News for 18 Feb 2000

New Tezuka Anime
Following the precedents of Nippon TV's late night anime shows like BERSERK and MASTER KEATON, a third title is in production now. This new show will take us to the end of Edo period, full of samurai, the demise of the old Japan, and hope for the future of Japan with the appearance of the American "black ships" that sailed into Tokyo Bay in 1868.
Based on the manga by late Tezuka Osamu, the great master of manga and anime (creator of TESTUSWAN ATOM (ASTROBOY), BLACKJACK, and ADOLF), HIDAMARI NO KI (THE TREE IN THE SUN) is about people who were thrown into the turmoil of Japan stepping into the modern era. One of the two main characters is Ryo-an, Tezuka's real great grandfather who was a "ranpo-i," a doctor versed in Western medical science. The other is Manjiro, a lowly but a true samurai who believes in justice.
The series is directed by Sugi-i Gisaburo, with production by Madhouse. It will run for 25 episodes on Nippon TV beginning in April. (Source: Animage March issue)

Official X Website Launched
Manga Entertainment proudly announces the launch of the official X website at http://www.manga.com. With a live streaming video trailer courtesy of sputnik7.com for both RealPlayer and Windows Media Player and an official movie poster giveaway to the first 100 entrants, the Manga Entertainment X website will wow animation fans from the new audience fueled by the release of PRINCESS MONONOKE and POKÉMON to the die-hard anime aficionados.
The supernatural thriller X, with a top of the Japanese pop-charts theme song, is the first anime film designed by the all-female studio, CLAMP. X is directed by Rintaro, who has been working in anime for over 30 years and is best known in the U.S. for directing the TV series KIMBA THE WHITE LION and ASTRO BOY.
X will hit NY and LA theatres on March 24th and then unspool in the rest of the country throughout April and May.

RURONI KENSHIN News
Media Blasters has announced their plans for the retail release of fan favorite RURONI KENSHIN. The release formats will be dubbed VHS and dual-language DVD. Citing cost issues, Media Blasters has decided that they will not produce subtitled VHS tapes. Media Blasters wants to release eight episodes of the TV series per month on these two formats.

ADV Films Announces...
ADV announces the formation of ADV Fansubs^TM, a new release label which has been created to allow the release of quality subtitled video products directly to the fans who want them at an accelerated pace and attractive price structure. Releases will be available through ADV's website, mail order services, and convention sales. The first two titles to be released under the ADV Fansubs^TM label will be the CITY HUNTER television series and NADIA: THE SECRET OF BLUE WATER. Releases for both series will begin in March and will continue at the rate of approximately one volume per month. Each volume will contain four episodes and will be priced at $19.98.
ADV also announced the following new acquisitions: MONSTER RANCHER (home video release), SHIN GETTER ROBO, SORCEROUS STABBER ORPHEN, THE SAMURAI, the NADESICO movie THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS, ARC THE LAD, CHIVASS, MELTY LANCER, POWER STONE, and various live-action titles. ADV has also licensed EXCEL SAGA.
And finally, the next few months will also see the advent of ADV Music, which will release soundtracks from a wide range of popular anime titles at the rate of approximately four per month. Releases will consist of US pressing of existing Japanese soundtracks, as well as soundtracks from ADV's original animation projects such as SiN. Most releases will be priced at $14.00 SRP. The first four releases from ADV Music will be the AKIRA Symphonic Soundtrack, MACROSS II OST, MACROSS PLUS OST and MACROSS PLUS OST 2, all available soon.

MACROSS PLUS Toys Arrive This May
Over five years after its debut, the animated science fiction project MACROSS PLUS will have its first mass-produced toys. Toycom plans to release its YF-19 and YF-21 figures in North America in May, with its VF-11 Thunderbolt figure to follow in June. MACROSS story creator and mechanical designer Kawamori Shouji participated in the designing of the figures, which will be 1/72 scale, fully-articulated, and transformable.

Toycom's YF-19 figure.

Toycom plans to offer the toys through Diamond and traditional distribution channels for a suggested retail price of between $40 and $50. Yamato plans to distribute the figures in Japan in May or later for approximately ¥6000. Toycom also plans to release future toys based on THE SUPER DIMENSION FORTRESS MACROSS: DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE? movie (1984). (Sources: Toycom, Yamato. Images courtesy of Toycom.)

MACROSS Targets PlayStation, Dreamcast, GameBoy in Japan
MACROSS copyright owner Big West has authorized Shoeisha to develop MACROSS PLUS GAME EDITION, a Sony PlayStation game planned for a Spring release in Japan. It will not be a follow-up sequel to the previous VF-X line of PlayStation games, nor will it be a PlayStation 2-specific release. The first MACROSS PLUS video game was a 2D vertical-scrolling arcade game which Banpresto released in 1996. Big West had previously authorized a MACROSS Sega Dreamcast game (to be released by Shoeisha within the year 2000) and a MACROSS 7 Nintendo Color GameBoy game (to be released by Epoch in March 2000). No announcement for American release of these games have been made. (Sources: Big West, Shoeisha.)

Sunrise Preparing ESCAFLOWNE Movie Site
Sunrise is close to unveiling a site exclusively devoted to its upcoming ESCAFLOWNE THE MOVIE: A GIRL IN GAEA. Although Sunrise had initially planned a Spring theatrical release in Japan for the ESCAFLOWNE movie, it may have to delay those plans. The movie is a remake of THE VISION OF ESCAFLOWNE, a 1996 "new science fiction" romance drama series from Sunrise and Kawamori Shouji. Sunrise is planning a similar site for the COWBOY BEBOP movie. (Source: Sunrise.)

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