(Note: This is the second part of a review of Freedom. The first part can be read here.)
anime – manga – sci-fi – art ...and more »
Archives for the month of: January, 2009
Sad news: Hisayuki Toriumi (1941 – 2009) passed away on Friday, and his funeral will be held today in Hachioji City, Tokyo.
Although his name may not be familiar, his work certainly will be to millions of my generation – not just in Japan – but also in the UK, the US and across the world where series like Gatchaman (known outside Japan as Battle of the Planets and G-Force), The Mysterious Cities of Gold and Speed Racer became huge childrens TV hits in the 1970s and 80s, and for fans like myself were our first introduction to the world of anime.
Not that I expected him to win, especially in the year that Academy darlings Pixar released what is arguably their finest work to date, but I have to say I was surprised and disappointed he didn’t even get a nod when the nominations were announced today. It’s especially confusing when only three films where put forward, and one of them was the decidedly average Kung Fu Panda (I haven’t seen Bolt, and can’t honestly say I’m that bothered either).
(Note: this is the second part of a review of Denno Coil. The first part can be read here.)
It was slightly embarrassing last week, when I sat down to write a post about the Denno Coil art book I picked up in Tokyo, when I realised I’d never actually finished reviewing the series. In fact, it had been so long since I penned the first part, that I had to go back and re-read it to see exactly what i had said:
Yeah. After resisting for years, I’ve finally folded to the demands from some readers and set up a Twitter account. As if I needed anything else to distract me from getting some writing done. Anyway, the link’s below so go ahead and add me (or ‘follow me’ or whatever the correct terminology is for this one, I lose track) and find out what I’m thinking about/doing. A lot of it will be about anime. Some of it won’t. Some of it might even be interesting. Ahhh, the suspense…
You’ve probably heard the news already.
If you haven’t, well…it’s finally happened. After months of Hollywood rumours and speculation, Fox have confirmed that they have greenlit a live action version of Cowboy Bebop with Keanu Reeves taking the lead role of Spike Spiegel.
Not that I’m anti the idea of a live action, high budget version – in fact, it’s something I’ve daydreamed about for years now. Done right it could be a fantastic piece of sci-fi action cinema. But, like probably every other single anime blogger out there, today I’m just a little concerned about that piece of casting.
…which is on 28th February, apparently. At least according to Makoto Shinkai fansite Cherry Blossoms Falling, who are organising this (probably less than official) event. According to this post:
In order to celebrate the works of Makoto Shinkai we’ve decided to throw a Global Shinkai Day. We’ll spend 24 hours watching Shinkai’s films, chatting during the movies and having discussions and contests along the way. We hope you will be able to drop in and join the party/conversation
Here we go – the final set of art books I picked up in Tokyo, and by far my favourite purchases from there.
Got some time to kill? Then check out this photo set on Flickr – all my photos from my recent trip to Tokyo, in lovely high-res. Or hit the link below to watch them in a slideshow. All 1353 of them. Yeah, it’s a lot. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
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One thing I knew for sure when I started hitting the shops in Tokyo: there was no way I was coming home without something Denno Coil related. Didn’t see anything in the way of toys, but I did grab this pretty DC artbook in a manga store in Shinjuku.
