A well-written editorial detailing why anime sucks and its fans should have their reproductive rights revoked (or something) has appeared, and it’s always fun for me to read these, because the people who write them know so little about anime.

For example, this quote: “…stuff like Dragonball Z is nothing more than a glorified cartoon about trading cards.” Now, I don’t defend DBZ. I’ve always thought it was a crappy show. But “about trading cards”? There IS a DBZ TCG, but at least the anime was based on a manga that was developed on its own, as opposed to, say, a series that was developed as a toy line first. Or, you know, another one. Or another one.

Moving along…he then says that anime fans always bring up Miyazaki as a Deus Ex Machina to close down any anti-anime arguments. But you know, I wouldn’t– I’d offer up Paprika, by Satoshi Kon, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

The writer finishes up by chastising us for having a Miyazaki collection and a copy of Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend and encourages us to “get out of the house and meet some real, normal people with hair and eyes in proper proportion to their heads.” Like guys who waste their time trying to prove that all anime fans are “social outcast Neo-Goth types”? I don’t think so.

But you know, for a guy who talks about how gleefully he bought the Animatrix, and who has actually watched enough Dragon Ball Z to know how bad it is, and actually knows of Urotsukidoji, and seems to have seen Akira and 3×3 Eyes as well…hey, wait a sec. You’re one of us!

ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ♥

TokyoGraph reports that the live-action Dragon Ball flick, which has been pushed back from summer ‘08 to spring ‘09, is going to get a sequel. Never mind that it looks like the biggest train wreck film in recent memory, it needs a sequel!

Seriously, WTF?

Now, I don’t follow Dragon Ball stuff more than I must, so I hadn’t heard of this before, and I figured maybe some of you hadn’t either. But did you know that the upcoming Dragon Ball live-action flick, which has been delayed until 2009, is NOT the first live-action movie made of the series? And I’m not talking about cheap low-budget versions done by teenagers on YouTube– I’m talking big-scale.

Yeah, turns out that in 1989, an unoffical live-action remake of the anime movie Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies was made in China. It’s bad, and it’s been dubbed into English (can’t figure out who by). Apparently it was also remastered recently. I don’t have the remastered version for you, but here’s the beginning of the original version.

Enjoy the mayhem! It’s STILL probably better than the official flick they’re workin’ on…

ComingSoon reports that the Dragon Ball Z live-action movie adaptation Dragonball has been put off from its original intended release date of August 15, 2008 to April 3, 2009. That’s a big, fat delay! No reason is actually given but it’s suggested that it had to do with what movies the flick was going to be up against (which, if you ask me, would be cause for delay within a month or two– not nine).

Hmmm. Why would they delay for nine months? Perhaps they’re under the misguided impression that if they make people wait for it, they’ll appreciate it better? It’s now been moved outside of the “summer Blockbuster” chunk of the year and into spring, which I find kinda interesting.

Well, whatever. I was kind of in a hurry to have it over with, but I don’t mind putting it off, either.

So I spotted an interesting ad for TOKYOPOP on my gmail ticker today:

Well, I’m sure there are Naruto fans who don’t pay enough attention to realize that it’s a VIZ title.

In other “WTF?” news, Rob’s been chugging away at his new blog, and today he has an early photo from the live-action Dragon Ball Z flick. Join us as we complain about what a traffic wreck this film seems to be. ♥

Kotaku reports that the CEO of Atari, David Pierce, has resigned and they’re closing down their games production “to focus on publishing and distribution.”

Sounds to me like FUNi put the final nail in Atari’s coffin with that breach of contract declaration on the DBZ games, eh?

Shorties:

• Blah blah blah Yaoi Con. If you’re interested in it, odds are good you’ve already seen YaoiSuki’s phenomenal coverage of it, so I won’t bother rehashing.
• Hey look– Japan Town San Francisco is revamping, including the building of a Jpop culture center. I’ll have to check that out when it’s done…
• European investors like Japanese love hotels. Who knew?
• Let’s see, I already talked about Lucky Star being licensed. For those of you silly enough to take me seriously, I was annoyed that it happened on a weekend when I wasn’t around to scoop, not because of the license itself. Duh.
• Apparently the gala event for Takashi Murakami’s exhibit at the LA Museum of Contemporary Art was a little star-studded.
• Tsundere GPS device. What the fuck.
• Are we done with Hare Hare Yukai now that even the virtual idols are doing it?
• HOLY SHIT LIVE ACTION AKIRA. Well, maybe. Possibly. We’re thinking about it.
• Remember Dale’s interview with Oreskaband at Anime Expo? No? That’s because animeOnline died before we could post it. (Wait, did we get it through? I don’t remember.) Anyway, the band is going to be in a movie.
• Vertical has Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack. It’s my fave Tezuka series, second to Unico, so HUZZAH!
• VIZ is all like, “look at all of our live-action manga adaptations! LOOK AT THEM! WE SO COOL!” Apparently they hoped we’d forget that everyone’s been expecting all of these for ages, except maybe Love*Com.
• Gong+Blinkx=more legal anime online. And stuff.
• A couple of new series: the sci-fi/greek mythology dark-lookin’ show Mnemosyne, plus an anime based on the character books Zenryoku Usagi. Also, BIOHAZARD CG anime.

At Length:

Ghost Hunt licensed: I love this show– solid characters, interesting stories, and any and all potential romance/personal drama is subtle and mostly not addressed. Also, AMAZING soundtrack by Masuda Toshio, who also did the soundtrack for Mushishi, FYI. Mmmm.

FUNimation vs Atari re: Dragon Ball Z games. I’m intrigued that no one has released the “why” for FUNimation’s move (which was to announce their intent to sever Atari’s rights to the games due to unknown infractions). Apparently DBZ is one of the floundering Atari’s few successful franchises– I wonder if FUNi is just hoping to jump ship before it sinks, or ir something significant really did go down?

B2B anime info portal: So Japanese companies are trying to get more information about their series to both North American and European countries. Given the recent hubbub with U.S. anime companies– e.g. FUNi, ADV, and Geneon’s layoffs and scalebacks –I think it’s a good idea for anime companies to get a better sense of what’s out there and what to license. While the “snag every single anime possible” tactic has its bonuses, I can’t think it’s the best method out there.

…Whew. That should keep you guys busy for a few minutes. Did I skip anything big?

Not that there’s any such thing as “too much anime,” but I mean to say because I’ve been watching piles and piles of first episodes (along with, you know, working, and stuff). But without further ado: news, and stuff.

News:

So I think most of you probably already knew about it - I think it may have even been known before aO died? - but FUNimation is going to bring out Dragon Ball Z on Blu-Ray. And anyone who is at all surprised at FUNi producing more DBZ on yet another format hasn’t been doing this very long. But there you have it! They’ll be bringing out the Broly movies in November.

Oh, and if you’re the type of fan who spends time on Gaia, I’ve been informed that some episodes of Mushi-shi is now available in the Gaia “cinemas” online. If you haven’t seen the show, let me recommend it for the ten billionth time - it’s gorgeous and a really fun watch.

VIZ (see liveblog thread) is going to start publishing some of their series in their new “BIG” format, which is three volumes put into one book. The books will cost $17.99, which means you’re getting three volumes at the price you’d normally get two for. The books will also have new covers with gateflaps, as well as some color pages inside - nice stuff. The launch titles for these reprints will be Rurouni Kenshin (pictured), Dragon Ball, and Dragon Ball Z. And if you just thought “wow, now I can buy DBZ the MANGA over and over again, too,” you weren’t alone.

On the new license front: Aside from a number of titles that were leaked a while back, VIZ has picked up Yumekui Kenbun: Nightmare Inspector by Shin Mashiba and Record of a Fallen Vampire by Kyo Shirodaira (story) and Yuri Kimura (art).

And then there’s anime. Two licenses we’ve ALL been waiting to hear about for ages: the Nana (top) and Honey and Clover (bottom) anime series. SO SURPRISING I FORGOT TO GASP!

EDITED TO ADD: They also have the download to own license for Bleach now. (Sorry for adding that on late; I had to clarify because they talked about Bleach, went to Nana, and then jumped back to Bleach, and wasn’t sure which one they had the DTO license for.)