New Anime Announcements

[blkmage]

So I noticed there's no place for new anime announcements. I didn't really want to create a new thread for each new series since there's not much we know about them. At the same time, I think there can be some good speculation to be had about new series that aren't up for airing in the next season yet. So we can consolidate announcements of new TV series, OVAs, or movies here and foster discussions of such.

So to start off with, we have the announcement that made think up a thread like this. Coming out of the Tokyo International Anime Fair, BONES announces their next project, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, set to air in Summer 2009.

The premise of the project is the 70% or higher possibility that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake will occur in Tokyo in the next 30 years. The anime will depict what would happen if an 8.0 earthquake took place. BONES will attempt to realistically portray the consequences of such a tremor after collecting data on actual earthquakes and interviewing people.

The story will center on Mirai, a middle school freshman girl who goes to Tokyo's artificial Odaiba Island for a robot exhibition with her brother Yutaka at the start of summer vacation. A powerful tremor emanates from an ocean trench, the famed Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge crumble and fall, and the landscape of Tokyo changes in an instant. With the help of a motorcycle delivery woman named Mari who they meet on Odaiba, Mirai and Yutaka strive to head back to their Setagaya home in western Tokyo.

BONES is best known for some amazing anime, including Fullmetal Alchemist, Eureka Seven, Darker than Black, Ouran High School Host Club, Soul Eater, Xam'd: Lost Memories, and Sword of the Stranger. In the near future, they'll be releasing the new Fullmetal Alchemist and the Eureka Seven theatrical movie. I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye out for this one. If Umineko no Naku Koro ni does get a summer release like rumours say, then this summer is looking pretty good.

Links: ANN, moetron, 東京マグニチュード8.0 official site

[Fantasy Dreamer]

...Wait, BONES did FMA, OHSHC, among the rest of those titles you mentioned? I thought that was Funimation...

*is confused* ok, maybe I'm wrong, but that aside, what you quoted sounds like a badly made American movie idea that I see all the time... but that doesn't mean it can't be good. XD

[Roy Mustang]

...Wait, BONES did FMA, OHSHC, among the rest of those titles you mentioned? I thought that was Funimation.

Funimation is a North America license and distributor for anime titles.

Where BONES is a Japanese animation and production studio.


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[blkmage]

Funimation is a North America license and distributor for anime titles.

Where BONES is a Japanese animation and production studio.

Exactly. Since there's a thread for license announcements, this thread will be concentrating only on new anime that's being produced. That means that it'll be some time before we'll be seeing them in North America. This also means that licensees will be irrelevant.

If you usually watch licensed anime, then you'll probably associate an anime with a distributor, like Funimation or ADV. If you don't, then you'll usually associate anime with its production studio. The production studio for an anime is a much more important signifier in terms of how good the anime might be.

Each studio has its own style in terms of art and animation. For instance, Kyoto Animation is associated with moe, amazing animation, Haruhi, Lucky Star, and Key adaptations. SHAFT is associated with it's crazy direction style, courtesy of the main director, Akiyuki Shinbo. ufotable is associated with superb visuals and claymation shorts. Certain studios are known for their achievements while others raise red flags for their past failures.

*is confused* ok, maybe I'm wrong, but that aside, what you quoted sounds like a badly made American movie idea that I see all the time... but that doesn't mean it can't be good. XD

Maybe, but BONES' track record is pretty good, especially if we're talking about their original series like E7 and Xam'd.

So for another interesting announcement. Although ANN cites 2ch as a source (lawl), it looks like there's a good chance that there's going to be an anime adaptation of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, or A Certain Scientific Railgun. Railgun is a spinoff of To Aru Majutsu no Index (A Certain Magical Index). Index is about to finish up its run at the end of the month and was produced by J.C. Staff (Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima, Honey and Clover, Nodame Cantabile, Toradora).

EDIT: And it looks like it's pretty much confirmed, with details in the next issue of Dengeki Daioh.

[Fantasy Dreamer]

Funimation is a North America license and distributor for anime titles.

Where BONES is a Japanese animation and production studio.


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Ah, gotcha. Makes sense now. Thanks!

[KeybladeWarrior]

I am really looking forward to seeing BONES new FullMetal Alchemist anime. Thanks for the info!

[blkmage]

Coming out of TAF, we have a trailer of a CG adaptation of what's known as Apocalypse Meow in North America (since it has an unfortunate name in Japanese). The series is going to be 12 episodes long and is looking at a winter 2010 release.

The original manga was set in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, except all the characters are now cute, fluffy animals. The CG series will be set in modern day, in the Middle East.

Links: ANN, Trailer

[Roy Mustang]

The original manga was set in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, except all the characters are now cute, fluffy animals. The CG series will be set in modern day, in the Middle East.

Fluffy animals and guns, I so want to see this.
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[Roy Mustang]

Valkyria Chronicles anime promo is now viewable online.

Valkyria Chronicles


[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[ADXC]

Valkyria Chronicles anime promo is now viewable online.

Valkyria Chronicles


Col. Roy Mustang

How does it look Roy? For some reason my computer won't show it.

Well, if it is as good as the game then the anime is sure to be a hit.

[MasterDias]

How does it look Roy? For some reason my computer won't show it.

Well it is as good as the game then the anime is sure to be a hit.

Here you go.
Youtube to the rescue.

[ADXC]

Valkyria Chronicles anime promo is now viewable online.

Valkyria Chronicles

Here you go.
Youtube to the rescue.

OH YEAH! I love it! It looks just like the game! Awesome! Okay enough exclamations. But really I can't wait for this to come out, I'd like to show my parents this too. It has such a great story and I really enjoyed the game.

[Roy Mustang]

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 film to open in 2010 in Japan.

ANN

The 25th and last episode of Sunrise's Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season science-fiction television anime series has announced on Sunday that a Mobile Suit Gundam 00 film will open in Japanese theaters in 2010. The announcement came in the form of a title card at the end of the series finale. Hagane no Renkinjutsushi Fullmetal Alchemist (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), the second television adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist dark fantasy manga, will take over Gundam 00's 5:00 p.m. Sunday timeslot starting next week on April 5.

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny were the last two Gundam television series before Gundam 00. Sunrise had announced at the Sony Music Anime Fes '06 event in May of 2006 that a Mobile Suit Gundam Seed theatrical film was in the works. However, no release date has been announced for that project, and even its "Gekijō-ban Kidō Senshi Gundam Seed" (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Movie Edition) title was a tentative name from the beginning.

Bandai Entertainment televised the First Gundam Seed series on America's Cartoon Network and the first season of Gundam 00 on the Sci Fi Channel. It is also streaming the first episodes of Gundam 00 on the YouTube video-streaming website.

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[Benn]

Coming out of TAF, we have a trailer of a CG adaptation of what's known as Apocalypse Meow in North America (since it has an unfortunate name in Japanese). The series is going to be 12 episodes long and is looking at a winter 2010 release.

Just saw the trailer yesterday. Definitely want to see this! Gotta share it with the people I know stationed in Iraq.. I'm sure it'll make them smile.

Valkyria Chronicles anime promo is now viewable online.

Thank you!!! I got this figure out of a gasphon machine in Japan and didn't know who the heck she was but after you gave the promo I finally know that she's one of the main characters from Valkaria Chronicles! Thanks XD

[blkmage]

So the Gundam 00 movie. Think it's just a recap movie or will it deal with the ominous shot at the end of the finale?

[MasterDias]

Well, I assume it's a sequel. I'd think they would announce more than one movie if it was some sort of remake. Also, the ending felt a tad anti-climatic to me, like they were leaving a few things "open" for a sequel movie or whatever.

But, Jupiter?

Meanwhile, Shangri-La's opening was leaked. It's pretty catchy actually, and Murata's character designs do give me Last Exile vibes, which I'm sure is Gonzo's intention.

[blkmage]

Jupiter was shown or mentioned really briefly near the beginning of the series. You can take it as them having planned it all along or realizing that they forgot about Jupiter and stuck it in near the end ominously. Also notice the four/five lights orbiting around it. One of my friends thinks that it's a recap movie, since, as they showed with GSD, they're not above making sequel TV series for their AU series anymore.

Yeah, those were my thoughts exactly about the Shangri-la opening. I might have to take a look at it now.

[MasterDias]

I suppose it's possible, although I would hope that they would have announced it as a recap pretty quickly to dispel false assumptions. Do you know if the Gundam Seed movies were announced to be recaps/remakes immediately, or did they draw out the announcement?

I'm not really opposed to Sunrise making a Gundam 00 TV sequel as long as they don't screw it up. I enjoyed the world well enough. Although, quite a few people seem to think the Universal Century Unicorn novels will eventually be animated.

[blkmage]

Apparently, there has been an announcement for a Gundam SEED movie set after GSD, but that was announced in 2006, and there hasn't been much news about it since then. Any other movies that have been released already are recaps.

I know a lot of people thought/hoped that the 30th anniversary project would be a Unicorn anime.

[blkmage]

So there's some news about Haruhi. A few months ago, Kadokawa said there'd be an announcement about Haruhi and everyone went crazy. Then, it came out that the announcement would be for a rebroadcast of the first season and everyone became angry. Not too long later, when the Haruhi-chan and Churuya-san online shorts were supposed to air, they replaced it with a 'nice boat' version and aired everything a day later.

The first episode of the rebroadcast was this week, and it happened to be The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya I and not The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00. Now there's been some confirmations from TV stations that this Haruhi will be 28 episodes. The first season was only 14 episodes. There's a supposed list of the episodes somewhere out there, but that's purely rumour.

I can't say that I'm pleased with the way they've handled the publicity for this thing.

Link: moetron

[ADXC]

FINALE! I was wondering when they were going to make another season of Haruhi or at least more episodes.

[GeneD]

So is it going to be the original 14 plus 14 new ones or 28 new ones or don't we know yet? Can't wait, either way.

[MasterDias]

Honestly, I'd have a large amount of cynicism regarding this. This is an extremely bizarre way to announce something.

[blkmage]

Yeah, a bunch of people on some other forums I go to are all like watch them do the first 14 in chronological and the first 14 again in original broadcast order.

The only thing that we know right now is that 14 of the 28 episodes are the first season. Whether they air the entire first season first or put new episodes in between is purely speculation at this point.

[blkmage]

Pretty big news on the Gundam front, with the annoucement of a Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (軌道戦士ガンダムUC(ユニコーン)) movie in 2010. Gundam Unicorn is a series of novels in the UC timeline, with the main story set in UC 0096. I know a lot of people who have been waiting for this and a lot of people really wanted this to be the 30th anniversary project.

http://www.moetron.com/2009/04/08/gundam-unicorn-film-announcement-confirmed/

[blkmage]

I figured that this was big enough that it should get its own post. Umineko no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry 3, うみねこのなく頃に) is confirmed for airing for the summer season in July. Umineko is a horror/mystery visual novel produced by 07th Expansion and written by Ryukishi07. It's the third installment of When They Cry, this first two being Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai.

The Higurashi anime was produced by Studio DEEN and was plagued with a pretty low budget. Studio DEEN will be doing Umineko as well, but based on the quality of the Higurashi Rei OVAs, I'd say there's no need to worry about production values for Umineko. There's already a pretty solid cast, including Yui Horie, Daisuke Ono, Yuu Kobayashi, Marina Inoue, and Rie Kugimiya.

http://www.moetron.com/2009/04/08/umineko-no-naku-koro-ni-july-tv-anime-premiere/

[Roy Mustang]

Pretty big news on the Gundam front, with the annoucement of a Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (軌]http://www.moetron.com/2009/04/08/gundam-unicorn-film-announcement-confirmed/[/url]

It sounds like the fans at moetron are not too happy about this annoucement. XD

Sounds like they never read these series of novels or something.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[blkmage]

Korea's favourite* anime, Hetalia Axis Powers, is getting a second season! Same deal, being broadcast over the Internet and to mobile phones. Apparently it'll land some time after summer.

* not really

Links: moetron, Axis Powers ヘタリア Official Site

[blkmage]

Were you like me and thought that the Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (獄・さよなら絶望先生) OADs were the last of SZS? Well then, we were wrong, since it's been announced that Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (【残・】さよなら絶望先生) is going to be airing in July. What third faction will Zan SZS introduce in the eternal debate: BURE vs. RUMBA?

Links: moetron, ANN

[Roy Mustang]

ANN

Gundam Unicorn Novels' Anime Adaptation Reportedly Confirmed

The wraparound jacket band on reprints of Harutoshi Fukui's Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn space robot novels have reportedly confirmed that an anime adaptation has been green-lit for this winter. The jacket band does not specify the release format of the anime project. The story is mainly set in the year of Universal Century 0096 — three years after Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, the last anime to feature the protagonist Amuro and antagonist Char of the first Mobile Suit Gundam anime series.

Before penning Gundam Unicorn, Fukui wrote the stories of the C-blossom - case729 and Samurai Commando: Mission 1549 manga. Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (first Mobile Suit Gundam, Venus Wars, Arion) designed the characters and Hajime Katoki (Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, Gundam Wing Endless Waltz Special Edition) designed the mecha in the novels' illustrations.

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