The Anime Blog – We Go Beyond Anime!

2008 was a very strange year for the anime and manga industry. It seemed like both anime and manga took big hits- with publishers closing, reduced selections of titles, the failure of a major live action adaptation and other troubles. But the good news underneath it all is that anime is alive and well online [...]

Last month was full of some groundbreaking anime news. Some of the highlights include a Celebration of the 80th Anniversary of Tezuka Productions; a new Tenchi Muyo! anime spinoff Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari that is currently in production; a possible drama version of Kami no Shizuku (Les Gouttes de Dieu or The Drops of God); [...]

Director Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell & The Sky Crawlers) has a couple of projects which will keep him busy through the Summer of 2009.
The first project is a new theatrical stage adaptation of Mitsuteru Yokoyama’s Tetsujin 28 manga. Oshii-san will be writing the script as well as making his stage-directing debut.

Anime Insider Magazine Issue 59 is now out. There’s a great opening article about how the anime industry is embracing Blu-ray DVDs, an in-depth look at Gurren Lagann and more!
The August 2008 features include:

Racing For Time – The chase is on in as Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle continues the journey in season 2. By Gia Manry
Master [...]

In early June, Tokyopop announced that they would be restructuring their company. Publishing operations would still be handled by Tokyopop, Inc. However, a new company called Tokyopop Media LLC would be created.

The consolidation of US anime distributors is continuing. On July 1, Bandai Namco Holdings will combine Bandai Entertainment and Bandai Visual USA. The latter will be liquidated by the end of September.
Bandai Visual USA has been shrinking. As of April, they had only two employees. The company head, Tatsunori Konno, moved [...]

A recent Business Week article noted the rising popularity of manga in Europe. The article concentrated on France, Germany, and a brief mention of Britain. It mentioned that readers are looking increasingly toward the east for their comics rather than the west. Svenja Malis, an 18-year old German reader was quoted:
“I [...]

There was some shakiness to the start of the 2008 New Year, so let’s get the bad news out of the way first:
Viz Discontinues MAR Anime Series

Viz Media has discontinued DVD releases for the MAR anime series after volume 4. This was originally reported by AnimeOnDVD and later picked up by ANN. When [...]