. We’re trying to be responsive to the new realities, and unfortunately some very talented people have been cut.”

He said that the release schedule was going to be adjusted and that some releases would be spaced out more. Pavia insisted, however, that:

“Tokyopop is still in business, and we are still focusing on our core business.”

The Beat posts: Comic book layoffs: Devils Due, Tokyopop and More layoffs at Tokyopop

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There were several awards and recognitions for anime and manga announced in December.

Batman: Gotham Knight has been nominated for two Annie Awards…Best Animated Home Entertainment Production (in the Production Categories) and a nomination for Kevin Manthei – Music in an Animated Feature Production (in the Individual Achievement Categories). The production featured six shorts which follows Bruce Wayne through his transition from beginner vigilante to The Dark Knight and was a collaboration between Warner Brothers and three Japanese anime studios (Studio 4°C, Production I.G, and Madhouse).

The Annie Awards date back to 1972. They are awarded by the Hollywood Chapter of ASIFA (Association Internationale du Film D’Animation or, in English, The International Animated Film Society). The Annie Awards are meant to recognize outstanding animations that were originally released theatrically, appeared on television, or were exhibited in a film festival in the United States. The early awards were for individual achievement. In 1992, they added a Best Animated Feature category and in subsequent years they have added other Production Categories.

2005 was the last year a Japanese animation was nominated. That was Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle, which was nominated in the Best Animated Feature category. Another Miyazki film, Spirited Away, was the last Japanese animation to win an Annie…also in the Best Animated Feature category in 2002.

The 36th Annie Awards ceremony will be held on January 30 at Royce Hall in Los Angeles.

ANN Story: Batman: Gotham Knight Picks Up Two Annie Nominations

The School Library Journal’s Adult Books for High School Students Committee announced their selection of 30 titles published between September 2007 and November 2008 as the best for high school readers. The list included 13 fiction titles, 9 non-fiction titles, and 8 graphic novels. One of the graphic novels was a manga based on the life of blues man Robert Johnson… Akira Hiramoto’s Me and the Devil Blues, Vol. 1. The manga is a retelling of the legend where Robert Johnson sells his soul to the devil to become a master blues man.

The list was part of an SLJ article and the article also included a short description of the committee and their hopes for the list:

“The committee members are from public and school libraries across the United States and Canada, working with teens in urban, rural, and suburban settings. We are convinced that these titles will appeal to high school readers and provide a bridge into the vast world of adult publishing.“

ANN Story: Me and the Devil Blues Wins School Library Journal’s Award

SLJ Article: SLJ Presents the Best Adult Books for High School Students 2008

Dennou Coil, the 2007 NHK Educational TV series, has won another award. In early December, 2008, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of Japan awarded the 29th Nihon SF Taishou Award to Dennou Coil (anime) and to Yuusuke Kishi’s Shin Sekai Yori (novel). This award is roughly analogous to the Writer of America’s Nebula Awards.

The series is set in the near future (2026). Here is a brief synopsis from ANN’s Encyclopedia:

“Eleven years after the introduction of internet-connected, augmented reality eyeglasses and visors, Yuuko Okonogi moves with her family to Daikoku City, the technological center of the emerging half-virtual world. Yuuko joins her grandmother’s “investigation agency” comprised of children equipped with virtual tools and powerful metatags. She quickly crosses paths with Yuuko Amasawa, an expert hacker of the virtual environment, as Amasawa relentlessly seeks to “unlock” the mystery of a computer virus that emerges from an inaccessible corrupted space.“

Dennou Coil’s other awards include the Seiun Award from the 46th Japan Science Fiction Convention in August (roughly equivalent to the Hugo Awards given out at Worldcon), co-winner of the Television Category of the 7th Annual Tokyo Anime Awards held at the Tokyo International Anime Fair (it shared the honor with Gainax’s Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann), and an “Excellence Prize” in the 11th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards (sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of Cultural Affairs) last December. Director Mitsuo Iso also won an “Individual Award” at the 13th Animation Kobe Awards in September.

ANN Story: Dennou Coil Wins Award from Japanese Sci-Fi Writers (Updated)

Japanese Source: animeanime.jp

As mentioned above, Dennou Coil was a winner at the 11th Japan Media Arts Festival. The 12th Festival winners were announced in early December 2008. The Animation Division Grand Prize winner was Tsumiki no Ie (”The House of Small Cubes”), a 12 minute short which had already won the Annecy Cristal, the Grand Prize of France’s Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June 2008. The Manga Division Grand Prize winner was Piano no Mori by Makoto Isshi. A feature film with the same name was made in 2007 based on the manga.

For a list of all the winners, including the eight Excellence Prize winners (4 from each Division), go to the ANN story link below.

Piano no Mori image: ©KODANSHA Ltd. Publishers

ANN Story: Tsumiki no Ie, Piano Forest, Kaiba Win Media Arts Awards

Japanese Source: animeanime.jp

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For fans of the anime and live-action adaptations of Tomoko Ninomiya’s Nodame Cantabile manga, there were two pieces of good news in December.

First, the January issue of Tokuma Shoten’s Animage magazine has noted that a sequel to the Nodame Cantabile: Paris anime TV series has been given the green light for fall 2009. Nodame Cantablie: Paris is itself a sequel of the 2007 anime TV series Nodame Cantabile.

There was also an announcement in Issue 24 (2008) of Kodansha’s Kiss magazine that two live-action movies will be produced in 2010. The movies will continue the Paris arc which began in 2008’s Nodame Cantabile Shinshun Special in Europe. Both the TV special and the upcoming movies are a continuation of the 2006 live-action TV series Nodame Cantabile. Juri Ueno and Hiroshi Tamaki will reprise their respective roles as Nodame and Chiaki. The first film will open in January 2010, while the second film will open later in the spring of 2010.

For those unfamiliar with the music/romance series, here is a synopsis of the manga from the ANN Encyclopedia:

“At a top music academy in Japan, Shinichi Chiaki’s arrogance is matched only by his top-notch piano playing. But when Chiaki and the teacher get into a fight, he’s demoted to the reject class. Chiaki is left to pursue his dream of being a composer while surrounded by a bunch of loser musicians and one annoying girl, Noda, who has proclaimed herself Chiaki’s girlfriend. It doesn’t help that Noda, who insists on being called Nodame, lives right next door to him.“

ANN Stories: Sequel to Nodame Cantabile: Paris Green-Lit forFall 2009 (Update 2), 2 Live-Action Nodame Cantabile Films Green-Lit for 2010

Japanese Source (anime): 2ch

Japanese Source (live-action): Moon Phase Comments, AnPunch blog