sign in sign up
<<
Home , 2003 in home video, Ai Yazawa, Area 88, Bandai Visual, Basilisk (manga), Ergo Proxy

PA #89 // CONTENTS A N I M E N E W S N E T W O R K ' S VOICES 4 Letter From The Publisher

PROTOCULTURE¯:paKu]-PROTOCULTURE ADDICTS 5 Page 5 Editorial Issue #89 ( Fall 2006 ) 6 Contributors Spotlight SPOTLIGHTS 98 Letters 16 OVA NEWS Interview with Kouta Hirano & Yasuyuki Ueda Character Rundown 8 Anime & News By Zac Bertschy 89 Anime Releases (R1 ) 91 Related Products Releases 20 VOLTRON 93 Manga Releases Return Of The King: Voltron Comes to DVD Voltron’s Story Arcs: The Saga Of The Lion Force Character Profiles MANGA PREVIEW By Todd Matthy 42 24 MUSHISHI Overview ANIME WORLD Story & Cast By Miyako Matsuda & C.J. Pelletier 58 Train Ride A Look at the Various Versions of the Train Man ANIME STORIES 60 Full Metal Alchemist: Timeline 62 Gunpla Heaven 44 Interview with Katsumi Kawaguchi Overview 64 The Modern Japanese Music Database Character Profiles Sample filePart 36: Home Page 20: Hitomi Yaida By Miyako Matsuda & C.J. Pelletier Part 37: FAQ 22: The Same But Different 46 62 Anime Boston 2006 Overview Report, Anecdocts from Shujirou Hamakawa, Character Profiles Anecdocts from Sumi Shimamoto By Miyako Matsuda & C.J. Pelletier 70 Fantasia Genre Film Festival 2006 Report, Full Metal Alchemist The Movie, 50 Train Man, Great Yokai War, God’s Left Overview & Character Profiles Hand-Devil’s Right Hand, Max By Miyako Matsuda & C.J. Pelletier 52 RESCUE WINGS REVIEWS Overview & Character Profiles 76 Live-Action By Miyako Matsuda & C.J. Pelletier Nana 78 Manga 55 SIMOUN 80 Related Products Overview & Character Profiles CD Soundtracks, Live-Action, Music Video By Miyako Matsuda & C.J. Pelletier 82 Anime

3 ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER A N I M E N E W S N E T W O R K ' S

PROTOCULTUREPROTOCULTURE¯:paKu]- ADDICTS Hello there, Issue #89 (Fall 2006) It’s been a long time; 6 whole months since our May issue. I hope everyone had a good E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.protoculture-mag.com summer and that the wait for this issue of Protoculture Addicts wasn’t too hard. We’re E d i t o r i a l S t a f very pleased with all the positive comments we received regarding the last issue. We’re Publisher Christopher Macdonald [CM] very glad you like it. A few other people at a few distributors also liked the issue, so we’ll be Editor-in-chief Claude J. Pelletier [CJP] opening up some new distribution channels in the near future. Obviously this is a big deal Contributing Editor / Translator Miyako Matsuda [MM] for us, but since you already receive Protoculture Addicts at your local store or by mail, Associate-Editor Bamboo Dong [BD], Jonathan Mays [JM] you might wonder, “why should this matter to me?” Well, more distribution hopefully Copy Editor Julia Struthers-Jobin equates to more sales, which equates to more revenue. Since our goal at Protoculture Interns Addicts has never been to “get rich,” more revenue simply means more money to spend Natalie Khor, Steven Thach C o n t r i b u t i n g W r i t e r s on the magazine. Maybe future issues will have more pages (and for the same price, Zac Bertschy [ZB], Sean Broestl [SB], Dormcat, perhaps?) or we’ll be able to put together better content; more money means more staff, Theron Martin [TM], Todd Matthy, Carlo Santos [CS], James S. Taylor [JT] which means more time for each staff member to do a better job on the articles they are Advertising & Business Issues focusing on. So cross your fingers and hope for good things for this magazine. Our only Christopher Macdonald ([email protected]) goal is to make a magazine worthy of you, the reader. C o v e r Provided by Geneon. Hellsing © Kouta Hirano • Shonen Gahousha Co., Ltd. / Wild Geese. Cover layout by Istvan Pusztai. In this issue we take a look at ’s Nana and Paradise Kiss. While both these titles S p e c i a l T h a n k s are geared towards female readers, they are still very “cross-demographic,” appealing to a To Bill Lai, Bob Brown, Chris Oar, Dallas Middaugh, Danielle Garnier, Erik Jansen, Evelyn Dubocq, Jason Alnas, Jeff lot of fans who don’t fall into the primary target demographic. I happen to be a big fan of Bowring, Keith Burgess, Lance Heiskell, Osamu Maseba, Richard Tong, Rod Peters, Susan Hale, Sylverster Ip, Tamara Yazawa’s work, and I hope that all our readers, guys included, take a look at these articles Shumate, and Tricia Narwani for their help and support. and consider sampling Nana or Paradise Kiss in of their many incarnations (Manga, S U B S C R I P T I O N 6 issues: $30 US/Can (in add $1.80 GST; in Que- anime, or live-action). bec add $4.19 GST & PST) or $45 US overseas. Send check Sample file or money-order to: Protoculture, P.O.B. 1433, Stn B, Montreal, Qc, Canada, H3B 3L2. Payment by credit cards As the cover suggests, we also have a big feature on Hellsing. While diametrically opposed & PayPal available from the web site: www.protoculture.ca/ PA/PASub.htm. in terms of their content, Hellsing and Yazawa’s work share the “cross demographic” appeal. D I S T R I B U T I O N Like Nana and Paradise Kiss, Hellsing is among the very best that its genre has to offer and In Canada: Cosmix ((514) 744-9494), Disticor ((800) 668- 7724), Marché Clandestin (www.mcanime.com), Middleman is worth a look, even if you aren’t usually interested in supernatural action/horror. This is Media ((416) 203-2926), Snap! ((416) 588-4006). In U.S.A.: AAA Anime (www.aaaanime.com), Anime Na- tion (www.animenation.com), Complete Strategist ((212) Hellsing’s second time out as an anime, a complete redo of the series, since fans weren’t 685-3880), Diamond ( www.diamondcomics.com), Kinokuniya (NY: (212) 765-7766, SF: (415) 567-7625), happy with the way the first series strayed from the source material. This time the anime is Made In (www.madeinjapan.us), Nikaku Animart (www.nikaku.com), Right Stuf (www.rightstuf.com), RPV very faithful to the manga, and fans have been raving about it. ((714) 671-1270). In England: Esdevium (011 44 125226116). Last issue I told you that this issue would be the “completion” of the transformation of this Published by Protoculture, P.O. Box 1433, Station B, Montreal, Qc, Canada, H3B 3L2. Protoculture Addicts is magazine, but I now that I must take that statement back. Protoculture Addicts will ©1987-2006 by Protoculture • The copyrights and trade- marks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. Protoculture Addicts acknowledges the creators never cease to evolve, and it’s my hope that every issue will show an improvement over the and copyrights holders of the materials mentioned or pic- th th tured herein, and does not seek to infringe on their rights • previous issue. Pretty soon we’ll be reaching our 100 issue and 20 anniversary! Thank All rights to articles/artwork revert to their respective writ- ers/artists upon publication • Contributors are responsible you to everyone who has stuck with the magazine all these years, and I hope you’ll be with for their views which are not necessarily those of Protoculture ○○○○○○○○ Addicts • No part of this magazine can be reproduced us for another 20 and beyond. without permission from the publisher, except for review purposes • Spoilers Warning: This magazine contains im- portant plot details about several Japanese animation. Read- Christopher Macdonald ers discretion is advised • Legal deposit at Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec & National Library of Canada, Publisher, Protoculture Addicts 2006 • Printed in Canada • ISSN 0835-9563.

PA #89 // ANIME VOICES / LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER PA

4 PA #89 // ANIME VOICES / P ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ CREDITS PAGE FIVE EDITORIAL The magic of the Internet is undeniable. You can get just about anything you want, when you want it. Why ARTICLES: Ergo Proxy ©2005 / Geneon / Geneon (USA) / Wowow. The wait months for the hottest new album when you can get it earlier (and cheaper) online? Why pay $25 Movie: Conqueror Of Shambala © • for a few episodes of anime if you can just watch it online without even leaving your comfortable IKEA chair? Hagaren The Movie. Gendo Senki ©2006 Nibariki • GNDHDDT. Hellsing Ultimate © Kouta Hirano • Shonen For the most part, the entertainment industry has done a good job dealing with the demand for having Gahousha Co., Ltd / Wild Geese. Melancholy of Haruhi music and movies, Right Here, Right Now. Services like iTunes have long allowed people to download their Suzumiya (The) ©2006 Nagaru Tanigawa • Noizi Ito / SOS Dan. Mushishi © Yuki Urushibara / • favorite tracks without having to subject themselves to the possibility of buying a one-hit wonder CD, or Mushishi Production Committee. Nana © Ai Yazawa dealing with the freeway traffic on the way to Best Buy. Even better, you can even download TV episodes Manga Production Company / • VAP • that you missed, or samples of shows you’ve considered buying on DVD. • NTV. Paradise Kiss © Ai Yazawa Manga Seisakusho (Production Company) / Shodensha • Para Sure, sure, that’s all well and good, and everyone knows it. But…what of anime? Kiss Production Committee. Simoun © Eizo • / Simoun Production Committee. Train Man For years now, anime fans have raised the question: “Why don’t companies just let fans download anime? © Co., Ltd. / Fuji Television Network, Inc. / SDP, Charge them a couple dollars per episode, so if they don’t like the show, they can just stop watching.” Inc. / Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Voltron ©2006 World Event Productions. All Alas, that raises plenty of other issues, like the fact that 1) you can still very easily get the entire series Rights Reserved. Yomigaeru Sora: Rescue Wings © online and 2) the cost of licensing and marketing anime, plus making them available to an English-speaking Visual. market, makes it such that you can’t just offer an episode for a buck or two, unlike the latest episode of REVIEWS: © DAI Pro / OB Planning. Packaging © A.D. Vision, Inc. © 2005 Futaro Yamada • Project Runway. Masaki Segawa. Boys Be... © Masahiro Itabashi/ Despite it all, anime companies answered the call and provided just what the fans always wanted—a way to Hiroyuki Tamaoki/KODANSHA/Boys Be Committee. ©2006 . Chance Pop download anime. But… does it work?

Session ©2001 Madhouse/TV . Fullmetal AGE FIVE EDITORIAL Alchemist © 2004 Hiromu Arakawa. Fullmetal Let’s take a look at ADV Universe, ADV’s download service. Currently, fans can check out shows like Alchemist Complete Best © 2005 Music , Jinki Extend, Comic Party Revolution, and many others, for only $4.99 an episode. Interested Entertainment (Japan) Inc. © 2001-2004 in a movie? Download films like the questionable Parasite Dolls and Lady Death for $19.99. Like any • . : Stand Alone Complex © 2002-2005 Shirow Masamune • Production service though, there are pros and cons. I.G. / Kodansha. Great Yokai War (The) ©2005 The Great Pro: You’re under no obligation whatsoever to buy the entire disc. If the one episode you see of Random Yokai War Production Committee. Guyver ©2005 Takaya Yoshiki / / Guyver Production Partners. Series A makes you want to cry tears of regret and buyer’s remorse, then congratulations, you’ve saved Packaging ©2006 A.D. Vision, Inc. KARAS © 2005 yourself $20 by not buying the entire volume. Tatsunoko Pro / KARAS Committee. Kotoko –hane– © 2004 Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc. Lupin III: The Rebuttal: When has one episode ever been enough to judge a series? Imagine all the great shows you’d Castle Of Cagliostro © Monkey Punch • TMS. All Rights miss out on—or worse, all the terrible shows that you’d be duped into buying. Reserved. Packaging © . Mushishi ©2000 Yuki Urushibara. Nana ©2005 Nana Production Pro: Once you buy it, it’s yours for keep, no matter when you watch it. Committee. Uncut © 2002 Masashi Kishimoto. Negadon ©2005 Jun Awazu / CoMix Wave. Negima © Rebuttal: Yeah, but it’s DRM-protected. If you get a new computer, your episodes are gone. Plus, you can’t Ken Akamatsu · KODANSHA, Kanto Maho Association. take it with you on the go. Sorry iPod users, sorry PSP fanatics. Plus, if you ever delete it, it’s gone forever. Noein ©2005 / / Noein Project. Packaging ©2006 Manga Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Pro: It’s onlySample $4.99 an episode! file Reserved. Ode To Kirihito ©2006 Tezuka Productions. © Ami Shubata / Square • Nippon Rebuttal: Which is the price of a rental. If you don’t have a rental outlet near you that houses anime, you Animation • Sotsu Agency • Papuwa Project. Packaging can pay three times more and spring for something like or RentAnime. © 2006 A.D. Vision. © Nobuhiro Watsuki / Jump Comics / Shueisha. © Con: So far, the selection is pretty limited. Only two episodes are available for most series, and it’s not even 2005 / TAP. Strawberry Marshmallow © Barasui that extensive of a list. • Mediaworks • Ichigo Mashimaro Partners. Stray Little Devil ©2005 Kotaro Mori. Street Fighter II: The Rebuttal: There is no rebuttal. That is indeed a valid point, and there is no reason anyone should pay Animated Movie © 1994 Co, Ltd. Packaging $19.99 to download a movie that only costs $5 in a bargain bin. © Manga Entertainment. ©2004 Sakura Kinoshita • Kazuko Higashiyama • Mag Garden / Tactics The list goes on and on, and even without my assistance, anyone could easily populate their own checklist of Project. © Texhnolyze Committee. This Ugly ups and downs. ADV isn’t the only company to provide this service, either. In September of this year, Bandai Yet Beautiful World © / Konomini Project. Ultraman Max ©2005 Tsubaraya Pro / CBC. Vermilion Channel and Bandai Entertainment announced that they would provide on-demand content online through Pleasure Night ©2001 Vermilion Pleasure Night. Unbox. Episodes are only $3.99, and include series like , Infinite Ryvius, and others. Packaging © A.D. Vision. Viewtiful Joe ©2004 CAPCOM / VJPC • TX. Yoko Ishida Live in Concert ©2006 Geneon Still, like ADV Universe, Bandai’s offerings don’t come without problems. Granted, an entire series only Entertainment (USA), Inc. Yotoden © 1989 JVC. English costs $40 rather than the $80 fans would normally drop on a compilation box set, but there’s much to be version ©1997, 1998, 2006 said about holding the physical DVDs in your hands, as well as having extras and goodies. Corporation.—All products mentioned or illustrated in this magazine remain property of their respective Ultimately, it’s good that the anime companies are giving downloadable anime a serious consideration. owners. They are used here solely for education, promotion or review purposes. the success of music and video download stores, there’s absolutely no reason why the same deli- ILLUSTRATIONS: #323: 179-180; #332: 35; cious fate couldn’t greet the anime industry. Still, there’s still much that needs to be changed. Price and #333: 75; #334: 29; #336: 181; #337: 47; #338: 36; #339:

○○○○○○○○ convenience are two of the biggest motivators for human action (next to free food and kickbacks), but with 183, 185, 200. Fantasia 2005 program. so many drawbacks to much of the Internet’s anime offerings, they still can’t compete with the draw of free #1431: 61, 84; #1435: 51-60.—All other illustrations come from promotional artwork, cover art or directly fansubs. Maybe if anime companies started cracking down on fansubbers like the MPAA and RIAA swooped from the animation. They remain the property of their down on online distributors, it would make the allure of downloadable anime just that much more attrac- respective owners. Most copyright notices can be found tive. Until then, it’s simply not worth it. at the bottom of each page. Bamboo Dong, Associate-editor

5 CARLO SANTOS Carlo holds a degree in engineering and works at a plastics manufacturer, which of course gives him zero qualifications in the field of the Japanese arts. But he’s been interested in comics and cartoons since he was a kid, starting with how-to-draw books and Tintin comics, which opened his eyes to the world of visual storytelling. Although he can still draw a bit, he didn’t have the drive to be a pro artist, so he turned to criticizing other people’s hard work instead. In 2004 he responded to a call for reviewers at Anime News Network, and in early 2006 revived the site’s Right Turn Only!! manga column. Someday he hopes to have enough shelf space for all his books, DVDs and CDs. Like most anime fans, Carlo also enjoys other aspects of Japanese pop cul- ture, and listens to way more bubblegum J-pop than should ever be allowed (and sometimes plays cover versions on the piano). He also maintains a figu- rine collection and is especially fond of his all- character chess set. Aside from arranging pop songs into piano solos, Carlo also enjoys playing classical works, especially old mainstays like Mozart, Chopin and Bach. He has, at various points in his youth, played in an orchestra (violin), marching and concert band (clarinet), and a jazz band (piano). His forays into songwriting and composing have resulted in sheets of handwritten music littered throughout various folders, notebooks, and under the piano seat. As you can imagine, this is why he loves the series. Carlo has been known to throw himself into random hobbies and pursuits just for the hell of it. He knits, makes 3D papercraft models, plays mahjong, and is teaching himself Japanese so that he will no longer have to “cheat” and use scanlations for the Import of the Month section in his review column. He roots for the San Francisco Giants in baseball, the Miami Heat in basketball, and his favorite Morning Musume member is Mari Yaguchi (the really short one). Sample file & OTHERS

Christopher Miyako Matsuda Claude J. Pelletier studied history, Macdonald is left Japan in the wanted to be a the editor-in- 80s for Califor- librarian, but chief of Anime nia, where she ended up publi- News Network shing a science- worked as inker and the publisher of Protoculture fiction fanzine named Samizdat (in Addicts. Originally a network engineer and -up artist for Eclipse Comics, French), several Quebec Science-Fiction by profession, he became involved with volunteered as translator in many anime anthologies (in French) and, finally, an anime and manga magazine. He founded Anime News Network in 2000 and left conventions, sold her own artwork in the comfort of his previous job to focus Protoculture Addicts in fall 1987 as a art shows and collaborated with fanzine, but it quickly evolved full time on Anime News Network in Protoculture Addicts magazine as into the magazine it is now. In 2000, he 2003. Since then the website has grown contributing editor and translator. In published Anime: A Guide To Japanese to be a force in the anime industry Animation, which is a 300-page 1999, she moved to Canada to join the and has branched out to publishing with filmography of the first thirty years of the Protoculture Addicts. permanent staff of Protoculture Addicts. anime industry in Japan.

PA #89 // ANIME VOICES / CONTRIBUTORS SPOTLIGHT PA

6 Sample file

7 Japanese Corporations Invest in North American Anime Industry

In June, A.D. Vision (ADV) and Coyote Ragtime to and Le Chevalier D’Eon, we have a string of Corporation, one of the leading producers/ A-list titles in the pipeline, and that’s just some of what we have coming investors in the Japanese anime industry, in the next three months. Sojitz’ financial muscle and expertise have announced that they had entered into a strategic partnership covering definitely been an asset in reloading our catalogue for home video and numerous areas including licensing, investment and new-media. the Anime Network.”

As part of the partnership, Japan Content Investments (JCI), has acquired Japan Content Investments’s equity investment in ADV is the latest in a equity in ADV in return for a capital investment. John Ledford, founder sequence that has seen Japanese trading firms take more control of and CEO of A.D. Vision will remain the majority shareholder of ADV. JCI anime’s overseas distribution. is an investor group that includes Sojitz Corporation, the Development Bank of Japan and Klockworx. Earlier this year, Mitsubishi Corp established a ¥2 billion anime investment fund with that included a Mitsubishi subsidiary acquiring 34% of JCI’s investment in ADV will provide capital allowing for ADV to license Geneon Entertainment USA. and release more films in 2006. On the same day of the Mitsubishi deal, Mitsui agreed to take a 10% ADV will assist Sojitz with the acquisition stake in movie distribution firm Shochiku. The wide-ranging partnership of North American and European content covers overseas distribution as well as cell phone video sales and live- for importation into Japan; while ADV will action and anime production. benefit from Sojitz strong experience in wireless and new media. John Ledford stated, “This is a perfect marriage. Sojitz gains ADV’s specialized Last year Bandai Visual opened a US subsidiary with a ¥100 million capital knowledge in the packaging and distribution of anime content for the to sell anime in America. The company is separate from Bandai subsidiary North American and European markets, and we gain Sojitz’s global Bandai Entertainment, which has released anime in the US since 2000. network and expertise in wireless and new media, which for anime-related So far Bandai Visual is focusing on its classic titles, having released the content is a particularly strong growth area. The anime market is primed first two movies, and has just recently announced the upcoming for a big expansion, fueled by the young, tech-savvy consumers that release of . drive today’s new media.” In addition to Japan Content Investments’s purchase of 20% of ADV’s With a raft of new license announcement since the deal, its easy to see outstanding shares, the investment firm will set up a new company called that the deal may have already contributed to ADV’s position in the market. ARM, which will purchase 20-30 Japanese productions a year, Nikkei “We’re definitely stronger for the alliance with Sojitz,” says Mike Bailiff, reports (registration required). This chart from Sojitz’s news release ADV Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing.. “From Guyver to illustrates the new relationships. Sample file

Business Scheme

Equity Participation

Sojitz ▲ A.D. Vision ▲ 64%

Equity Sub-licensing Agreement Participation Equity

Japan Contents Participation ▼ ▲ DBJ ▲ ARM Investment Business LPS 100% ▲ 28%

Licensing Agreement

▼ KlockWorx Licensors 8%

PA #89 // NEWS / ANIME & MANGA NEWS PA

8 All News compiled & reported by Anime News Network. For more news check www.animenewsnetwork.com.