Ah My Goddess Volume 2 Copyright Manga Entertainment
It’s Monday, it’s 9 o’clock and that’s time for the latest anime DVD releases to hit the UK shops. This week there’s a very meagre amount for us to choose from and this is something that hits us every now and again, this time around the single volume to choose from is:
Next week doesn’t look much better either…
Terratag is one of the UK’s premier anime clothing retailers, with a diverse range of clothes with anime and non-anime themes their clothes are often spotted in various places in the world, Hollyoaks and many stars as well.
Every so often they create a brand new range of clothing and as with most major outlets they need to clear some stock so that they are able to get their new ranges of clothes out.
That means that there are 58 t-shirts and designs with up to 50% off of the normal price and for all orders over £30GBP you will also be sent a poster worth £10GBP as a nice little extra.
There’s no end date in sight for this offer, but buy up fast as it’s only available whilst stocks last.
You can view their website here.
Copyright E1 Entertainment
It has recently been confirmed by E1 Entertainment, that the CGI version of Astro Boy, which was on general release in the UK earlier on in the year, will have a DVD release date of the 31st May 2010. Astro Boy will have a standard definition and a Blu-Ray version release of the same day and it’s perfect timing for the half-term holidays in the UK.
Astro Boy features the voices of Nicholas Cage, Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell and Charlize Theron and the story centres around a young boy who’s father is one of the best scientific minds of the day. Unfortunately, his son is in love with science as well and sneaks into one of his experiments that goes horribly wrong and leaves his father grief stricken. In an attempt to pacify his greif he brings his son back to life as a robot only to discover that it’s not the same person and turns his back on him. Astro Boy is then left feeling dejected and turns his back on the world he knows to only find out that he really loves it in the end.
Astro Boy is a great film and is a perfect for all of the family.
Copyright Beez Entertainment
Code Geass is an eagerly anticipated anime which is going to be released by Beez Entertainment and has recently been delayed slightly due to the BBFC. What was not confirmed at the time was why this delay was occurring, it has now come to light thanks to the eagle eyed work of Sheentaku and UK Anime News Network that the BBFC have demanded a 1 second cut to Episode 10 of the UK edition of Code Geass.
The justification of this removal from the BBFC is as follows:
Company [Beez Entertainment] was required to remove a shot likely to encourage an interest in underage sexual activity (in this case a young girl in the background of a shot suggesting sexual activity). Cut made in accordance with BBFC Guidelines, policy and the Video Recordings Act 1984.
Beez Entertainment have made this cut and have agreed to the terms of what the BBFC have advised. However, it has since come to light that this cut is far less than one second and is likely only to be a single frame. The offending frame has been confirmed by Andrew Partridge, the UK representative of Beez Entertainment as:
…what was cut was one second and was a static image on Anya’s phone in a scene. It’s not integral to the plot and we’re as annoyed as you are as it delays the release a little!
On the Anime UK News forums.
Thanks to the joys of the internet, the offending image has now surfaced and can be found here. This cut is causing a bit of a stir on the many UK based anime forums in relation to censorship.
The BBFC’s website has full information regarding the cut here.
Source: UK Anime News Network and Anime UK News
The British Film Insensitive is a well known and well respected institution that is constantly on the lookout to air new and interesting films from the world to the normal people of the UK.
As if to honour their promise they will be hosting an Anime Weekend this May, from the 21-23rd May this year and will be airing a number of different and interesting films listed below.
Chocolate Underground
Based on the hit book Bootleg by British author Alex Shearer. The Good for You Party has won the election by promising health and happiness for all, but now they are in power they have announced the Prohibition law and chocolate, sweets and all things sugary are now illegal! Two boys, Huntley and Smudger, along with some friends, won’t accept this new law and, although it means risking capture by the robot enforcers and imprisonment, they begin to bootleg chocolate.
When: Sunday 23rd May 2010
Time: 1810
Where: BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, Waterloo, London, SE1 8XT
Book here.
Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone
Shinki Ikari is called for by his estranged father at the opening of this film and as he wanders around his town, which has been shut down due to an emergency announcement, he is caught in a crossfire between the United Nations and the fourth Angel. Rescued by one of the UN team, he is brought to the Tokyo-3 and NERV HQ where he is pressurised into becoming a pilot. His life is never the same again.
When: Friday 21st May 2010
Time: 1830
Where: BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, Waterloo, London, SE1 8XT
Book here.
Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance
Shinji Ikari is now a pilot and a new EVA pilot is on the loose and is trying to destroy third Angel. Shinki and Gendo who are grief strike at the time later reveals this information to them whilst the world as they know it seems to be under attack constantly. Human understanding changes significantly towards the end of the film due to Shinji’s efforts…
When: Friday 21st May 2010
Time: 2045
Where: BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, Waterloo, London, SE1 8XT
Book here.
Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva
Layton receives a record in the mail from a famed opera singer, Jenis Quatlane. Layton remind Luke of their adventure with her, and the flashback begins. After the events of Professor Layton and the Specter’s Flute, Layton receives a letter from a former student of his, Jenis Quatlane. Jenis writes that she is performing at an opera house called the Crown Petone, and there have been many strange things happening. ~ Wikipedia
When: Sunday 23rd May 2010
Time: 2010
Where: BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, Waterloo, London, SE1 8XT
Book here.
Stormy Night
A goat named Mei wanders into a barn during the night for shelter from a storm. In the barn, the goat finds another refugee. The two can neither see nor smell each other, yet huddled together fending off the cold, they begin to talk and eventually develop a friendship. They decide to meet at a later time using the password “one stormy night”. The next day, when the two meet, Mei learns that his companion from the night before was a wolf named Gabu. Despite the fact that the two are naturally supposed to be enemies, they share a bond and begin meeting regularly. However, Mei’s flock and Gabu’s pack eventually find out about this and forbid their friendship. Mei and Gabu, hoping to preserve their friendship, cross a river during a storm, hoping to find an “emerald forest” free from persecution for their friendship. ~ WikipediaWhen: Saturday 22nd May 2010
Time: 1500
Where: BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, Waterloo, London, SE1 8XT
Book here.
Welcome to the Space Show
The epic adventure about five children’s summer vacation and the events and adventures that they find themselves on along the way.
When: Saturday 22nd May 2010
Time: 1730
Where: BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, Waterloo, London, SE1 8XT
Book here.
For full information, check out the BFI’s website here.
The world is a filthy, evil place. Harbouring people with no morals, love or sense of decency, it’s time for things to change. Unluckily for the criminals of the world, the Shinigami Ryuk has accidentally dropped his Notebook onto Earth from the Death World and a teenage Light has managed to pick it up and he is about to cleanse the world.
Death Note is already well known to almost all of the anime community, despite only making across to the UK in 2009; it’s been widely followed, admired and discussed about for many years. Something that not many anime can achieve, it’s so widespread that there have been a number of “copycat” incidents in the media where people have actually penned their own “Death Notes” books with people they hate – naturally this has led to the mass media trying to use Death Note as some sort of scapegoat for society’s wider problems.
Death Note focuses primarily on the lead character, Light who is a teenage prodigy with a strong sense of morality and what the world should be like. Due to this intelligence he easily believes that he could play at being God, a task that is given to him in the first episode as he finds a notebook with instructions. These instructions are very sinister, write someone’s name in the notebook and that person will die. As with most decent people, he dismisses it as something that’s disgusting but is also tempted to use this tool. He decides that he’s going to test it on someone who deserves to die – a most wanted criminal.
To his surprise it works, and to further this level of shock he is met with a Shinigami (Death God in Japan) called Ryuk who explains how to use the Death Note, mostly because he wants to see what’s going on and as he’s got an affinity with apples.
It doesn’t take long for the police to realise that someone is killing off criminals around the world and brings in someone to try and help – L. L is a criminal’s worst nightmare, with a sickly look about him and an almost Sherlock Holmes power to deduct everything from the word go and play the game at the same time he’s easily the hero of the series.
The plot itself moves around at a very quick pace, with plenty of subplots running concurrently and with an expanded but brilliantly placed cast Death Note manages to capture the viewer’s interest in the first episode. Rather than the series peaking at the start and the end it manages to keep the suspense running throughout the entire series – not an easy feat. Especially as this is a 37 episode series that’s essentially a murder-mystery show. At no point do the cast seem mechanical, forced or unbelievable. Even the characters that are seemingly perfect, such as Light or L are fallible and these fallacies are shown in the most catastrophic ways – something that would often occur to people who are “better” than everyone else.
Of course, to keep the plot moving along there are a few twists and turns that are expected a little and towards the middle of the series it becomes hard to picture how the show will continue with its momentum. It’s at this point a coup de grâce is delivered to one of the key characters and the entire show’s dynamic changes and some of the other characters start to “slip” a little, it’s at this point the viewer is able to start predicting the end of the show; however unsuccessful they may be at it.
Death Note manages to toy with the audience throughout the entire show, with promises of scenes that do not occur but make the viewer beg for more of what was delivered instead. At no point does the show let the viewer take a back seat and simply guide them through the world, it’s shock after shock with blows to the gut that leave the audience gasping.
The characters are well designed, with all of the “other-worldly” creatures designed in a way to show that it’s clear that they are the same specie, but each are unique as humans are. The humans in Death Note also all look different – another rarity from the anime world. The support cast are all designed well and the actual colouration of the scenes and the characters is done brilliantly. A keen eyed viewer will be able to spot that the colours change throughout the show, with the backgrounds darker and lighter at different points to accurately reflect the situation at hand.
The casting of the voice actors of the Japanese cast is perfect, there is emotion and depth in the acting, and the English voice cast attempt to match this but miss but a smidgen but the English dub is still a great dub and well worth watching.
9
Death Note has clearly has many influences: it’s part horror, part tragedy and part detective drama. With the lead character being a super smart, super athletic teenager with maniacal tendencies, it’s easy to dismiss Death Note as its plot is weird and its lead character is boring. However, this would be a grave mistake. Death Note is easily one of the best anime to be released in the 2000s.
Copyright Karl and Terratag
In Japan there are hundreds, if not thousands of designs that feature random bits of English on clothes. When an English person sees this it’s often something to make fun of as Engrish. In the UK the direct opposite has been happening a lot recently, with oriental characters appearing on clothes more and more frequently.
So for the most part, online designer and retailer Terratag have bucked the trend and taken everything a step further and are designing clothes with an Eastern theme and with anime themes.
As Terratag are so lovely and they want to show everyone some love in these chocolatey times they’re doing a little promotion. Free shipping on all items purchased before the 12th April 2010.
Terratag are in dozens of retailers across the country and their designs and quality are top-notch – I can personally vouch for this as I have a good few items of clothing from Terratag which wash well, don’t fade and deliver very quickly.
You can check on Terratag’s designs here.
It was recently confirmed that Manga Entertainment have gained the license to release two new movies in the UK, the confirmed release dates for one movie has not been confirmed yet; the other is due shortly. Those two films are:
Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai Movie
Based around the real life Japanese swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi, author of The Book of Five Rings this Oshii/Production IG film’s plot is still to be 100% confirmed to English audiences.Release: Unknown
Eureka Seven – good night, sleep tight, young lovers Eureka Seven – good night, sleep tight, young lovers Movie
Renton and Eureka are both children who are somewhat of an oddity. Remton raised by scientists and Eureka who can’t live under the sun are very attached to one another and this attachment is put to the test when Eureka is taken from Renton – who is powerless to stop it. He vows to get Eureka back one way or another.Release: 19th July 2010
Format: Standard Definition and Blu-Ray
Manga Entertainment have recently been picking up a lot of anime films and this just shows their continued commitment to the UK scene.
Source: Manga Entertainment’s Twitter via AUK News
It’s recently been confirmed that at the Leeds Young People Film Festival that the following two anime’s will be showing in April:
Chocolate Underground
When: Saturday 3rd April
Time: 1900
Where: Hyde Park Picture House
Price: Under 19 – £2.50, Over 19 – £4.50, Over 19 with an under 19 – £3.50
The Sky Crawlers
From one of the most acclaimed manga filmmakers of all time comes Sky Crawlers, a story set in an alternative history where the world is at peace and realistic dogfights are staged to appease an aggressive population. Genetically designed Kildren are created to be the fighter pilots in these displays, never ageing until shot down in air battles. When his beautiful commander is reluctant to discuss what happened to his predecessor, new pilot Yuichi becomes determined to find the secret behind the Kildren and the battles.
When: Sunday 4th April
Time: 1900
Where: Hyde Park Picture House
Price: Under 19 – £2.50, Over 19 – £4.50, Over 19 with an under 19 – £3.50
This is great news as both are brilliant films and the second one is due out very shortly in the UK.
To book tickets and for more information, visit the Leeds Young People Film Festival’s website here.
Via Anime UK News
Initially a very successful twelve volume manga, Gravitation has now been adapted into an anime series that’s thirteen episodes. It’s been released as four separate volumes and now available as a single boxset. Directed by Bob Shirohata and distributed by MVM Entertainment in the UK, this anime is primarily about one young man keen to become Japan’s next successful Pop Idol in a band called Bad Luck. However, this simple plan runs into a few problems when the lead character meets another young, sexy, cool and bad tempered man who gets in the way of his plans.
Shuichi, the lead character, is a cute, ambitious young man with dreams of becoming a world renowned Pop Idol with his band: Bad Luck. Yet, in the first episode he finds himself in a bit of a rut, uninspired, struggling with his lyrics and on top of this, he’s got studio deadlines to meet. Bad Luck or good luck, whilst taking a walk with these lyrics he stumbles into a far darker, cooler and sexy young man named Eiri Yuki, who just so happens to be a famous and grumpy novelist. He sees these lyrics and has got plenty of things to say about them, and not all of his feedback is positive or seen as constructive. Despite this unfriendly start, Shuichi becomes a victim of the nasty side of Eiri and the clearly infatuated Shuichi has his emotions ripped apart by Eiri. Whilst all of this is happening, his music career isn’t exactly moving forward either. The storyline isn’t the first of its kind, but it still gets a thumbs up for originality due to its unusual love story.
There is a fairly large cast of characters, all ranging from humours to serious. A lot of the auxiliary characters are very generic and it’s mostly the main characters that have any form of character development and even that is on that slim side. Shuichi is a typical lolli-shota character, young looking, happy-go-lucky and wears his heart on his sleeve; whereas Eiri Yuki is a darker, more distant character, full of maturity and great one-liners. Their relationship could be compared in many ways to that of Hunni-chan and Mori from Ouran High School Host Club; except for the “adult” relationship between Eiri Yuki and Shuichi. The two are opposite ends of personalities yet form a confusing and unbreakable bond. Even by the third volume, Eiri Yuki’s personality is confusing. He never lets on what he is truly thinking and to make him all the more mysterious he has a hidden past that’s not revealed until later episodes, a hidden past that holds some very deep, dark secrets. The rest of the characters are completely forgettable and for a band that’s attempting to be the next big thing, the rest of Bad Luck are dull and characterless.
The quality of the voice acting cast in English isn’t too bad, the key characters have got good, somewhat-unique voices and they are easily understandable. The Japanese cast are much better in this situation, with their voices matching the characters in a better way; however, both tracks are watchable. The subtitles are also well done, the positioning is good and the majority of the “extra” bits of information, such as signs, are translated for the most part as well – something that’s being dropped from a lot of releases at the moment.
The character designs are fairly good. Each character is clear, distinct and almost glows. With plenty of costume changes, close up shots and singing there’s many chances to cost-save, but for the most part they’ve avoided this. The actual quality of the animation is just about average, with a few extended “sweeping” shots where nothing’s actually moving and it’s rare to see more than one character moving at the same time.
In reality it’s all about music, it’s about sexy men, big hair, soap opera worthy relationships, bright colours and sparkles. It’s very obvious whose attention this anime is trying to grab just by its imagery. It’s funny, filled with heart throbbing moments and the occasional adult humour.
6
Far from being the best anime in the world and although it can be a little slow, it’s certainly a watchable show. Gravitation is ideal for an audience that craves gorgeous men in love, music, love, teasing and something to giggle at.
“Gunparade March” originally started out as ,a video game for Playstation. Due to its huge award winning success, it was later featured as a twelve episode anime series and also a three part manga. The anime version of Gunparade March was produced by J.C.Staff and broadcast on MBS in February 2003 and April 2003 in Japan and only recently made it’s way across to the UK. It is comparable with many other animes, such as: Gundamn Wing, Baldr Force EXE and bizarrely enough, Tenchi Muyo.
The opening of the first few episodes gives a brief but detailed description of what is happening in a fictional world, where alien life forms known as the Genjyu have taken over control of the world and people have been living in fear of these creatures since the late 1940s. Rather than being intelligent life forms, the Genjyu are no more than parasites, spreading across the world at an incredible rate and leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. To try and battle these creatures, all modern forms of warfare have been employed and it would appear that not even a Nuclear bomb is able to disperse the creatures and prevent full invasion. As such the use of these powerful weapons have left the planet poisoned with radiation. Yet the aliens continue to live on whilst the human race struggles to live ordinary lives alongside them.
On first impression this anime is nothing special, it could even be described as cookie-cutter. The storyline, though interesting, would only appeal to one type of audience – the sort that love guns, machines and robots thrown in for good measure. Not to forget the Genjyu, who are huge, vicious aliens that can only be destroyed by a monster fighting-weapon-laden-robot, the Humanoid Unit AMTT-500, who incidentally looks a little like Metriod. This is all discovered in the first episode and not to mention a bit of bloodshed to seal the deal for those out there that judge an entire anime within the first twenty minutes.
However, by the second episode the story widens out a little and it can entice a much larger audience. It becomes humorous, with typical characters with similarities that can be found from across the Sci-fi genre and a few others to boot, such as a cute girl like Sasami from Tenchi Muyo. The storyline has pulled on inspiration from Tenchi Muyo with a lot of action, but with a lot of comical every day life moments thrown in. There is plenty of time to get to know the history and the lives of the characters, which the first few episodes spends a lot of time doing.
The main characters are actually young adults still in a Training school where they are taught to use the Humanoid Unit AMTT-500. These students treat the Genjyu invasion like an everyday thing, laughing and discussing more ordinary concerns such as having a boyfriends and homework. The characters seem to vary from very serious, to flirtatious, Lolashota to playful. As could be expected from teenagers, some of the subject matter isn’t always family friendly and the humour can be a little crude now and again.
The artwork is nothing out of the ordinary, with a pleasing look but the characters are all a little generic however the backgrounds and the characters themselves have enough detail. The animation quality is fairly good, although there are an awful lot of still shots of space, robots and a lot of close-ups of people talking but with little movement. The voice acting is very standard, almost forgettable on the whole and the Japanese cast isn’t much different either.
7
A good opening to a series, although the first episode will lead many fans away from the series who would probably end up liking later episodes in the volume.
Sci-Fi-London frequently run a little event called the Anime All-Nighter. Each time the shows that are aired are different and this time around they’ve been confirmed as:
This is not a guarantee though as Sci-Fi-London have stated that the running order is subject to change and it’s not unusual for additions to be made last minute.
Running in conjunction with Manga Entertainment, this event is sure to be booked up very early on so make sure you check out Sci-Fi-London’s official website here.
Source: Sci-Fi-London forums via UK Anime Network
As with every Monday there are a number of new releases from the anime companies across the UK, some weeks we have a deluge of anime and other weeks it’s a little scarce on the ground. This week, we fall into the latter although the anime that is being released in of a great quality. Those two animes are:
These two animes are now out for you to purchase from all good retailers immediately, we have listed the best price available for these shows and a link to the retailer above.
Beez Entertainment limited today confirmed via their official Twitter page, that Code Geass R2 Set 1 will be released in the UK in May.
Code Geass R2 Set 1
Release Date: 24th May 2010
Discs: 3 disc boxset
Price: £39.99 RRP
It’s also been confirmed that unlike in the USA, the series will be released in two boxsets, currently slated to contain three DVDs a piece. Currently Code Geass R2 is only available to preorder with hmv, which you can do by clicking here for £28.99.
Our friend’s over at the Anime League are always looking into new ways to try and expand the Anime market in the UK and this is generally done in the form of meet-ups throughout the year. Their ambition is to have some form of anime convention or event in every county in the country, this lofty goal will not be met without the help of people like us.
Anime League is a non-profit making entity and requires our help, they recently sent through a press release detailing their ambitions and goals and have asked it to be shared with you – the reader.
MEETS TO BE EXPANDED
We shall be expanding our meet-structure over the next few months. Our plan is to cover every single region in the UK. As you may be aware, we already run a lot of meets (approximately 30 last year). The new plans will see over 50 meetups be run per year. Crucially the meets will happen regularly in EVERY region of the country.
We have split the UK into seven regions – Scotland, North-East, North-West, Midlands, East-Anglia, Wales/South-West & London/South-East.
Each region will have it’s own head-organiser and up to six meetup organisers working underneath them.
These regions will have a meet every two months – Scotland, North-East, North-West, East-Anglia and Wales/South-West
These regions will have a meet every month – London/South-East and The MidlandsOfficial Meetups will be designed to have between 15 to 50 people attending them. We also welcome people to create their own smaller unofficial meetups.
COSPLAY PICNICS CONFIRMED AS REGULAR EVENTS
On top of all this, we will also be running four free Cosplay Picnics per year in London, and cosplay picnics taking place elsewhere as well (such as the upcoming Cosplay Picnic event in conjunction with AniMedia-East in East-Anglia). We will also be running regular monthly clubs in both London and Birmingham.
The next cosplay picnic for London will be announced within the next week. Expect it to be Easter-themed!
MONEY MADE FROM OUR EVENTS ARE PUT BACK INTO OUR FREE MEETS AND EVENTS
All of our cosplay picnics will have free food and drink (and are free entry), and we are looking toward doing other very fun events for anime fans as well. We can afford to do this thanks to our other larger events. AL is a non-profit making entity, so we always intend to give any money made back to the fans in subsequent events.
WE’RE LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS! JOIN OUR CREW!
As part of our major expansion, we are looking for volunteers to help organise meets and events. If you have previously organised a meet/event or have an interest, please do get back to us! We are always looking for more people to bring into the fold, even if they’re currently uninvolved with AL. Signup in this topic here – http://www.animeleague.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=107086
MEETS TO BE PLACED ON THE ANIMELEAGUE MAIN-SITE
In future we will be placing links to all of our meetups on the Animeleague Front-page located at www.animeleague.net under Upcoming Meets on the left-hand side. This will be regularly updated, so make sure to regularly check our main site (and hopefully forums as well – we’re a very friendly and fun community) to see if there’s a meetup coming up in your local area!”
So if you’re interested, please contact Anime League directly.
