source: http://www.sakura-taisen.com/ova5_newyork.html
Gonzo and AIC will produce a new Sakura Wars miniseries called Sakura Taisen New York, NY. Volume 1 of the series drops April 4 in Japan.
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Viz Media to release DVDs of Death Note anime on top of downloads.
source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-01-13/death-note-release-won
Viz Media will release the Death Note anime on DVD in addition to its previously announced series of downloads. Viz has not yet announced specific release dates for either the downloads or DVDs. Earlier in the month, Viz Media has signed an agreement with Nippon Television Network Corporation to offer the Death Note anime via digital downoad in America.
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Comic Gumbo: Japan's First Free Manga Weekly
The Mainichi Daily News reports on Comic Gumbo, Japan's first ever free weekly manga magazine, will hit the streets next week. Venture Publisher Dejima will start handing out Comic Gumbo from Tuesday next week, giving comic fans two complete stories and 11 series features, featuring such manga-ka as Tatsuya Egawa (who will give his own interpretation of novelist Soseki Natsume's classic "Botchan"), Motoka Murakami, Hiroyuki Yoshida and Shuho Itabashi. Dejima plans to produce 100,000 copies per issue, handing them out to the target readership of men in their 20s to 40s on Tuesdays and Wednesdays each week. Gumbo will be distributed during busy periods in the morning and afternoon mostly at stations along the Yamanote Line, but will handed out at about 30 stations in the Tokyo area as far as Omiya, Yokohama and Chiba stations. Gumbo will have 230 pages, about half the number of popular manga books, with around 26 pages devoted to ads. It will also be available free online.
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MomoCon 2007 Unveiled!
source: www.momocon.com
Anime O-Tekku of Georgia Tech is pleased to announce the return of Momocon, an annual anime/gaming/comics convention held in Atlanta, GA, March 17-18, 2007 at the Georgia Tech Student Center and Instructional Center. The convention is free of charge to all attendees and family friendly, so people of all ages are encouraged to attend!
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Cream Lemon Actress Azumi Muto Brutally Murdered
source: http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/face/news/20070112p2g00m0dm025000c.html
Student and aspiring 20-year-old actress Azumi Muto's brutally hacked and mutilated body was stuffed into four garbage bags found inside her home in Tokyo's Shibuya-ku. Shortly after Azumi's remains were discovered on Jan. 3, her 21-year-old brother, Yuki, also a student trying to get into dental college, was arrested for her murder on Dec. 30.
She also starred in the direct-to-DVD movie "Cream Lemon," which gave a disturbingly prophetic view of her untimely demise.
"Cream Lemon" told the story of step-siblings in love, and is extremely popular among Japan's otaku geeks. Originally a manga series that ran into hundreds of editions with each story focusing on an incestuous relationship between a young man and a younger sister, "Cream Love" was also made into a hit feature film in 2004. Azumi starred in one of the movie's low budget sequels, which ended with a female character wailing in ecstasy as she engaged in incestuous sex with her brother. It was while making this film that Azumi apparently began to worry about her older brother.
Now my condolences to Muto-san's fans and friends. Sorry, not sure what to say about the family and will keep it at that. A tragedy no matter what.
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Ghibli to work with foreign director?
source: www.ghibliworld.com
In an interview with Sports Hochi, Studio Ghibli President Toshio Suzuki mentioned that the company plans to work with a foreign animation director in the future. No further details are available.
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Stills from Sergei Bodrov's Mongol
source:http://kino-express.ru/stills/mongol
One anticipated films to come our way, Mongol is the Russian financed and directed Genghis Khan bio-pic produced by Bill Kong - his previous credits include Crouching Tiger, Hero and House of Flying Daggers - and starring Japanese cult icon Tadanobu Asano as the Khan himself. While there is still no footage available anywhere there are, however, a great many new stills from the film. Can't wait.
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Song Kang Ho Plays Infected Priest
source:http://www.kfccinema.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1168396369&archive
Park Chan-wook's next project will be the long awaited vampire project he hinted about in 2004. In Park Chan-wook's Upcoming Vampire Film Evil Live , it was revealed that Song Kang Ho will be playing a priest who has been infected. Based on early interviews done last year. It is not clear if Song Kang Ho's character has already been infected or if he is slowly becoming a Vampire.
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Kim Ah-Jung doing well with 200 pounds.
source: http://www.nt2099.com/J-ENT/news/category/korean-entertainment-news/
The actress Kim Ah-jung is the new star on the local film and pop music scenes. Everywhere, people are talking about her role in the movie “200 Pound Beauty” and singing the theme song of the film. The movie drew more than 4 million moviegoers in only 20 days since its release on Dec. 14. The theme song has dominated all popular song charts. It is a megaton bomb of a success given that Kim had not played a leading role or sung a song in a movie since she debuted in 2004. Well then, way to go Ah-Jung!
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Lee Min-Young and Lee Chan nasty divorce.
source:http://english.chosun.com/
The number of divorces due to spousal violence is on the rise, a trend vividly depicted by the separation after just 12 days of marriage of actress Lee Min-young and actor Lee Chan. Korean women today are increasingly likely to dissolve their marriage when they discover their husbands are violent, unlike previous generations of women who simply suffered the abuse.
Many women are no longer willing to withstand violence or violent language at home, opting increasingly for divorce. Experts say this is because the perception of violence has changed greatly amongst Korean women. "While many Korean men are still of a chauvinistic mindset, thinking 'my wife provoked me,' or 'she deserves a beating,' many Korean women have changed. They won't stay with a violent husband for any reason," Park So-hyun, a counselor with the Korean Legal Aid Center for Family Relations (KLACFR), says. Good call, ladies!
