During Anime Festival Asia 2012, I was invited by the organiser as well as Production IG for a preview screening of Kamiyama Kenji’s latest full length animation film, RE: Cyborg009. If you felt that the title is familiar, this is because it’s a remake of an old Ishinomori Shotaro’s (of Kamen Rider fame) manga title. Done in full CG with the help of Studio Sanzigen, did Kamiyama-san did justice to this title with this adaptation? Read on then.

Unlike many other much more hardcore otakus, my first experience with Production IG’s Kamiyama Kenji was with the much acclaimed Higashi no Eden (or Eden of the East). Higashi no Eden was quite an experience at the time, as it was quite different from all the normal moe animes that were force fed into fans seasons after seasons. The storyline is gripping, and while it’s easy to pass it off as a fancy sci fi, it does tend to have some elements of reality in it. It was then that I was told it was directed by Kamiyama Kenji, who had earlier came to fame directing the TV series version of Ghost in The Shell (which amazingly, I have yet to watch).

Caution: Some Spoilers in this review
Three years prior to the start of the film, Dr Gilmore led 00-Cyborg team which had been protecting the world was disbanded, and most of the members seperated all across the world. Cyborg 009, aka Shimamura Joe had his memory reset by Dr Gilmore for him to live a normal life, but terrorist suicide bombing of skyscrapers across the globe (including KLCC) forced the team to regroup again to find out who was behind the act.

I never read nor watched the various incarnation of the original Cyborg 009 series, hence I can’t compare what Kamiyama-san did with the original. But there is some similarity between the lead, Shimamura Joe with Takizawa Akira from Higashi no Eden. Both had their memories wiped prior to the start of the show. And both seems to be plauged by what they have done in their past. I think Kamiyama-san uses this approach so that he can easily tell what is happening without making the viewers feel that they are being babysat into it.

Along for the ride are Cyborg 001 Ivan Whisky, Cyborg 002 Jet Link, Cyborg 003 as well as Shimamura’s love interest Françoise Arnoul, Cyborg 004 Albert Heinrich, Cyborg 005 Geronimo Jr, Cyborg 006 Chang Changku, Cyborg 007 Great Britain, and Cyborg 008 Pyunma. Each has their own unique ability, which was retained from the original design of Ishinomori Shotaro-sensei.

So how was it? Well honestly speaking, it was a really thought provoking movie. Kamiyama-san focuses not only on the political state of the world, with subjects of war profiting as well as fake terrorism being an issue, but he also touches about the spiritual aspect of humans, as well as religion, making you think deeply about what is happening in the world currently. This could be a problem for casual viewers if they are not up to date with most of the happenings around the world,

but as Kamiyama-san told me in his interview, this movie is not for casual viewing.

While at first I had my doubts over usage of CG for this movie, all those were squashed once the movie starts. This movie was made with 3D in mind from the start, and the usage of CG means that they could emulate a stereoscopic camera easily in the computer, hence giving you a realistic depth of feel perception compared to movies that was converted in 3D in post production. And while it’s ‘officially’ a CG movie, it’s not what you think of CG like what Pixar does. It does retain that distinct ‘anime’ look. Heck, my only complain would be the snail paced 15FPS the film was rendered into but most people won’t even notice it.

From the official movie brochure, it shows how easily it was to get the 3D effect

Music is as expected from Kawai Kenji. Most, if not all of the soundtrack seems appropriate to the scene it was featured in. In addition, the sounds were done at (the now formerly) George Lucas owned Skywalker Sound Studio at Marin County. The surround sound is just right without being too overwhelming. And yes, this is one movie that you NEED to watch in a cinema, and not in front of your PC using your shitty 2.0 cheapo speaker.

But this movie is not without it’s flaw. It’s easy to see that Kamiyama-san wanted to tell an important message in this movie, and yet it’s hard to cram everything in just 2 hours. Hence there was a lot of reduncency, especially in some of the cyborg characters. Come to think of it, none of the 00-Cyborg were given much background story, and some even appeared in one or two scenes only. To make sense of the character’s relationship, you really need to keep focus on what is happening, as it will turn out confusing if you don’t.

The end was left ambigous, but Kamiyama-san personally told me that it was intentional, that the ending is left for the viewers to decide. Honestly for me, RE: Cyborg009 would have been better off as a TV series rather than a movie as it could lead to better pacing and explanation.

So did I like it? Yes, very much. Some parts of the movie reminds me of Evangelion in parts, questioning humanity, religion as well as political

culture of the world. The 3D cg is awesome and hats off to Sanzigen for pulling this off magnificently. Just that don’t expect to understand this movie in just one sitting, especially if you are not giving attention. You might even need a second or third watch to really catch Kamiyama-san’s message. A must see if you are a fan of his, but if you are a casual anime viewers, you might be better off starting with some of his earlier works as well as TV series that is similar to this before watching it.

The movie will be shown in Singapore starting on December 1st, but Anime News Network listed Malaysia as one of the places it will be shown, so who knows, you might be able to watch it locally.

Staff
Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Screenplay: Kenji Kamiyama
Storyboard:
Yasuhiro Aoki
Yuichiro Hayashi
Unit Director: Koudai Kakimoto
Music: Kenji Kawai
Original creator: Shotaro Ishinomori
Character Design: Gatou Asou
Art Director: Yusuke Takeda
Animation Director: Daisuke Suzuki
Art design:
Hiroshi Takiguchi
Takashi Watabe
Director of Photography: Takahiro Uezono
Producer: Tomohiko Ishii
Color design: Yumiko Katayama
Lead Animator: Masanori Uetaka
Line Director: Reina Kawabata
Production producer: Mitsuhisa Ishikawa
Project Producer: Hiroaki Matsuura
Sound Design: Tom Myers

Cast
Chiwa Saito as Cyborg 003 / Françoise Arnoul
Daisuke Ono as Cyborg 002 / Jet Link
Hiroyuki Yoshino as Cyborg 007 / Great Britain
Mamoru Miyano as Cyborg 009 / Joe Shimamura
Noriaki Sugiyama as Cyborg 008 / Pyunma
Sakiko Tamagawa as Cyborg 001 / Ivan Whisky
Tarou Masuoka as Cyborg 006 / Chang Changku
Teruyuki Tanzawa as Cyborg 005 / Geronimo Jr
Toru Ohkawa as Cyborg 004 / Albert Heinrich
Nobuyuki Katsube as Professor Isaac Gilmore

Animation Production:
Production I.G
SANZIGEN Animation Studio

Official Website

With tomorrow marking the first (official) day of AFA 2012, you might wonder what is in store for you guys. Well you are in luck as AFA has let us in a little bit early to give a sneak peak of what to expect when you come in tomorrow

Good Smile Company is back and bringing with them the latest figurines, figmas and also nendoroids for all those hardcore fans. As always, the showcase is the Ultimate Madoka by Max Factory, and if you are lucky, you might

be able to meet GSC’s president, Aki Takanori himself.

Swords Art Online fans rejoice! A booth specifically to cater to your every fetish of this series. From the novels that started them all to the dual swords that was wielded by Kirito, you can find everything you want about the series here, well all except the ending.

For those that always are looking for official merchandise like shirts and stuffs, you vcan find all that you want in the KKNM as well as the Cospa booth, selling them items at a really low price.

The Rurouni Kenshin live action movie is also given a slot where props, such as Kenshin’s “Rurouni” costume as well as a real life Sakabatou is shown

Lis Ani, a popular anime based magazine from Japan also makes a visit, with every purchase will give you a chance to have an autograph session with it’s editor

Bad news for fans of the anime ‘K’. Seems that it has been licensed by Odex for the Asian market, and hence, if you are still downloading it (but whyyy??) you are doing some series illegal shit. STOP IT!

We also found this Madoka car, near the official Madoka Magica booth. That’s right folks, more reason to burn your hard earned monies to support this series!

We found an interesting promotion for an upcoming ova titled “One Off” which is sponsored by Honda. Here you can read the description of the anime yourself

Production IG’s Cyborg 009 also is at AFA 2012, hence confirming that it will surely be shown in Singapore cinemas later when it’s released.

So what are you waiting for guys. This is just the top of the iceberg of what you can find at AFA 2012. We haven’t even told about the Amuse, Horipro as well as the Tamashii Nations booth. Not to mention the usual Moe Moe Kyun Meido cafe is open as always during AFA. If you are still wondering is there any reasons for you to go, well here it is!

A Russian teenager has leapt to his

death after he found out his favourite character, Naruto’s Uchiha Itachi has died.


The teenager, 14 year old Leonid Hmelev was reported to have jumped 100ft of an apartment building in Chaikovsky, Russia.

He went missing for two days before his body was found. His parents were already worried beforehand as he posted a goodbye post of sort on social media sites, as well as his delusions.

‘I always told him he spent too much time watching the TV – he didn’t know what was reality and what was fiction anymore.’

Hardcore anime and manga fans are no stranger to this delusion or more widely known in Japan as the Chuunibyou symptom which could lead to even proclaiming that an anime character is his “wife” or “husband” but most usually outgrew this.

A little late, but Kyoto Animation has streamed a lite episode of it’s upcoming anime Chūnibyō Demo Koi ga Shitai!

The anime is an adaptation of the lightnovel with the same

name that is also published by Kyoto Animation. If you are

wondering what Chuunibyou is, look up the meaning here.

Would you pay USD10,000 to spend a day with Production IG’s president as well as Mamoru Ishii and Masaaki Yuasa? That is what Production IG is offering if you are willing to pledge that much in their kickstarter project, Kick Heart.

Directed by Masaaki Yuasa (not in the picture), Kick Heart is a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet, with a twist involving wrestling, nuns, and good ol’ animation. It will be 10 minutes in length and the people involved are hoping that they could get USD150,000 pledges by the end of October.

The shift from traditional Japanese business of getting investors with a western way of getting money directly from the target market is due to investors shying away from projects that is deemed “too risky” and due to the recent economic problems worldwide.

The kickstarter page for Kick Heart can be found here, where you can choose from several offerings:-
PLEDGE $5 OR MORE
[ The Schoolboy ] : Our sincere gratitude

PLEDGE $15 OR MORE
[ The Monkey flip ] : “Kick-Heart” Standard Definition (480p) Digital Download

PLEDGE $30 OR MORE
[ The Pumphandle Drop ] :”Kick-Heart” High Defintion (720p) Digital Download

PLEDGE $45 OR MORE
[ The Cobra Clutch ] :”Kick-Heart” HD Digital Download (720p) ＋ Character Designs PDF + Digital Storyboard PDF + Background Art PDF

PLEDGE

$60 OR MORE
[ The Pile Driver ] :”Kick-Heart” Blu-ray (1080p) + “Making of Kick-Heart”(480) + “Kick-Heart” HD Digital Download (720p) + Character Designs PDF + Digital Storyboard PDF + Background Art PDF

PLEDGE $100 OR MORE
[ The Russian Legsweep ] “Kick-Heart” Blu-ray (1080p) + “Making of Kick-Heart” ＋ “Kick-Heart” HD Digital Download (720p) + Character Designs PDF + Digital Storyboard PDF + Background Art PDF ＋ Special “Silver Sponsor” website credit + Limited Edition postcard set (8 cards) featuring artwork from the film.

PLEDGE $250 OR MORE
[ The Spinning

Spinebuster ] “Kick-Heart” Blu-ray (1080p) + “Kick-Heart” HD Digital Download (720p) + “Making of Kick-Heart” Digital Download (720p) + Character Designs PDF + Background Art PDF +Digital Storyboard PDF + 1 Giclee “Kick-Heart” illustration print signed by Masaaki Yuasa ＋ Special “Gold Sponsor” website credit

PLEDGE $10,000 OR MORE
[ The Michinoku Driver II ] :A private tour of Production I.G + A dinner with the Kick Heart’s Director, Masaaki Yuasa, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, the CEO of Production I.G and Mamoru Oshii, director of Ghost in the Shell) + Travel and Accomodation(1 night) in Tokyo + Blu-ray (1080p) + “Kick-Heart” HD Digital Download (720p) + “Making of Kick-Heart” Digital Download (720p) + Character Designs PDF + Background Art PDF + Digital Storyboard PDF +1 Giclee Background Art Print Signed by Yuasa ＋ Special “Platinum Sponsor” website and film credit

We hope that this project can be successful and change the culture of Japanese animation

via @dannychoo

Japan: making the future come true, all the time.

Through constant exposure to movies and videogames, We are all able to conjure up a fairly vivid fantasy of the future: an advanced, dystopian metropolis riddled with holograms and neonlights, where amongst the populace are fully augmented humans with performance-enhancing cybernetic parts living against a backdrop of corporate warfare that unleashed both the ground and the skies countless unmanned drones, vertical take-off dropships, and towering bipedal mechas. While some of the concepts introduced by science fiction were fully realized into our world, many of the said concepts remained unrealized, and we were instead greeted by a mundane future of redundant reality shows in tandem with a social skill malaise we call Facebook against an increasingly pessimistic 21st century society. Thankfully, all hopes for a true to science fiction future weren’t lost thanks to the land of the rising sun. Japan, a country which brought virtual idols to life dropped another sci-fi staple to the real world: an actual, pilotable mecha.

Enter Kuratas, a single seater, soon to be mass-produced pilotable mecha by Suidobashi Heavy Industry. Also

known as the SDBX-01 Vaudeville, Kuratas is named after its creator, Kogoro Kurata, who had earlier worked on a 1/1 scale iron statue of a Scope Dog, the titular mecha of the Armored Trooper VOTOMS series, which I might point out as an excellent example of a sci-fi mecha anime that showcased the use of relatively cheap mass-produced mechas in warfare as realistic as it could. Unlike the towering machines seen in Mobile Suit Gundam, Kuratas stood at a mere 4 metres, weighing in at just under 5 tonnes, very much similar to the specifications of the Scope Dog mentioned earlier. Kuratas is powered by a diesel engine with a

top speed of 10 kilometres per hour through a four-wheeled propulsion, much like standard automobiles. Using a proprietary operating system called V-Sido, it helps to manipulate its hydraulic limbs via a control joystick. It also allows the Kuratas to be operated using a 3G smartphone. Kuratas also have a ‘third eye’, an unmanned helicopter drone which it could launch and send off to scout ahead first.

Gundanium Alloy construction and ALICE A.I system pre-installed it doesn’t. The Kuratas is a humble machine made by existing materials, using existing technologies not so ahead of its time. There are no technologically complex weapon systems as a beam rifle or a smart gun, rather a choice of five less lethal weaponry. Some of the available weapon choices ranged from a Pilebunker melee spike (sounds familiar, Front Mission fans?) to an ‘eco friendly’ LOHAS missile launcher, and a twin BB gatling gun being its only impressive choice of armament capable of firing at 6000 rounds per minute. The other unique feature of Kuratas is “The Smile Shot” system, where the user has to smile to unleash the gatling gun’s insane firing rate into the enemy!

The choice of less lethal arms is perhaps a great method of marketing into countries with strict laws on anything capable of firing projectiles (Kuratas can also be shipped without weapons), but maybe to tone down the war machine image synonymous with mechas and giving it a civilian appeal (as if that matters), which is its targeted customer of choice. You can also customize the Kuratas colouring scheme, one of which could potentially make you three times faster.

At a base price of 1.35 million US dollars without upgrades (the drink and iPhone holder add-ons are complete rip-offs at another 700 dollars might I add), the Kuratas is surely a toy that only the rich or the plain hot-blooded could afford, but owning a Kuratas does make one stood tall against rich, car crazed American billionaires and Saudi royals, putting to shame their luxury fleet of Lamborghinis as nothing more but uninspiring plastic Hot Wheels, and with a gatling gun accompanying a sinister smile, free target practice to boot (maybe the LOHAS Launcher could probably hit something this time).

You can build your own custom unit (click to enlarge) on their website. Simply click “BUY DREAM NOW” and start customizing from there. Yes, my custom unit’s total cost includes that ripoff drink and iPhone holder I mentioned.

There are people who in the course of opinionated discussion regarding Kuratas, stated their doubt of the mecha’s practicality in real world warfare, alongside other points of contempt: that it has a pathetic top speed of mere 10km/h, it couldn’t go off-road, none of its weapons are lethal or pinpoint accurate, that it’s a slow, vulnerable machine exposed to small arms fire, antitank weaponry, and helicopter gunships. These people are jumping the Zakus too high and missing the point that Kuratas are not built with practicality in mind. Rather it’s built strictly as a pure hobby machine, out of passion driven by that childhood dream in all of us of owning a pilotable mecha (even at a steep pricetag). I do agree however that performance could’ve been better at that price point (plus you could grab a drink and iPhone holder cheaper at Daiso), but I consider Kuratas to be the Model T of its generation; a progenitor with much open room to be improved and evolved by others in many years to come. Give it time and it may bloom into an awe-inspiring Dendrobium.

The creator himself had stated in an interview his hope that the machine would “encourage others to follow his example and create their own large-scale rideable robots”. There was no intention at all to start some sort of Wanzer-esque global arms race to get the machine proliferated into standard military usage with its own unique combat doctrine. Mechas are great as they are as fictional war machines: iconic to the respective series and universe it represents while also frequently romanticized as a deus ex machina against any opposing force in countless sci-fi works but nothing more beyond that. Those of you who are more into practical robotics should instead look into powered exoskeletons and quadpedal robots.

One final question I would like to personally ask the readers: which job pays a million dollars a year? Recommend me one.

Sources:
Anime News Network
Gunjap.net (images) – Link 1, Link 2

Entry originally from Superior Internet Content! x2

Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版：Q), the third in the “Rebuild of Evangelion” movie

project has been confirmed to be premiering (in Japan) on the 17th of November 2012. The announcement was done through an update on the official website, and also a new trailer for Evangelion 3.0 (seen below)

The trailer was projected to a screen wall at Shinjuku Wald on Sunday much to the delight of adoring Evangelion fans.

The rebuild series has been a huge hit, and and in true Evangelion fashion has attracted a lot of rumours about whether it is just a remake of the TV series or actually a sequel.

If you are a fan of this famous manga series by Watsuki Nobuhiro, you must be itching to see the live action adaptation of it. Well there is a good news for you guys, as the FULL trailer for

the movie

has been released. More after the jump

The movie that stars Satou Takeru and Takei Emi will be screened in Japan starting on 25th of August. We can’t wait

via AnimeNewsNetwork

Official site: http://wwws.warnerbros.co.jp/rurouni-kenshin/index.html

Are you an otaku? Are you a rich otaku? Are you a rich otaku that can afford the monthly pain of paying for a credit card? Are you a rich otaku that can afford the monthly pain of paying for a credit card and you want to show your otaku status to the world in style? Well this is PERFECT for you! Sumitomo Mitsui Visa Cards, the company that issues Visa in Japan has announced the Zaku x Visa card!

The card is issued in conjuction with the July 23rd release of the RG 1/144 MS-06F Mass Production Zaku. The card will be available starting on July 1st. The card’s illustration was designed by Ookawara Kunio, the original designer for Mobile Suit Gundam.

To make sure that you USE this card, after you spent 30,000 yen (around RM1.2k) you will be given a 1/144 RX-78-2 GUNDAM G30th model!

This was not the first time that Sumitomo Mitsui releases such card. In 2010 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam, the company realeased a Gundam X Visa card as well.

So if you are feeling rich and want a basically ita’ed Visa card, head up

to Sumitomo Mitsui’s page

Popular gun-totting nekomimi meido and sometime voice actress, Tanaka Rie (33) has finally ended her single career after it was announced that she has tied the knot on June the 17th.

Her husband, Yamadera Kouichi (50) is also a voice actor, famous for voicing characters such as Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop) and Ryouji Kaji (Neon Genesis Evangelion). He tweeted about the marriage on April the 18th, which looked something like a mere afterthought

Later that day, Tanaka Rie herself posted on her blog about her union

with Yamadera.

This is Yamadera’s second marriage to a fellow seiyuu following his earlier marriage to Mika Kanai from 1994 to 2006.