Animesou.com

Several new anime licenses were announced by Shawne Kleckner, President of anime producer and distributor Right Stuf, Inc., during his panel at Anime Expo 2014 in Los Angeles, California. YAKITATE!! JAPAN is the newest title to join the company’s Nozomi Entertainment label. Coming soon to the Lucky Penny Entertainment label will be SPACE PIRATE MITO, FANTASTIC DETECTIVE LABYRINTH and YONDEMASU YO, AZAZEL-SAN. Details were provided on the impending Lucky Penny Entertainment release of SENGOKU COLLECTION, as well as the final installment of the Sunrise/Right Stuf release of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UC series this October. Read the rest of this entry »

Japanese kickstarters are somewhat rare.  We’ve seen stuff like Kick Heart (which premiered at last year’s Anime Expo) and Little Witch Academia 2 be wildly successful.  Smaller things like JH Kagaku’s Akiba Anime Art magazine and Lunatic Joker’s Moero Headphone reader 2013 (English version) have also popped up.  This time around we have WORLD END ECONOMiCA, a visual novel trilogy written by Isuna Hasekura and created by the group Spicy Tails.  Hasekura is most well known for his stories that both capture the heart with its characters and the mind with interspersed economic elements.  WORLD END ECONOMiCA is set in a world where the Earth has colonized the moon and follows a boy named Haru on his journey to go where no man has gone before.
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Can it be?! It’s about time!!! I bring you my review of the latest and greatest from Capcom. Check it out on Youtube. Yoshinori Ono pulls a Stan Lee in making a cameo appearance.

Synopsis

“…this thrilling, multi layered series will take the audience back to the formative years of the iconic characters, Ryu and Ken, as they live a traditional warrior’s life in secluded Japan. The boys are, unknowingly, the last practitioners of the ancient fighting style known as ‘Ansatsuken’ (Assassin’s Fist). The series follows them as they learn about the mysterious past of their Master, Goken, and the tragic and dark legacy of the Ansatsuken style. Can their destiny be changed…or will history repeat itself?” - from the official Press Release (http://www.streetfighteraf.com/)

Review

The web series is a prequel taking place prior to the video game Street Fighter 1. Heck it’s before even Street Fighter Alpha with scenes of childhood Ryu and Ken. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of training, discipline, and katas (forms) put in to the show to highlight martial arts. The story matches tradition against the thirst for power as the characters search to unlock the secrets of the hado. Goken reminds me of Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid. My favorite quote is Goken quoting Gen: “There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same.”

Overall

Released on May 23, 2014, I didn’t know about it until June 6 when I was doing a random search on Youtube for Street Fighter. I wish there was more advertising for Assassin’s Fist. Perhaps I’ve been away from the industry for too long. It just seems to be one of those gems that you hear by word of mouth or that will spread like wildfire on Facebook.

Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions Co., Ltd. (ShoPro) has announced an agreement with their subsidiary, VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, for DORAEMON merchandise rights for the Americas. VIZ Media will become the North & Latin American master merchandise licensee for the celebrated anime property, overseeing the licensing and development of a range of new products in all categories. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a short trailer of Sword Art Online II streaming online July 2014 on Hulu, Crunchyroll & Daisuki. For more information, check out the Sword Art Online website.

According to ANN, new Initial D films are set to hit this summer. The films will be a retelling of the manga’s early chapters. Judging from the trailer, there isn’t much change to the animation and just by judging the few scenes shown in the trailer… was this project necessary at all? Guess we will all find out! For more information head over to ANN.

VIZ Media is proud to announce the acquisition of the SAILOR MOON anime franchise. VIZ Media’s North American rights cover digital streaming, EST (Electronic Sell Through) and all home media products in the U.S. and Canada. Tokyo-based Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is the producer and global licensor for the SAILOR MOON anime property. Read the rest of this entry »

Master musician Yoshiki played at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall.  Take a look at our report here.

The galactic fairy May’n is also set to return to America with her Dots and Lines 10th Anniversary tour and we’ve got some info here.   If you live in Los Angeles or San Francisco, take note and mark your calendars.

Yoshiki Classical popped up in San Francisco on April 28 and it was one hell of a night.

Yoshiki is the drummer for legendary rock group X Japan and trained as a classical pianist when he was a wee boy.  Tonight he took a break from double bass rhythms and set up one of his Kawai Yoshiki Custom pianos on the stage of Davies Symphony Hall.  This is the home of the San Francisco Symphony and for this night became a hatching ground for hundreds of new Yoshiki fans to join the ranks of the thousands who were already there.

True to its name, the Yoshiki Classical World Tour consists of Yoshiki on piano and an accompaniment of six string musicians on violins, violas, and a cello.  X Japan’s vocalist Toshi popped up for a couple of cameos and even sang the song Tears on stage.  In the previous stop on April 25th bandmate Sugizo came out and played his own violin with Yoshiki.  This all hints towards X Japan’s new album which will hopefully come out this year.  A later announcement by Yoshiki marked October 11 as the next big Madison Square Garden show.

Here is the full setlist for the night:

Forever Love
Golden Globes Theme
Rosa
IV
Tears
Anniversary
(Intermission)
Amethyst
Swan Lake
Birthday Song
HERO
Without You
Kurenai
Art of Life
Endless Rain

As you can see there are many X Japan songs on this list.  They’re all adapted to the more delicate stylings of the strings and piano.  My favorite was Art of Life and it’s a great song in its own right, classical or not.  The original Art of Life is almost thirty minutes long and Yoshiki starts about halfway through with the haunting melodies of his piano.  Utilizing a laptop and soundboard he plays a piece and overdubs it with some more playing to make one hell of a performance.

By the end of the night there were many flowers thrown on stage and the cries of “We are X!” resounded through the room.  A US flag with some San Francisco graffiti made its way onstage and was held aloft by the superstar.  He may have been born in Japan but he’s made the United States his home all the same.

The next tour stop will be in a couple of weeks on May 21 in Moscow.  If you can go, I strongly encourage it.

May 21 (W), RU - Moscow - Crocus City Hall
May 23 (F), DE - Berlin - Tempodrom
May 26 (M), FR - Paris - Le Trianon
May 29 (Th), UK - London - Royal Festival Hall
June 6 (F), CH - Beijing - Beijing Exhibition Center
June 8 (Su), CH - Shanghai - Oriental Arts
June 10 (Tu), TH - Bangkok - Royal Jubilee Hall
June 13 (F), CH - Taipei - NK101 Taipei
June 16 (M), JP - Tokyo - Metropolitan Theater
June 17 (Tu), JP - Osaka - The Symphony Hall

Please check out yoshiki.net for more info and tickets.