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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Anime Hype: Animes To Look Out For at the Anime Conventions

Before the big conventions it's strange to hear acquisitions and licenses  for new properties to come out, but it just might tell you what swag or what the big anime publisher will be showing of at AX and AM2. Now you might know what people are dress as too.


Is This A Zombie?, Panty and Stocking, Princess Jellyfish


The terrible tale of two dirty angels is coming out in 2012, but hopefully Funimation has some posters and goodies for their future release. Here's my whole breakdown of the show Also coming from Funimation "Is This a A Zombie?" a teenage boy is killed by a serial killer, resurrected as a zombie servant to a cute girl and starts taking her powers. Sounds strange, but interesting and looks like plenty of fan service. Princess Jellyfish is about Japanese nerd girls, I really enjoyed learning about the variations of nerds in Japan and there use of what hipsters are like.

Two anime movies were also acquired
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos and Trigun Badlands Rumble, both well known series with brand new animation fit for the big screen.


 Two live action film they've acquired stand out to me Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City and City Under Siege, both premises are ridiculous. Taking just after the strange movie Zebraman 1,  Zebraman has lost his memory and know Tokyo has changed it's named to Zebra City. the love of Zebraman has inspired zebraman time where citizens themselves beat up bad guys, but are they really beating up bad guys at all, and aliens are involved. City Under siege  has circus performers gaining superpowers after some secret WW2 gas infects them and destroying a city.



Squid Girl

Squid Girl has been acquired by Media Blasters, I've reviewed this series before and I'm glad to hear it's coming stateside. A squid girl tries to unsuccessfully conquer the world and become more of a cute annoying family member. I'm somewhat afraid of it not being dubbed, because media blasters sometimes likes to leave works as is. The series just got the go ahead for a second series in Japan.

Arakawa Under the Bridge and Katanagatari

Another favorite anime of mine coming stateside from NIS America This series funny characters of weird people that live under a bridge with baffling art and direction makes this series so enjoyable. There is a budding romance between Nino an air-headed young woman who believes she a Venusian alien and a corporate business man who believe he shouldn't owe anyone anything. The cast of weirdos aren't your typical homeless, they have to much have ordinance and charisma and dress quite well. The series design , music, sense of style and jokes all flow together like the river of Arakawa that brings them together. I wanted a dub, but blu-ray quality is nice, too.

Katanagatari blends simplistic design with a Japanese history lesson, really about a man who doesn't use a sword to get magical swords to help a cute girl out. Yasuri and Togame go on a quest to get magical swords to show to the emperor. It's really a love story between the two with some excellent fights.



Durarara!!

I reviewed the series a little while back and posted when it got picked up by Adult Swim, I've seen characters from this in Artist Alley and cosplayed for a while now. Aniplex will be probably showing off or possibly adult swim to get you excited about this one


 Tiger and Bunny and Hatsune Miku


Viz is grabbing some featured names here Tiger and Bunny is about a team of Superhero partners, in a city with Superhero endorsed games, the superheroes are endorsed by real world sponsors like pepsi. The other strange thing is Tiger and Bunny are both guys and hate each other.

On the other they grabbed Hatsune Miku which isn't anime, but a anime idol and the virtual idol you"ll be seeing in concert if you got tickets for her sold out show

Viz is celebrating it's 25 anniversary July 7 a few days after the conventions so except to see some fan fare at their booth showing off Bleach, Death Note and Naruto and there newly acquired properties.



 Animes that haven't been picked up for US distribution are below. I think these titles have been big hits in Japan so you might here about them getting bought at Anime Expo or see a lot of cosplayers for these new shows.

Nichijou or Everyday Life

is from the same people who brought us Lucky Star and other animation hits. Everyday Life is nothing like it's title. The series is mainly about three school girls and the strange situations they get into throughout the course of a average day. There's also a little girl scientist, her guardian robot, and talking cat, too.. Simple regular activities become outlandish and funny. The show also changes it's animations style randomly to blend with stories or make them insane. Over the top humor comes from the show wacky cast.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica

This one is suppose to turn the magical girl show on it's head. Taking extremely cute ideas and making them much darker than you can possibly imagine. This one had a lot of contreversy in Japan because it was so messed up. Don't alway trust cute magical creatures that give you magical powers.


Also expect to see more info on Sgt. Frog and Shin- Chan two of my favorite animes due to the total re-dubbing of the series, funimation has them coming back this July.