PDA

View Full Version : A couple of new titles to look out for



Last Exile
26th February 2004, 06:33 AM
I learnt about both of these in the February issue of Newtype.

It seems Studio GONZO aren't simply going to rest on Chrno Crusade for no. They've got two new titles that will be out in the next few months, so watch out for these two!

Firstly, GONZO are taking a veyr big risk with their new anime series called Samurai 7. Sound familiar?! YEP! It's a modern reworking of Kurosawa's epic movie in an anime series form! The creators say expect of a lot fo swordfighting and stuff, but with a modern twist. Fighting animes have sucked of late, possibly excepting Naruto and Inuyasha (I said of late! I don't hate Rurouni Kenshin, but that is hardly recent!), so it will be interesting to see if GONZO can do justice to their take on Kurosawa's work.

Secondly, GONZO have decided to take a punt again by making their first movie ever. However, details and a release date on this are very sketchy. The name of the move is Spirit, and will be out this year, but when is anyone's guess! It is going to focus on what the essence of the 'ghost' aka the human soul is and what life is about. It seems it will focus on a boy by the name of Agito, who doesn't look that strong physically but is. One day he accidentally releases a woman that had been trapped in a machine for several centuries. After that, both of them are drawn into countless battles.

That's all I know about Spirit, except that GONZO have a really big budget to work with, probably around how much it cost to make Princess Mononoke. How this will turn out will be interesting. GONZO, along with J.C. Staff, have certainly been the major force in anime series in the last few years. But Studio Ghibli, thanks to Miyazaki-san, have certainly been the best at movies. Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, The Cat Returns, Porco Rosso, the list goes on.

Whether GONZO's latest ventures will be successful is anyone's guess. However, they have created Last Exile, Kiddy Grade, Full Metal Panic, Vandread, Hellsing, Chrno Crusade, Peace Maker Kurogame and Final Fantasy Unlimited over the last five years. Those titles speak for themselves in general. Still, they are taking a big risk with these two ventures. But with Full Metal Panic seeling well in the English-speaking market, Last Exile debuting very well on DVD and Kiddy Grade about to be released on DVD as well, they might as well strike while the iron is hot. We'd hardly want to see Ghibli and Sunrise rule the roost all the time, now would we? ;)

Azura Stardust
26th February 2004, 07:40 AM
Sounds cool!

Okay, about the movie thing, it's appeared in moon phase - a site that regularly updates with the latest and upcoming movies, ovas and tv anime series coming up in Japan. It's in Japanese, here : http://www.moonphase.cc/Html/anime.html

Under movies there's

2004
SPIRIT
ŠÄ“ : ™ŽRŒcˆę / Œ´ˆÄ : ”Ń“c”n”V‰î
‹r–{ : ‘şˆä‚ł‚ž‚ä‚Ť / ƒLƒƒƒ‰ƒfƒU : •ű„Žu
ƒƒJƒfƒU : ˆŔ“ĄŒŤŽiE‘O“c^G / ƒAƒjƒ§ě : GONZO

I don't have time to translate the names but I can't wait to see how flashy teh film will be. :) And I hope it will have some good substance this time!

An Astro Boy movie will be made in USA in July, apparently. ALso, there will be an (animated) t.A.T.u. film in November of 2004. At that time Ghibli's next movie Howl's Moving Castle will be released.


There apparently may be a galaxy angel movie coming up... I dunno, I got no time to say much else. Will update later. Oh wait:

here's a list of some gonzo titles ocming out this year

it's cut and paste japanese, sorry, I know some of you can read it so please translate:
04/06 RAGNAROK THE ANIMATION TV“Œ‹ž ‰Î / 25:30 ƒLƒƒƒ‰ƒNƒ^[Œ´ˆÄ : —›–˝i / ƒLƒƒƒ‰ƒfƒU : ŽÂŒ´Œ’“ń
‘S26˜b / ‰‰o : óˆä‹`”V / ƒAƒjƒ§ě : GONZO / ‘S39˜b website: http://www.ragnarokonline.jp/


2004/04 GANTZ AT-X Œ´ě : ‰œ_Ć / ŠÄ“ : ”–ěˆę˜Y / ƒAƒjƒ§ě : GONZO website: http://gantz.net/


2004/04 ”š—ô“VŽg ŠÄ“ : ‘唨Wˆę / ƒVƒŠ[ƒY\Ź : Žu–Εś•F
ƒLƒƒƒ‰ƒNƒ^[Œ´ˆÄ : ”’ˆŸ‰EŒŽ / ƒAƒjƒ§ě : GONZO website: http://www.baku-ten.com/

2004/04 SAMURAI 7 Œ´ě : •ŕV–ž / ŠÄ“ : ‘ę‘ň•q•ś / ‰‰o‹Ś—Í : ‚‹´—Ç•ă
ƒVƒŠ[ƒY\Ź : •x‰Ş~L / ƒLƒƒƒ‰ƒfƒU : ‘úg‘ô
ƒAƒjƒfƒU : ‹´–{‰pŽ÷ / ƒƒJƒfƒU : Ź—ѐ˝ / ƒAƒjƒ§ě : GONZO website: http://www.samurai-7.com/

2004 ŠâŒA‰¤ Šé‰ćEŠÄ“EƒLƒƒƒ‰Œ´ˆÄ : ‘O“c^G / ƒAƒjƒ§ě : GONZO no website

2004 ‰Ä ƒJƒŒƒCƒhƒXƒ^[ OVA Œ´ěEŠÄ“ : ˛“Ą‡ˆę / ƒAƒjƒ§ě : GONZO website: http://www.kaleidostar.jp/

The rest on the site are old or already finished series. Okay.

Last Exile
26th February 2004, 08:10 AM
Yeah, I heard about Howl Moving Castle. Miyazaki's the head of that one too, so it should be another Ghibli classic.

One of those titles Azura listed looks like an animation version of the Ragnarok Online RPG game. Is that correct? And Kaledio Star - hasn't that already gone for like 40 episodes already? I'm sure I read about it already in Newtype and seen tons of episode previews for it. Or is it something else?

I'm curious to see how GONZO will make Samurai 7 work. I think they can make Spirit work, but GONZO's speciality is the detailed 2-D characters vs digital computer-generated 3-D backgrounds. I don't see how they can keep that up with Samurai 7. Then again Kiddy Grade and Full Metal Panic were mainly 2-D, so I guess they can do it.

At least some 2004 titles are beginning to appear. I'm still far from being thrilled about 2004 anime though.

PS. Is anyone familiar with an OVA called Teizokurei Daydream? I read about it in the January edition of Newtype. It said it was coming out this year, and it looks really intriguing! It's about Misaki, a girl who can communicate with the spirits of the dead and kill ghosts for crime agencies. At night, she works at an S & M club, which sounds weird, but it's meant to have some spiritiual significance apparently. The producer said this anime would be about exploring the darker part of humanity and how some people find pleasure through pain. And the links to the spirit worlds and so forth will be explored as well. It looked interesting, but I;ve heard nothing else and seen nothing on torrents. Any help?

Azura Stardust
27th February 2004, 06:15 AM
Kaleidostar - yes, it has been on TV before iirc, but this is the OVA. :)

Ragnarok Online - Seems like it.

GONZO - If they put some creativity into how they animate, and work as hard as they have been doing for some parts of their series, I'm sure they can pull it off. What I want to see is how well they can handle the script and direction and such.

I would die to see any GONZO production directed by Satoshi Kon. Oh my...

Teizokurei Daydream: means Vulgar Spirit Daydream... yes, it's on this page but it's coming out only on the 25th of June.

Mentioned on bandai's website: http://www.bandaivisual.co.jp/dbeat/magazine/sokuho/index.html#teizoku