Oscar nominated Mirai director Mamoru Hosoda’s new animated feature is nominated for five Annie Awards. Belle is a modern-day update on one of the most beloved stories of all-time, Beauty and the Beast. This time, it’s a girl named Suzu who discovers the digital universe of U. She creates an avatar named Belle who instantly […]
Archive for the ‘Anime’ Category
INTERVIEW: “Belle” Director Mamoru Hosoda Puts New Spin On Classic
January 13th, 2022 
Jackson Murphy 
Posted in 
Tags: 
MANGA REVIEW: “Real Volume 15”
January 8th, 2022 Charles Solomon After a hiatus of more than six years, Takehiko Inoue has returned to “Real,” his compelling manga about wheelchair basketball players. (At the same time, he’s directing a new feature based on his hit “Slam Dunk.”) The artist picks up the story where he left off in 2014: His three main characters are still wrestling […]
INTERVIEW: The Stars of “Poupelle of Chimney Town”
December 22nd, 2021 W.R. Miller Usually an actor books a role after an audition. But there are times when actor is chosen because of their reputation, without an audition. Such is the case with the American cast of Poupelle of Chimney Town. The film stars Antonio Raul Corbo. Stephen Root voices Lubicci’s father, Bruno, who tries to inform people that […]
ANIME REVIEW: “Neon Genesis Evangelion”
December 21st, 2021 Charles Solomon Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995), which ranks among the most popular, influential and controversial series in anime history, is finally appearing on Blu-ray in two multi-disc sets from GKIDS and Shout Factory! featuring a new dub and script. A complex, compelling saga that juxtaposes mecha battles with apocalyptic Christian symbolism, Jewish mysticism and teenage […]
MANGA REVIEW: “My Hero Academia” and “Manga Theater”
December 7th, 2021 Charles Solomon It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and Viz has two new books that will make excellent gifts for the anime and manga fans in the family. Since Kohei Horikoshi’s manga My Hero Academia debuted in 2014, it’s sold more than 50 million books worldwide, and the anime series is one of the break-out […]
TMS Entertainment to Sponsor Special “Women in Anime” Event
October 12th, 2021 Jerry Beck TMS Entertainment will host “Women in Anime”, a female-centric anime event, at the 17th Annual LA Femme International Film Festival that is FREE to the public and will run virtually from October 14th – 17th. The segment will feature a powerhouse panel with women creators Minako Fujiyoshi (MEGALOBOX, MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD) and Jinko Gotoh (Klaus, […]
TRAILER: “Star Wars: Visions”
August 17th, 2021 Jerry Beck Today, Disney+ debuted the trailer and announced the Japanese and English dub voice casts for Star Wars: Visions, an upcoming anthology series from Lucasfilm that tells new Star Wars stories through the singular style and tradition of Japanese anime. Disney+ also released four exciting images from the trailer. The new trailer provides a glimpse of […]
Thoughts on Anime: “Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.01: Thrice Upon a Time”
August 17th, 2021 Charles Solomon After twenty-five years of fans debating, discussing, speculating and impatiently waiting, Hideaki Anno finally brings his Evangelion saga to a conclusion in the feature Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.01: Thrice Upon a Time, airing on Amazon Prime. The broadcast series Neon Genesis Evangelion debuted in October, 1995. Eerie female voices exhorted, “Zankoku na tenshi no you […]
Masaaki Yuasu’s “Inu-Oh” To Debut At Venice and Toronto
July 28th, 2021 Jerry Beck GKIDS’ latest feature from celebrated director Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game, Ride Your Wave) Inu-Oh, is an Official Selection of the 2021 Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival. The film will make its world debut at the Venice Film Festival in the Horizons section, followed by its North American premiere in the Toronto International […]
ANIME REVIEW: “On-Gaku: Our Sound”
May 19th, 2021 Charles Solomon Kenji Iwaisawa’s offbeat On-Gaku: Our Sound (2019) has attracted a loyal following in the US; it even earned an Annie nomination for Independent feature. Although it’s based on a self-published manga by Hiroyuki Ohashi, Iwaisawa wrote the screenplay, directed the film and animated it almost single-handedly. He simply couldn’t afford professional animators; the film’s shoestring […]
New CG Animated Feature Film “Ultraman” in Development at Netflix
May 13th, 2021 Jerry Beck Netflix is developing a CG-animated feature film Ultraman in partnership with Tsuburaya Productions and Industrial Light and Magic. Ultraman joins Netflix’s fast growing original slate of animated features which includes Academy Award nominated Klaus, Kris Pearn’s The Willoughbys, Academy Award Nominated Over the Moon from Glen Keane; as well as the Fall 2021 comedy Back […]
REVIEW: When Harry Potter’s Wizarding World Meets the X-Men: “The Legend of Hei” Begins
May 13th, 2021 W.R. Miller Those bad bad humans. Chopping down forests. How dare they displace Hei from his home! Hei, a magical spirit in the form of a wide-eyed cat, finds himself transported to the Big City. There, he’s attacked by a trio of human thugs, but rescued by a fellow shape-changer named Stormend. Hei joins Stormend’s unnamed faction […]
ANIME REVIEWS: “One Punch Man” and “Mob Psycho 100”
May 10th, 2021 Charles Solomon Many recent anime TV programs reflect Japan’s daunting socio-economic problems in the post-Bubble economy: An aging, shrinking population; a bleak financial future that makes many young people undesirable as potential marriage partners; growing economic inequality; the persistent trauma from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident Westerners call Fukushima—and the government’s ineffectual response to it.
Gkids Partners with Fathom Events to Bring Anime Back To US Theaters This Summer
April 14th, 2021 Jerry Beck GKIDS and long-time partner Fathom Events, are continuing their collaboration this summer, bringing back a series of critically acclaimed and fan-favorite anime features. Kicking off the series is the 2020 animated tour-de-force from Studio 4°C (Tekkonkinkreet, MFKZ, Mind Game), CHILDREN OF THE SEA. Directed by Ayumu Watanabe, with a score by award-winning composer and longtime […]
MANGA REVIEW: “My Hero Academia: Team-Up Missions” Volume #1
March 23rd, 2021 Charles Solomon One of the big hits of the last decade, Kohei Horikoshi’s “My Hero Academia” (2014) has sold more than 30 million books worldwide. The TV series is in its fifth season, and the eagerly awaited third feature will debut this summer. Horikoshi set “Academia” in an alternate world where many children are born with “Quirks:” […]
