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FUNimation to Dub Soul Eater on November 2009

The North American anime distributor FUNimation Entertainment has announced that it has acquired Takuya Igarashi and BONES' ongoing anime adaptation of Atsushi Ohkubo's Soul Eater supernatural action manga. The story begins at the Shinigami Weapons Specialist Vocational School, a university run by Death himself for living weapons and their human partners. One of the student weapons specialists, the human Maka Alban, is paired with Soul Eater, a boyish figure whose true form is a scythe. Maka, Soul, and the rest of their class learn how to collect souls while plying their arts against the witches, werewolves, and zombies of the world. A trailer is available on the official North American website.

This Media Factory production reunites the publisher Square Enix with many of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime staffers, including scriptwriter Akatsuki Yamatoya (Gintama), character designer Yoshiyuki Ito, production designer Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed), and the BONES studio animators (Cowboy Bebop). Japanese pop artists T.M. Revolution (Gundam Seed), Tommy heavenly6 (Gintama), and others sing the theme songs. Before directing Soul Eater, Igarashi oversaw Ashita no Nadja, Ojamajo Doremi, Ouran High School Host Club, and Sailor Moon Sailor Stars. The Soul Eater anime premiered in Japan just this past April, and FUNimation's press release reveals that the anime will be 51 episodes long when it ends this spring. FUNimation will release the anime in four half-season sets beginning in late 2009.

Ohkubo's original "cool & pop action fantasy" manga has been running in Square Enix's Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine since 2004, and Yen Press publishes it in North America.

Sunrise Indicates Possibility of More Code Geass

On December 10, the January issue of Gakken's Animedia magazine published a quote from the Sunrise anime studio's Code Geass unit for its New Year's feature, "2009 Love & Beef"*:

"All of you have shown us much appreciation and made the DVDs as well as the CDs so popular. Really, we have been blessed with fervent fans…. Thank you very much. Like we have said before, [a major character development happened] but Geass cannot die. It just ended, but we think it would be nice if we can still do something more. In any case, when we can announce something, in the not-so-distant future… "

Sunrise created and animated the Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion television anime series and its R2 sequel. Sunrise did not indicate the format that any hypothetical future plans might take. The Adult Swim television programming block has been running Bandai Entertainment's adaptation of the R2 sequel in North America since fall.

New Fullmetal Alchemist TV Anime to Premiere in April

The official website for the new Fullmetal Alchemist television anime series has launched with a short teaser video, and it has confirmed that the television series will launch in Japan in April. It also promised that new information will be provided in the January issue of Square Enix's Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine (where Hiromu Arakawa's original manga is still serialized) on December 12. The same issue will also include a poster with a key visual image.

The new Fullmetal Alchemist teaser trailer ran at the end of the episode of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season that aired in Japan on Sunday. The trailer says, "New training … a fullmetal artificial limb, a body of armor … the brothers' journey begins. Fullmetal Alchemist: April 2009 Training. In this palm, is there hope or despair?"

The new television anime series was confirmed on the wraparound jacket band of the 20th volume of Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist manga in August. However, a document with leaked information about animators who worked at BONES had already mentioned the possibility of "Hagane 2" ("Iron/Fullmetal 2") in July. Viz Media published the 17th volume of the manga version in North America this October, while FUNimation Entertainment released both the first television series and its theatrical movie finale.

GDH Asks 50 Employees to Voluntarily Retire

GDH, the corporate parent of the Gonzo anime studio, has announced on Friday that it is asking many of its employees
— "in the range of 50" of them, according to its press release — to voluntarily retire to help restore the company to profitability. Since GDH and Gonzo currently have about 200 employees, this planned reduction would represent about 25% of the workforce. The employees who choose to take advantage of the program between December 1 and December 12 will receive a one-time bonus equivalent to one-month's salary. Their retirement will become effective on January 31. The program applies to GDH and Gonzo employees, but not to those in Gonzo Rosso, an online game subsidiary.

GDH has also announced on Friday that it would sell off its GDH Capital financing subsidiary for 213 million yen (about US$2.2 million). The four-person unit was originally established in 2005 with 300 million yen (US$3 million) in capital.

GDH cites the drop in DVD sales and the need to trim its anime production business for its most recent changes. GDH already announced on November 10 that it would reduce its annual output of anime from about eight projects to four in the next fiscal year and combine its four internal studios under one division. To that end, it plans to reduce its representative director's compensation by half, its board of directors' head count by two (or 30%), and its executive and managerial staff's head count by eight (or 10 to 20%).

Earlier in the fall, CEO Shinichiro Ishikawa, director/chief financial officer Fumiaki Goto, and executive vice president/chief operating officer Yasushi Uchida stepped down, although they remain with the company as vice-president, director, and executive director, respectively. At the time, the Japanese investment company Iwakaze Capital KK finalized its bid to become the majority owner of GDH. GDH has been on notice for possible delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange before this investment.

Source: ITmedia News, animeanime.jp, and ANN

Adult Swim Moves Code Geass R2 TV Series to 2 a.m.

The North American anime distributor Bandai Entertainment has confirmed that the Adult Swim television network will move the Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 anime series to the 2:00 a.m. ET/PT timeslot on November 8. The first episode of this sequel series ran at 5:00 a.m. last Saturday, but it will rerun at 2:00 a.m. this coming Saturday. New episodes will then run every week at 2:00 a.m. thereafter. Bandai Entertainment producer Toshifumi Yoshida had made announcement about the timeslot change during Youmacon 2008 this past weekend in Detroit, Michigan.

Bandai Entertainment has also launched its official website for Code Geass R2. Code Geass R2 continues the story of the original 25-episode Code Geass anime series after a critical cliffhanger. Code Geass R2 just ended in Japan in September.

Rosario + Vampire Capu2 Massacred by Censors

Ecchi vampire anime Rosario + Vampire Capu2 has become the target of utterly draconian and shameless censorship it seems, with the crude mutilation of the title not even bothering to resort to the figurative and literal fig leaf of regional physics. Viewers are treated to mysterious pantsu occluding bats, amongst other efforts at DVD sales promotion.





Censorship marketing anime Rosario + Vampire Capu2 continues to experience a plague of bats, and, lately, bears. The brazen and utterly pointless censorship seems rapidly to be eroding the positive reception (such as it was) the series received from fans.



By now, it seems practically certain that these marks are put in solely to give a boost to DVD sales, assuming the series has any fans left by its conclusion. What other explanation could there be?

Warner Brothers to Produce Live-Action Ninja Scroll

The Variety entertainment news source reports that Warner Brothers and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way production company have acquired the live-action adaptation rights for Yoshiaki Kawajiri's Ninja Scroll action anime film from the Madhouse anime studio. Kawajiri wrote this tale about a wandering ninja fighting a conspiracy of demons, and he also directed the original anime with ultraviolent yet fluid animation. Alex Tse (Watchmen, The Illustrated Man) is slated to write the live-action version, but DiCaprio himself is not planning on acting in the film. Appian Way's Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Mike Ireland will produce with Madhouse itself.

Warner and Appian Way have already acquired the rights to produce two live-action films based on Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira manga. Killoran is also planning to produce the Akira project as well.

Manga Entertainment released the original 1993 Ninja Scroll anime film in North America, while Urban Vision helped produce and later released the 2003 television series adapation. The American publisher WildStorm created its comic book take on the story in 2006. Madhouse revealed at Anime Expo 2008 that it was still planning a sequel to the original anime film.

Funimation Confirms Shikabane Hime: AKA Acquisition

The North American anime distributor Funimation has confirmed that it has acquired Gainax and King Record's Shikabane Hime: Aka anime series and will be streaming the 13 episodes within weeks of their airing on Japanese television. The first English-subtitled episode will stream for free on the YouTube, Joost.com, Hulu.com, and funimation.com's video services on Friday, October 24, after having premiered in Japan on October 2. There will also be a US$1.99 download option on funimation.com.

Director Masahiko Murata is adapting the first part of Yoshiichi Akahito's Shikabane Hime manga with scripts by Fullmetal Alchemist script supervisor Shou Aikawa. The Shikabane Hime ("Corpse Princess") of the title is Makina Hoshimura, an undead girl who hunts down 108 corpses in order to go to heaven. Funimaton first revealed that it will be streaming the anime when its YouTube channel's schedule was posted late last week.

ADV Films to Distribute Anime for Sentai Filmworks

he ICv2 retail news website reports that A.D. Vision, a 16-year veteran of the North American anime industry, will localize and distribute titles for the licensing company Sentai Filmworks. Their new partnership is highlighted by Kyoto Animation's 2007-2008 television adaptation of the Clannad visual novel franchise. Their other planned releases for 2009 include Indian Summer, Mahoromatic, Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful, Tsukihime, Pet Shop of Horrors, and Jewel BEM Hunter Lime. Matt Greenfield, Senior V.P. of Content and acquisitions, and voice actor Chris Ayres had announced that ADV Films will be releasing Clannad at last month's Sogen Con in South Dakota. The first of six DVD will ship on April 21, 2009.

ADV Films had also announced at August's Otakon 2008 convention that it will release the three-part Indian Summer (Koharu Biyori) anime adaptation of Takehito Mizuki's manga. The complete comedy anime series about a cosplaying robotic maid will ship on March 10, 2009. Geneon Entertainment (USA) had previously released Mahoromatic, Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful, and Tsukihime before its Japanese corporate parent decided to cease in-house sales and distribution in North America. ADV Films' complete collections of these three series will ship on January 13, February 17, and January 20, respectively. Urban Vision had released the Pet Shop of Horrors supernatural suspense anime on DVD in 2001, and Media Blasters had released the Jewel BEM Hunter Lime risque comedy in 2001.

A.D. Vision CEO John Ledford told ICv2 that his company has more titles planned with Sentai Filmworks and other partners, including the new live-action film licensing company, Switchblade Pictures. A.D. Vision currently has 30 full-time employees and a smaller number of contractors, as well as freelancing voice actors and translators. The changes at A.D. Vision had accelerated with this year's industy downturn and "breakup" with Sojitz.

U.S. Copyright Law That Allows Equipment Seizures

On Monday, United States President George W. Bush signed into law the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO IP) Act, which will allow authorities to seize property in civil copyright cases and will create an "Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator" position to oversee the government's efforts in copyright enforcement.

An earlier version of the bill, then known as the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act, had included a provision which would have allowed the Justice Department to bring civil lawsuits against intellectual property infringers on behalf of content owners. A second provision would have counted individual songs on an album as separate works if they were created by different artists, and thus would have dramatically increased the penalties an infringer would face. Both of these provisions were removed before the bill reached the president.

Certain provisions did survive which would allow for seizure of "property used, or intended to be used, in any manner or part to commit or facilitate" copyright or trademark infringement. Broadly interpreted, these provisions could apply to computers used for file-sharing video and audio content. The final version of the bill had passed the Senate on September 26 by unanimous consent and had passed the House of Representatives on September 28 by a 381 to 41 margin.

In a separate development last week, Canada's Conservative Party's election platform promises to re-introduce copyright-reform legislation that would increase the fines for unauthorized downloads of copyrighted materials. The party's proposed legislation would also outlaw attempts to circumvent digital rights management schemes, just as America's Digital Millennium Copyright Act has made most forms of circumvention illegal. Conservative Party's earlier attempt to introduce copyright legislation met heavy resistance and was quietly dropped earlier this year.

Source: Wired via Slashdot, PC Magazine, CBC via Zannen, Canada, and ANN.