Neuigkeiten

Anime is becoming an incredibly mainstream medium. Series like One Piece, Dragon Ball, Naruto and Demon Slayer haved now reached immense heights, especially among the younger generation. Of course, anime fandom goes back several decades, so only the most hardcore fans are even aware of certain, now-forgotten anime.

The most obscure anime won't be recognized by most modern fans, especially when it comes to retro series. Some of these anime even fell under the radar when they came out, while others have simply been forgotten by time, despite their initial popularity. While they aren't mainstream hits nowadays, newer anime fans will want to check them out to go beyond the mainstream and feel the full history of the medium.

Votoms Was One of the Most Realistic Mecha Anime of Its Time Streaming On: N/A

Armored Trooper Votoms was one of many Real Robot mecha anime made in the 1980s,...

N Lite animation studio has unveiled a new partnership with Emmy-winning Japanese anime studio Gonzo K.K. (“Afro Samurai”) and Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” director Peter Ramsey to produce two animated projects: a noir thriller feature titled “Ripper” and the sci-fi adventure series “Hotaru.”

Ramsey is lined up to executive produce and co-write the screenplay for “Ripper,” a live-action/anime hybrid feature set in post-wwii Japan. Currently in development, the film tells the story of two detectives hunting down a serial killer who took the lives of the women that each of them loved. The project is created by Samantha Inoue Harte and co-writers Paul Alvarado-Dykstra and Rafael Antonio Ruiz.

Viola Davis and husband Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions is attached to produce alongside N Lite and Gonzo K.K. Davis. For JuVee, Tennon and Melanie Clark will join Gonzo CEO Shinichiro Ishikawa as executive producers. Inoue Harte and...

Voices That Bring Anime to Life: Celebrating the Best Anime Voice Actors of All Time ( Photo Credit – IMDb )

Japan takes its anime voice actors very seriously to the point where they have special voice acting academies and schools to train them to master their art completely. This is exactly why these professionals are so versatile and have such natural, golden voices. In fact, a large number of avid anime fans prefer watching anime subs rather than anime dubs exactly because of this. Some Dub actors tend to exaggerate and overact as a way to compensate for the inconsistency in translations and syncing. Native voice actors retain the ‘authenticity’ that dubs lack.

The authenticity of the subs is attributed to the voice actors’ talent and how natural they are with their jobs. Here are some of the best Japanese anime voice actors of all time.

1. Kenjirou Tsuda

Kenjirou Tsuda is the...

As a subgenre of fiction, steampunk has always held a certain level of charm and mystique, in large part because it creates universes that are based around retro-futuristic sci-fi or fantasy concepts while still referencing real-world historical aesthetics. This makes any steampunk story a compelling hybrid of themes and ideas, as seen in the likes of Irrational Games' BioShock, Disney Animation's vastly underrated Treasure Planet and of course, 2012-14's Avatar: The Legend of Korra, to name just a few examples.

When looking specifically at anime shows that fit into the steampunk genre, fans are most likely to think of two series first and foremost: Fullmetal Alchemist/Fma: Brotherhood and Violet Evergarden. The former is one of the most beloved anime worldwide regardless of genre, while the latter likewise enjoys mass appeal and is easily one of Kyoto Animation's most popular titles to date. However, the incredible success of...

Invoking an approach that shares some similarities with “Full Metal Alchemist”, particularly through the concept of two kids whose parents have died and are trying to make a living by following in their footsteps, and the 19th century Europe-like setting, “Last Exile” is a great specimen of the golden era of anime series.

The story is set in the fictional world of Prester, whose inhabitants use aerial vehicles known as vanships as a means of transportation. The world however is not peaceful at all, since an eternal conflict between the nations of Anatoray and Disith is tormenting everyone involved, while the Guild, a mysterious organization, seems to oversee the whole thing for unknown reasons. Furthermore, the planet is on the verge of ecological destruction, particularly due to the lack of water. The two protagonists, Claus Valca and Lavie Head who are working as couriers, find themselves in...

Portland, Or – Ablaze slates a trio of special titles for December release as it engages fantasy art fans with a pair of beautifully illustrated hardcover artbooks – The Dragon Universe and The Fairy Universe – and delights manga readers with a 6-volume box set edition for the apocalyptic action series – Cagaster.

These books will make unique and appropriate gift ideas this holiday season and go on-sale via Diamond-partner retailers as well as online channels on December 22nd. Pre-orders are open now.

The Dragon Universe, by Olivier Ledroit and Laurent Souillé • Msrp: $29.99 • Release Date: December 22nd

Dragons. They reign above the eternal snows or in the depths of the abyss… They are marvelous, magical, malicious creatures… But where do these winged creatures with sparkling scales and fearsome claws come from?

This collection of illustrations on the theme of dragons brings together acclaimed illustrators and comic book authors from around the world: French,...

If you're hungry for more Kaiju vs. Jaeger showdowns, then you'll be pleased to know that Netflix and Legendary Entertainment are teaming up for a new Pacific Rim anime series that was announced alongside 16 other Asian original productions at Netflix's “See What’s Next: Asia” showcase.

A trailer and premiere date for the Pacific Rim anime have yet to be released, but the series will "expand upon" the narrative of the live-action movies and will follow a brother and sister who use a Jaeger to seek out their missing parents. We have the official synopsis below, as well as the press release with more information.

"Pacific Rim. Returning to the epic battle of Kaiju and Jaegers, this original anime series will expand upon the story of the first two live action movies and follow two siblings - an idealistic teenage boy and his naïve younger sister - who are forced...

Netflix continues to build their animation slate as they’ve announced five new anime titles that will produce. Two of those projects include anime series for Pacific Rim and Altered Carbon!

I love that Netflix is expanding on their animation projects. They’ve made some great animated films and series in the past and it’s exciting to see that we are going to get more of that. Alos, the projects that they are developing sound awesome!

Thanks to Deadline, we have details to share on all five the new anime projects:

Pacific Rim, “which expands the world of the two live-action movies of the same name, returns to the epic battle of Kaiju and Jaegers. The original anime series follows two siblings — an idealistic teenage boy and his naïve younger sister — who are forced to pilot an abandoned Jaeger across a hostile landscape in a desperate attempt to find their missing parents.

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion

In the year 2015, the Angels, huge, tremendously powerful, alien war machines, appear in Tokyo for the second time. The only hope for mankind’s survival lies in the Evangelion, a humanoid fighting machine developed by Nerv, a special United Nations agency. Capable of withstanding anything the Angels can dish out, the Evangelions’ one drawback lies in the limited number of people able to pilot them. Only a handful of teenagers, all born fourteen years ago, nine months after the Angels first appeared, are able to interface with an Evangelion.

One such teenager is Ikari Shinji, whose father heads the Nerv team that developed and maintains the Evangelions. Thrust into a maelstrom of battles and events that he does not understand, Shinji is forced to plumb the depths of his own inner resources for the courage and strength to not only fight, but to survive, or risk losing everything.

Everyone loves Legos, the instantly recognizable building blocks that can be used to create just about anything your imagination can think up. Since everyone here loves movies (and The Lego Movie, natch), merging Legos and movies sure seems like a brilliant thing. That’s what the guys at Ichiban Toys thought, too – and their hard work will pay off in spades if you’ve been yearning to build some classic-movie vehicles out of Lego blocks. The company has crafted a series of custom Lego kits (not licensed by the block makers) that will allow you to create some of the most iconic vehicles in movie history. With prices ranging from $25 through to the limited edition Vanship (from Last Exile) at $230, there’s something for everyone’s budget. More...

Read More...

Bayonetta is being adapted into a feature length anime. The news was broken by NeoGAF, which has since been rebroadcasted and elaborated upon by various outlets, including Polygon.

The title is Bayonetta Bloody Fate and it arrives on November 23 at select theaters, for a very limited two week run.

Studio Gonzo is handling production duties. Their body of work includes Last Exile, Speed Grapher, Welcome to the N.H.K., Strike Witches, and Afro Samurai. The man who helmed the latter series, Fuminori Kizaki, is the director here as well.

Here's the trailer:

No plot details as of yet, though the above clearly takes many cues from the first game, so it could be animated retelling of its events. Or perhaps it will serve as a bridge between parts one and two? Maybe we'll see the circumstances behind her haircut.

No word yet on any localization either, though it's perhaps...

For some reason, the future always seems to be a few decades away. 1984 was published in 1949. Terminator, which appropriately enough was released in 1984, set 1997 as the date for the apocalyptic “Judgement Day.” It seems strange now, after the turn of the Millennium (which happened rather uneventfully, with little more than an endless repeat of an old Prince song to mark its passing) to look back on things like Mad Max, Y2K, or the still older imaginings of such retro science fiction classics as Fahrenheit 451 or Soylent Green, but for decades, sci-fi imagineers alternated between the chills of gloom and doom and utopian fever.

Anime and manga embraced these themes with series like Akira, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Vampire Hunter D. X 1999 represents Clamp’s foray into the dark future. Perhaps better known for their recent hit sister series, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and XXXHolic, the all female manga supergroup are...

In the world of giant mecha and space opera, it’s hard to find anything genuinely new. The genre is so defined, there are few trails left to blaze, and so a new series will most likely develop along one of two routes: it can either ride the coat tails an already established franchise, and present itself as a sequel/prequel/reversioning (the new — and Excellent — Evangelion titles are great example of this), or a show can strive to be a parody, preferably a really Good one, such as Galaxy Angel or Martian Successor Nadesico.

Vandread is in this latter category, and it doesn’t take long (approximately five seconds) to find out that this is space mecha action with a twist — forget aliens or angels, this is boys vs. girls! Men are from Mars, and Women are from Venus, but after decades in deep space, the two don’t...

Fullmetal Alchemist Premium Ova Collection One of the best things about anime is the “omake”, or extras — also known as that stuff at the end of the tape. Long before DVD’s with their menu of special features, in the dark ages of VHS, anime fans were being treated to a smorgasbord of little goodies — from previews to music videos to something as simple as a visual catalog of a company’s other titles — pretty much anything the studio could find to throw on the last few minutes of a video tape. It was one of the things that made anime, well, anime. Lately we’re seeing fewer extras, as the industry and the economy as a whole have been forced to makes some painful cuts to stay alive. But if you’re longing for some of those good old days, not to worry. Funimation is about to release an entire collection of bonus material,...

It’s been a month now, here at AniMania — a month of ninjas and wolfgirls, of star crossed lovers and hard boiled crime drama — and I realized that I haven’t even stopped to introduce myself. Travis told me when I started writing the column that I could post a short bio, but each week there were more shows, more reviews, more and better things to talk about than yours truly. And with so many new titles coming out, and so many great old series that deserve to have some light shed on them, there always will be. But here at the one month mark, I decided to take a break for this week, and tell you a little about myself, and part of my own descent into utter otaku geek-dom.

For starters, maybe I should explain the term, otaku. Simply put, an “otaku” is an anime fan. And I...

Alex from First Showing has posted a concept art for an alleged live-action adaptation of Studio Gonzo’s 2003 Last Exile anime series [Ann]. Since there’s no word about the project on any of the relevant forums and boards that are usually the first to know (and rampage) about planned adaptations, I’d take that with a pinch of salt…

Artwork has been removed at the request of the filmmakers. Last Exile Opening...

An email arrived in my inbox earlier this week with some really cool concept art for a project known only as Last Exile. I did some research and found out that it's a big-budget live-action movie based on a Japanese anime series of the same name. It's a sci-fi kind of action-adventure movie about a young courier pilot and his navigator, and their adventures in the floating world of Prester. From Wikipedia: "In this romantic sky world based on stylized Victorian fashion and society, two countries, Anatoray and Disith are engaged in a long and bloody war under the supervision of the mysterious Guild." Take a look at the concept art below. Photo has been removed at the request of the filmmakers. I was contacted by those who are putting this project together and told to remove the concept art. I'm not sure if that's a good sign or not.