The web site for J-World Tokyo now has a set of pages in English, for those of us who can’t read Kanji. The place is an indoor amusement park for the anime of Weekly Shonen Jump, including such favorites as Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, and Dragon Ball. There was a review of it done by Otaku USA Magazine you should check out if you plan to go to Tokyo soon, because you just might want to pay it a visit.
The final Miazaki masterpiece The Wind Rises hits the shelves this week, in a combo BD+DVD pack. Unusually for an anime, it tells the true story of one of Japan’s top aircraft designers, or at least as true as any movie ever gets. It follows his life from that of a young man almost to the end, with all the style and compassion Miazaki is known for. With a totally different attitude we also get Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, another twisted story from Frank Miller told from the pages of his graphic novel, with an excellent cast. Automata goes in still another direction, with Antonio Banderas as the robot hunting enforcer in a world where the machines are more human, and humane, than the people. Even though several versions are already on the shelves, I had to mention that the Frozen Sing Along Edition is being released this week as well; follow the bouncing snowflake!
The only genre TV show I found a reference to being released this week is Wolfblood: Season 2, and for a 13 episode series to go for $10 on its day of release says something about the level of quality you can expect from this one, I suspect. Although it is a BBC (or CBBC, more accurately) show, and airing on Disney in the US, so that says some good things.
In Anime, besides the previously mentioned The Wind Rises, two other Miyazaki animation classics are being released on Blue Ray for the first time; Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Princess Mononoke. I am thinking I will have to upgrade my copies from DVD.
New this week is the very amusing I Couldn’t Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided To Get a Job, about a man who graduated Hero School, then had to get a job in retail when the war against the Demons ended unexpectedly, also ending his paycheck. But his culture shock is nothing compared to his new co-worker, the daughter of the now-deceased Demon King! We also have One Piece Season 6 Part 2, bringing us up to episodes 349 through 360 on disc, while streaming just showed episode 670 this past week.
A Certain Magical Index: Complete Season 1 brings the entire first season together in a single box set for the first time, which means you can pick it up for a bit under half as much as you would have paid by buying the previously released Season 1 Part 1 and Part 2 individually. This story is a heady mix of science and sorcery in the same universe as the genetically modified parapsychics of A Certain Scientific Railgun. Likewise, Death Note: The Complete Series includes all 37 episodes of the TV show for a decent price, but none of the movies, either live action or animated.
This weekend they held the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Governors Awards, and as part of that they gave the Lifetime Achievement Oscar to Hayao Miyazaki. I have ranted often enough about what an amazing craftsman, director, animator, writer, and on and on he is. I think this time I will let the presenter and the recipient speak for themselves.
You could not fit in the drivers seat and roll out with this prototype model on the highway quite yet, but I love the fact that there is a crew of engineers working their butts off to build an actual working transformer system! Looking at their progress to date, I guesstimate something in the 10 to 20 years range to have working versions you could actually use to commute to work. Thanks to Tech Crunch for the heads up on this one!
This is the first new release from Fungus in 3 years, entitled Dishwasher and Punk, or Punk and Wash depending on who is doing the translating. It just came out this past week, released on Space Shower Music, and this first track sounds pretty good in a Ska kind of way. There are 13 tracks altogether on the disc, so far this is the only one that has been posted online.
A few more tracks from DOLL$ BOXX; the first is Karakuri Town, the second is Monopoly, both from last year’s debut album. They have a new music video release this week from their new disc Doll$ Collection that I would include here, but they don’t make it embeddable. You will have to watch it on NicoNico using your free or premium account login.